How are third and pass degrees regarded these days?

pavlovs_dog

and if you read my point, you will see that at no point did i state that EVERYONE (that being the salient word here) with anything less than a 2:1 was lazy or stupid.

in fact, (im feeling pedantic now :rolleyes: ) at no point did stupidity come into my rant. it was about those who go to univeristy for 3 years because they dont know what else to do with their lives (its expected of them), daddy will pay for it, and they can have a few beers and some 'larfs', combletely oblivious to the disruption they cause to those who have gone to study for a degree, not a social life.

disruption is not just noise from your drunken neighbours at 4am every morning without fail. it was raised in your dyslexia thread about how financial resources that are supposed to be for widening access for disabled students are spent on more trivial things that will benefit the wider student populus

melancholly

studentphil wrote:

I am not aimming for a third or a pass myself. I am sure I have my heart set on doing a masters just to prove I can and that years ago when I was told I would never do a masters they were wrong. Sadly a degree requires far more reading and essay writing which I am very weak at but I far more intelligent than any of my grades would make you think.

it sounds to me like you need to sit down and decide what YOU want for YOU..... in your other thread i think you said something about other people telling you not to quit because it would get better, and now you want to do a masters to prove something to other people (multiple thousands of pounds to do something for that reason just doesn't sound like a good idea). sod other people! do what you want - decide what you want to do with your life (or at least for the immediate future). for certain things, getting a first in a nice degree is vital, but the influence that your degree and subject has entirely depends on what you want to do with it.

if you do have a 2:2 or a 3rd, I think you have to accept that many people will believe that you must have slacked off (and sadly, for a lot of subjects at a lot of unis, a 2:1 is almost standard) - whether or not that's fair is a separate matter, and, again, your degree class will only be vital for certain things. with so many people at uni, employers have to pick people for some reason, so degree class is a nice easy obvious way of filtering through applications. it is unfair and some of the brightest people i know got lower marks than me in my degree, but unfortunately, the system isn't going to change!

academic achievement, as measured by exams, isn't for everyone.......... if it is, then great, but if it's not, the world won't end! if you really hate your course and aren't doing well, then change.... you will probaly have to 'waste' an extra year - but what's 2 years of feelign much better against one year that you're clearly dreading. if you do decide to stick with it - then you're going to have to be very tough with yourself and not dwell on your decision, but make the most of it. it'll sap energy out of you which is the last thing you need!

studentphil

tomstickland wrote:

Yes, I can agree with that to a certain degree, but if you're more intelligent than them, and not lazy, why can't you do what they do?

I do not have the spelling and writen expression they do which makes the quality of their answers so much better than mine.

pavlovs_dog

studentphil wrote:

I do not have the spelling and writen expression they do which makes the quality of their answers so much better than mine.

good academic form is much easier to learn than a good attitude to study :T

studentphil

melancholly wrote:

it sounds to me like you need to sit down and decide what YOU want for YOU..... in your other thread i think you said something about other people telling you not to quit because it would get better, and now you want to do a masters to prove something to other people (multiple thousands of pounds to do something for that reason just doesn't sound like a good idea). sod other people! do what you want - decide what you want to do with your life (or at least for the immediate future). for certain things, getting a first in a nice degree is vital, but the influence that your degree and subject has entirely depends on what you want to do with it.

if you do have a 2:2 or a 3rd, I think you have to accept that many people will believe that you must have slacked off (and sadly, for a lot of subjects at a lot of unis, a 2:1 is almost standard) - whether or not that's fair is a separate matter, and, again, your degree class will only be vital for certain things. with so many people at uni, employers have to pick people for some reason, so degree class is a nice easy obvious way of filtering through applications. it is unfair and some of the brightest people i know got lower marks than me in my degree, but unfortunately, the system isn't going to change!

academic achievement, as measured by exams, isn't for everyone.......... if it is, then great, but if it's not, the world won't end! if you really hate your course and aren't doing well, then change.... you will probaly have to 'waste' an extra year - but what's 2 years of feelign much better against one year that you're clearly dreading. if you do decide to stick with it - then you're going to have to be very tough with yourself and not dwell on your decision, but make the most of it. it'll sap energy out of you which is the last thing you need!

I only have 1 year to go so there is little point in going all the way back and starting again. I want to do a masters for other reasons than what other people think, that is just one.

tomstickland

I'm still sympathising BTW - I knew a lot of well educated dullards at university, and some genuinley clever people. Overall ability does win out in the end you'll be pleased to hear.

elisebutt65

I don't get that aiming for a 2.1 malarkey - why not aim for a First???

If your sights are set that low then you've got the failure mentality right there!!!

It's like doing my dissertation - everyone else in my year (3rd starting soon) is going to start it when we get back in October - but why??? I started just before we broke up in June!!! 3 months of no college - just ususal mothering duties - absolute bliss to be able to sit down with my books and not worry about anything else to do, but everyone else has been on holidays etc putting off even thinking about what they're going to write about. When Easter and hand in time comes around they'll all be running around like chucks with their heads cut off!!!

I don't get it - When we get our assignments - be it an essay, report, groupwork, presentation etc it's clearly laid out what you have to do to get an A, B or C. I make a checklist and fulfill the criteria then I get an A or A+ (one rare occasion an A++) Surely it's as simple as that???

I'm not the worlds most intelligent person - God knows, or I wouldn't be a single mother in a council house with 2 kids by different dads - sigh. But I know how to read and write and follow instructions and so far my lowest subject grade is 72, yet some of the 20-21 yr olds in my year are at the peak of their llife and they only get 40-50?? Mind you, I still don't get how 40 is a pass. When I did O-levels back in the day, I think you had to get at least 50% to get a C.

tomstickland

Youth is wasted on the young! How true, but it's always been that way.
I'm not bitter, though I do drink it.

studentphil

elisebutt65 wrote:

I don't get that aiming for a 2.1 malarkey - why not aim for a First???

If your sights are set that low then you've got the failure mentality right there!!!

It's like doing my dissertation - everyone else in my year (3rd starting soon) is going to start it when we get back in October - but why??? I started just before we broke up in June!!! 3 months of no college - just ususal mothering duties - absolute bliss to be able to sit down with my books and not worry about anything else to do, but everyone else has been on holidays etc putting off even thinking about what they're going to write about. When Easter and hand in time comes around they'll all be running around like chucks with their heads cut off!!!

I don't get it - When we get our assignments - be it an essay, report, groupwork, presentation etc it's clearly laid out what you have to do to get an A, B or C. I make a checklist and fulfill the criteria then I get an A or A+ (one rare occasion an A++) Surely it's as simple as that???

I'm not the worlds most intelligent person - God knows, or I wouldn't be a single mother in a council house with 2 kids by different dads - sigh. But I know how to read and write and follow instructions and so far my lowest subject grade is 72, yet some of the 20-21 yr olds in my year are at the peak of their llife and they only get 40-50?? Mind you, I still don't get how 40 is a pass. When I did O-levels back in the day, I think you had to get at least 50% to get a C.

If just following instructions was all there was to it then everyone would get firsts, of course it depends on the course and the subject too.

elisebutt65

Yeah but you also have to use every resource availablt to you. Study Support is my second home now - My first year I was in their getting every single fact sheet on how to construct anacademic essay or report. Even fact sheets on sentence construction.

Even my lecturers have said it's sometimes not what you've actually written, but the way that you write it. You can pass an assignment just by getting the grammar, syntax and references spot on getting it constructed properley - Intro, main body, recommendations, conclusion etc. And using refernces properley - not just letting them stand alone - constructively critiscise authors or agree with them and give your reasons. Your thinking doesn't need to be original but it does need to be to the academic standard.

I think it's irrelevant what subject you're doing as long as you stick to those guidelines. Sometimes if i don't understand what a particular author is on about then I wil say so i.e. - 'It is unclear what......', or 'Current thinking on this matter is somewhat confusing...'

I'm doing Tourism Business Management and we have to cover a heck of a lot of different subjects - Resource Management, Marketing, Finance and Economics, IT, Human Resources plus loads of Tourism related stuff as well. Someone told me I was doing a 'soft' subject the other day and I nearly tore their head off - LOL.

Still don't quite know how I got into Tourism as I was going to do medicine many, many years ago -did all the sciences at A level but then ran away to work in London and see the world - LOL. Personally I think it's a lot harder dealing with the intangible business stuff as science seems to be a lot cleaner - IYKWIM??? You do an experiment and it either works or it doesn't, gravity never changes, the speed of light and sound are pretty much constant, Shroedingers cat is dead (or is it?)
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