What am I supposed to do with this degree thing? Paper hat?

Ianna

Note: I merely asked why you thought it was useful I did not criticise, I'm not sure why you felt the need to be so personal and critical in your return.

not at all, in fact it makes me feel quite white to think that a 'top university' let you graduate in ENGLISH of all subjects with such appaling spelling...

I'm not getting into this in this thread, the OPs obviously unhappy with it. If either of you feel the need to discuss this further then pm me but snarking here clearly isn't fair on her.

Ianna

Lady_fuscia: Learn direct have some good advice online or you can speak to an advisor over the phone: tip with call centres, if at first you don't get anything useful call back and try again and/or ask for a supervisor because the quality of personnel can vary wildly. You can try Connexions website who even have an advisor online: like me you're too old for their service (we're over the hill!!) but if you're 24 or under with a disability (e.g. partially deaf - and online they can't check) they should be able to help otherwise they can direct you to other services.

You might also think about volunteering because it can provide fantastic experience, training and looks great on a CV - not to mention how incredibly rewarding it is. This website lets you search through fields of interest and area to pick and choose something you'd like to do: had a quick look for you and there are opportunities with writing therapy, adult literacy and other similar fields. You could also try The Princes Trust for activities in your area. If you volunteer in an area and hate it then at least you can cross that off your potentials list. Speak to companies in the fields you're thinking about and see if you can have a week or two work experience with them to get contacts and an inside view on the field.

This site was recommended by The Independent careers in response to questions about media The government careers site: try also your local council for info on careers, they may have drop in centres or the like. There's jobseekers as well but in my experience they just aren't experienced in dealing with HE and beyond because few of their clients are educated. I personally avoid sites like Aimhigher because they're only looking at getting you into HE rather than what's right for you.

Again hun, you're not alone in this. You sound down and you sound like you think there's something wrong with you but from what you say you've been very proactive and the mere fact that you're here asking for links shows that you're trying to help yourself.

Oldernotwiser

Some people with 2:2s may have been making excellent use of their time at university; budding journalists who've been busy on the university newpaper and students actively involved as volunteers within their communities are only two of the possibilities. The skills and experience that they will have developed by this type of involvement are likely to prove far more useful to them than the class of their degree.
Obviously there are also people who have been ill whilst studying (or caring for dependents) and it will be a tribute to their tenacity that they've even finished the course, never mind the class. Both these groups of people can put forward their experiences to employers in a positive way which will reflect well on the future employment prospects. Even the hard working 2:2 "plodder" can present this as a virtue to an employer; after all, most employers want people who work hard and are persistent.

Unfortunately, if you've got a 2:2 because of too much socialising or putting in too many hours at your part time job then all that you can do about it is move on and learn from your mistakes. Show an employer that you've learnt the importance of prioritising tasks and that you've got excessive socialising out of your system during your student days. Try to take something positive from every experience.

Katmc2k

Ianna wrote: »

If either of you feel the need to discuss this further then pm me

have pm'd you.

studentphil

Never have I heard so much rubbish about grades. In my department the average mark is 54 and that is right as a 2:2 is considered to be the average grade and 2:1 is considered very good and above average.

Therefore, a 2:2 is the average grade and is completely fine.

One grade on a CV should not make you unemployable anyway as it is one small small part of your application.

Oldernotwiser

Obviously the percentages vary between institutions and courses but in 2001 Hesa showed that 53.2 % of students gained a First or 2:1. This percentage increased to over 68% for those studying for degrees in Humanities. However you manipulate these figures, it's hard to see a 2:2 as an average degree any more.

studentphil

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Obviously the percentages vary between institutions and courses but in 2001 Hesa showed that 53.2 % of students gained a First or 2:1. This percentage increased to over 68% for those studying for degrees in Humanities. However you manipulate these figures, it's hard to see a 2:2 as an average degree any more.

Maybe my department is very harsh at marking or given that it is very complex subject that students tend to achieve less.

But it still an oxford 2.2 is vastly different compared to course that required EE to get into as the levels of the courses are vastly miles apart.

retepetsir

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Obviously the percentages vary between institutions and courses but in 2001 Hesa showed that 53.2 % of students gained a First or 2:1. This percentage increased to over 68% for those studying for degrees in Humanities. However you manipulate these figures, it's hard to see a 2:2 as an average degree any more.

Imo it entirely depends on what course you are studying. There are a lot less people acheived 1st's in Physics/Mathematics/Engineering (the degree that I'm currently taking), than Media Studies/Psychology/Film/English/Other....not meaning to be rude to anybody.

2 people on our course came out with 1st's last year, out of 22.

3plus1

studentphil wrote: »

Therefore, a 2:2 is the average grade and is completely fine.

One grade on a CV should not make you unemployable anyway as it is one small small part of your application.

In my experience, all of the big graduate recruiters only accept a 2:1 or above, and although the degree is one small part of your application, if you don't have the 2:1, you won't even be considered.

A 2:1 is the average grade these days. I'm not saying it's easy to achieve - hell, I'm panicking like mad about my upcoming final year exams - but I am saying that employers treat it as a must.

The exception... is if you can prove mitigating circumstances. If there was a genuine reason why you didn't do as well as you could have done, don't consider it whiney, consider it your ticket out of unemployment..! If something awful happened to you, don't mope, exploit it to get you a better job. Every cloud has a silver lining and all that...!

slinks

Lusignan wrote: »

And 'appaling' should be 'appalling.' Not really in a position to throw stones, methinks.

not that i feel i need to have to convince u, but mine was a typo

the other poster's mistake was COMPLETELY wrong so quite likely to be a spelling mistake

:rolleyes: