3rd degree, what do I do now? [Considering Appeal]

zorber

What are you worried about! unless you have a specific job in mind that needs a 2:2 or higher (most civil service jobs for example). then dont worry as previous posters have said your degree will match the amount of effort you put in throught the course.
Now i can speak from example i spent 3 years lets say socialising and missed most of my lectures, infact the best challange i had was picking up the brightest students so i could copy their notes, i was told i had more tools in my toolbox then most but i was not disaplined and enjoyed having a good time too much, i too did science and some of my friends how did other courses picked up better grades because they could waffle and there was no right or wrong answer, in science you cant do that. Well any way after my course finished i couldnt get a job so i moved back to the town i did my degree in and picked up a job in a supermarket, there were a few of us that did this and all we wanted was a good time, i worked hard at work and i played hard, and was a deputy manager within 2 years, i moved away from my uni town to get my self sorted as met a bird etc, Doing ok now 2 kids not a bad job in head office company car etc,

Another poster above said the best thing you can do is get experiance in what you want to do, this absolutely fantastic advice, all the doors that closed when i got a third reopened after less than 2 years work experiance.

10 years on and i look around its not about the money (though it helps) its about being happy. i look around at some of my friends and they are doing really well, some havent really progressed, some are moving forwards and then slipping back and some are dead!! Its about being happy, the right girl etc

One of my ex girlfriends work hard through uni, couldnt get a job on graduating did volantary work for a year then did a masters before we lost touch, so having a good degree doesnt qualify you for a good job its more than that!!.

i will stop going on now.

Gingernutmeg

empfun wrote: »

What does 2:1 and 2:2 mean?

There are basically four classes of degree - a 1st, a 2:1, a 2:2 and a 3rd. A first is awarded (generally) for a degree passed with an average mark of over 70%, a 2:1 for 60-69%, a 2:2 for 50-59% and a 3rd for an average mark of 40-49%. I *think* that some universities (generally the prestigious ones) award 'starred' firsts, for consistently high marks, but these are incredibly rare and are generally unheard of outside of the sciences and maths.

Different universities have different methods for working out this 'average' mark - mine, for example, bases your degree classification on the average mark gained in the top 20 of the 24 credits taken in the second and third year. At other universities, they sometimes use a percentage of each year, and sometimes the years are weighted differently (ie your third year counts for (say) 60% of the degree and the second year counts for 40%).

BigBouncyBall

what a good positive post zorber!

I'm in a not dissimilar position (2.2) and I just think sod all those people who got firsts and the employers who won't look at you - i for one wouldn't want anything to do with an employer that judged who they employed based solely on exams and classification ( i know they have to weed people out somehow before you lot jump on me for that one) - there are LOADS of things to do out there - not just in this country either, a third from a british uni might be a really good starting point in somewhere like Asia or North America.

I don't know how old you are but assuming 21/22 that is still very young by european/n. american graduation ages - they tend to not complete until mid twenties so we've got 3 or 4 years on them!

I'm sure in years to come you'll not worry what you or anybody else got at uni.

BigBouncyBall

Gingernutmeg wrote: »

There are basically four classes of degree - a 1st, a 2:1, a 2:2 and a 3rd.

There are also two more: "Pass" and "Fail" - A third is not the bottom of the pile. A Third is a perfectly acceptable degree classification - better than a Pass! It's like getting a C at A-Level with a passing being a D, say and a Fail being an E or something.

bestpud

dellfanatic wrote: »

My personal tutor was aware of the situation, he's chair of the board so it's not like I didn't speak to the right person. Regarding the viva, I did meet my project supervisor straight afterwards and I was quite vocal in how the viva exam went, he was surprised at the questions I was asked. I then met a postgrad researcher who helped me with the lab work. I told her what I was asked. She said she wouldn't have known that. So I have left a little trail I can pick up on if needed.

In terms of my degree I agree I should have had a better result. The department also suffered staff shortages due to extreme apathy but the external examiner was aware of this so I presume they have taken account of it. I attained the highest mark in the country at two AS-Level biology modules, but recently as my parents have been going through a divource which my "dad" is drawing out and using every legal loophole to prolong, it's caused my mother a lot of stress. Our car was vandalised by him as well as our fence panels sprayed with obscene words. So it's not surprising she's under stress, consequently I've had to look over the household admin e.g. insurance & finances/banking among others (she's had overdraft charges 5 times in the last two years, compared with never in her entire life - don't worry I reclaimed the charges!) - the reason I compare myself favourably to others in my cohort is that with all respect to them, I am so much more aware of the real world due to the responsibility I've had to take on for my family and I know I have skills that a private business would cherish.

I'm going to contact the tutor who was present in the viva interview (in a chaperone capacity) to ask why I was asked such irrelevant questions. Thanks for your replies I appreciate all this advice and BigBouncyBall, the proverb is so appropriate, thank you! I'm not sure whether to contact the registrar first or the tutor, from my perspective the registry are in more of a position to give advice as I see it. My personal tutor is chair of the exam board and probably the one who made the decision and as he's also my CV reference (academic) I'm concerned about approaching him

It definitely seems worth appealing imo. At our uni, you would have been given the chance to resit any exams/assignments for which you successfully claimes mitigating circumstances but they won't change existing grades - were you given the option of re-submitting the affected work?

Would the people you spoke to be prepared to speak up and support your claim? That would definitely help, I'd have thought, but they may not want to 'rock boats' themselves.

I guess you won't have lost anything by trying anyway?

I can see what you mean when comparing yourself to others now - I thought you meant you had done better uni work, which seemed a little odd. Really though, if you have better life skills then these can be more valuable - it's just a case of finding employers willing to see past the grade. You 'uni of life' degree will shine out at interviews!

Sorry to hear about the problems you have had at home. Did you speak to the uni counsellor or access any other support as that may help your claim too?

Best wishes and don't get too disheartened,

Bestpud

devild_2

Seems as though it's everyone else's fault but your own. First thing you should do is accept responsibility.

Errata

BigBouncyBall wrote: »

There are also two more: "Pass" and "Fail" - A third is not the bottom of the pile. A Third is a perfectly acceptable degree classification - better than a Pass! It's like getting a C at A-Level with a passing being a D, say and a Fail being an E or something.

There's also Editors Fourth - awarded for spending 4 years faffing about on the student newspaper.

welf_man

I'd strongly advise you to contact the Students' Union - there will be someone there who deals with Academic Appeals and can advise you.

Mel.

dellfanatic

Thanks again for being so encouraging! I think it's a brilliant idea to contact the Students' Union. I should point out that I did not socialise much, or go out, I spent a lot of time with my course work because I understand how serious it is. I had a few wonderful friends who stuck with me even though I wouldn't see them often, sometimes for a couple of weeks at a time. I've never felt the need to 'go out' in that sense as I know that I went to university studying a serious subject for a reason.

bestpud, thanks for the post I didn't go for counselling though my personal tutor did recommend it if I felt it was needed. However, I saw (and still see) no point - my issue is that I've had to take on extra responsibility over household matters and counselling would only have been an extra strain on my time, i.e. they wouldn't be able to give legal advice to help end the court proceedings which seem to drag on and on (now he's trying to gain possession of the house we live in).

Submitted work was generally good, my lowest mark if I remember rightly was 62%, highest was 78%. No opportunity has been given for any resits/resubmissions.

Regarding those people getting on board, I'm going to email them tomorrow to ask about the questions I was asked in the viva and how reasonable they consider those questions to be (I've already met one who said she couldn't have answered them). They are both research staff though so it'll be interesting to see what comes back. Thank you I'm keeping positive and it's so encouraging to have this support and advice, I'm very grateful to you all.

Aspal

I turned down a place at Cambridge Uni (due to various personal issues at the time) and got a job at 17 instead. By the time my school friends started looking for work, I was a qualified accountant. Now, no-one ever even comments that I didn't go to Uni, or care that I got all As at A-level - they go on work experience!! You might have to start a little lower down the ladder than planned, but you can always design your CV so you don't show grades anyway. Most employers will realise that good grades are achieved by those that are good at exams, and don't necessarily equate to suitability for a job. You just need to wow them at interview. Smaller firms probably appreciate that more than bigger firms tho, as they generally don't have criteria set in stone by an HR department to weed out CVs at the start. By all means try an appeal, but it's not the end of the world!!!