BA (Econ) Third Class Honours - Manchester

In my Final year, just handing in my dissertation. I think that I am heading for a Third in my degree overall. I was just wondering what success previous graduates have experienced with a Third class degree on Manchester's BA Econ and/or another degree?

In my Final year, just handing in my dissertation. I think that I am heading for a Third in my degree overall. I was just wondering what success previous graduates have experienced with a Third class degree on Manchester's BA Econ and/or another degree?

68.8% or more in my last 3 exams. I'm hoping for the best/planning for the worst atm.

Thats going to be really tough depending on what area you want to go into? Did you say you did Economics? Thats a tough degree but most grad schemes ask for 2.1's in any subject, as ridiculous as it is. I know Carol Vorderman got a 3rd and she did alright

Carol Vorderman didn't get a job in today's market though. There are top bankers and barristers in London who only got 2:2's in the past. The system has had a complete overhaul.

Not to mention her degree was from Cambridge so would be equivalent to a 2.2 or a low 2.1 anyway

True, although difficult to truly quantify. The gap between Cambridge (and Oxford) and most other uni's used to be much greater back in the 1970's.

[This does not reflect on current-day reputation weightings]

Says who? In fact I would say the opposite. Academics regularly complain that students these days are not well-prepared by A levels, and that standards have dropped. Cambridge, on the other hand, has maintained its standards because it uses its own entrance exams and takes the very best.

Well a lot of those uni's were poly's and academies at the time, so subtract them. Then subtract the uni's that did not exist at the time. A large number of good uni's were only young and gaining their feet in the 70's (York, Warwick, etc). Plus, back then there was more of a network system, with former Oxbridge grads hiring Oxbridge grads. This boosted the worth of their degree in comparison to the remaining uni's in some fields.

Therefore, in comparison to today the Cambridge degree may be seen to have held more value than degrees from other institutions at the time. All you really need to do though is speak to someone in their 50's to hear about Oxbridge's previous reputation. I mean, Oxford in the 70's didn't bother separating 2:1 and 2:2!

Carol Vorderman didn't get a job in today's market though. There are top bankers and barristers in London who only got 2:2's in the past. The system has had a complete overhaul.

The most successful person I know has a 3rd class degree. It's what you do with it what counts. You have to become good at selling yourself, buff up you CV with lots of extras i.e. training/skills specific to what you want to do (particularly if you pay for private training that is accredited/leads to professional qualification), volunteer, etc. My friend did exactly that and 'volunteered' at 2 companies for 1 day a week at each over a year, which gave him fantastic experience and references, whilst he also worked part time for another two days, and spent the other day of the week gaining professional qualz, while he was 'building himself'), and even though he appeared behind a bit at first, he caught up and overtook pretty quickly in terms of level/salary etc. I think having a 3rd made him try harder and really graft to prove himself, whilst those with higher grades sat smugly thinking a job would just come to them because they had a high grade. After the first job, it's experience that counted, and he had heaps, gained from 3 workplaces (his part-time work - nothing grand, but developed general skills - plus his two volunteer experience roles.) HTH

In my Final year, just handing in my dissertation. I think that I am heading for a Third in my degree overall. I was just wondering what success previous graduates have experienced with a Third class degree on Manchester's BA Econ and/or another degree?