The great '2:2 will leave you unemployed' rubbish. Do classifications even matter?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2012/apr/17/what-students-do-if-their-grades-are-low

Having read this, I was not surprised. I have an exam tomorrow but quite frankly having read the comments, why bother?

Why should anyone bother trying to work hard in education? I feel like I've just completely waste 3 years of my life working my butt off for a first/2:1, and I feel like my hard working friends have too.

Why should we have worked hard and gotten a 2:1/first, when we could have quite literally just ****ed about, done no work, enjoyed ourselves for 3 years drinking ourselves stupid into the whee hours of the morning and just studied a day before the exam so we didn't fail?

Why not just do that, if anything above a 2:2 won't help at all towards career success?

I thought that working hard and getting a 2:1 would at the very least make it easier to get a job. Hell, I would have thought that a 2:1 in something as respected as a maths degree might get me a second glance.

Having read this article though, perhaps I should never have bothered.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2012/apr/17/what-students-do-if-their-grades-are-low

Having read this, I was not surprised. I have an exam tomorrow but quite frankly having read the comments, why bother?

Why should anyone bother trying to work hard in education? I feel like I've just completely waste 3 years of my life working my butt off for a first/2:1, and I feel like my hard working friends have too.

Why should we have worked hard and gotten a 2:1/first, when we could have quite literally just ****ed about, done no work, enjoyed ourselves for 3 years drinking ourselves stupid into the whee hours of the morning and just studied a day before the exam so we didn't fail?

Why not just do that, if anything above a 2:2 won't help at all towards career success?

I thought that working hard and getting a 2:1 would at the very least make it easier to get a job. Hell, I would have thought that a 2:1 in something as respected as a maths degree might get me a second glance.

Having read this article though, perhaps I should never have bothered.

You have an exam tomorrow.

I'm going to guess you're having that "**** it I'm not going to bother with exams because degrees are worthless anyway" moment.

We've all been there
In fact I think people question the worth of their grades most during exam time when they have a niggling feeling that the exams won't go as well as they'd hoped.

imo/ime your degree classification, subject and university are a lonngggg way down the list of important things when it comes to getting a job. It's all about your experience, charisma and general people-skills. A degree should be used for making contacts and very easily getting placements in industry. The actual certification you receive at the end is largely irrelevant.

I have no doubts I won't succeed tomorrow, since I have prepared extensively throughout the year and worked hard to understand my degree while others simply gave up and had fun. While I was doing my problem sets, they were watching tv or watching a movie or 'doing nothing'. While I worked and forced myself to do what I didnt want to, all I was thinking was, "it's worth it in the end. I'll have a 2:1 and they won't".

This article questions my entire belief system.

What does a degree classification have to do with one's ability to work in the real world?

I know several people on my course had no problems securing jobs with some of the biggest companies the world with 2:2s. Experience counts for far more.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2012/apr/17/what-students-do-if-their-grades-are-low

Having read this, I was not surprised. I have an exam tomorrow but quite frankly having read the comments, why bother?

Why should anyone bother trying to work hard in education? I feel like I've just completely waste 3 years of my life working my butt off for a first/2:1, and I feel like my hard working friends have too.

Why should we have worked hard and gotten a 2:1/first, when we could have quite literally just ****ed about, done no work, enjoyed ourselves for 3 years drinking ourselves stupid into the whee hours of the morning and just studied a day before the exam so we didn't fail?

Why not just do that, if anything above a 2:2 won't help at all towards career success?

I thought that working hard and getting a 2:1 would at the very least make it easier to get a job. Hell, I would have thought that a 2:1 in something as respected as a maths degree might get me a second glance.

Having read this article though, perhaps I should never have bothered.

We're in a harsh economic climate at the moment and there are more people graduating with degrees than is strictly necessary. This is what the problem is.

I'm not in a position to be looking for work at the moment but my understanding has been that whilst the kind of jobs I would be looking at would still be open to me, quite a few doors automatically close in your face too.

In any case, it's worth getting a 2.1 or above just for the satisfaction of knowing that you are capable of it and achieved it. Otherwise you probably regret not trying harder or (in my case) are left with a degree that doesn't reflect your abilities. It's very frustrating having a 2.2

You think everyone who got a 2:2 just drank in final year? Seriously? I didn't drink once in final year. My dissertation had to be restarted twice because after being given the go-ahead I was told it was far too broad, which meant it had to be started over. Within 6 weeks I wrote a 16,000 word dissertation which needed huge amount of primary research and five 6-7,000 word essays- 4 of which were due on the same day as another and all of which counted for either nothing but still had to be done (2) or the whole of the module. I was in the library from 9am-8pm every day, I frequently had to work on 48 hours of no sleep and I was sick from stress and overwork for much of that time. Everything was done on time with extensive research BUT it was not done to the best of my ability as I literally could not devote my all to each piece. So I got a 2:2 and was refused the chance to appeal it. I was the only person in my course who had all of those deadlines on top of each other and the only one with an incompetent dissertation tutor who set me back by weeks.

I understand that there are of course people who prefer to socialise rather than do their assignments properly, but to throw everyone who gets 2:2's and under into that pile? You are delusional.