The Student Room Group

Final year resubmissions and caps

I was averaging 63 for my degree and had 2:2 conditional offers for my master's. i was recently told that id have to resubmit my dissertation in the summer due to an assessment irregularity. This also means that my graduation ceremony will only be in january or february. Now would i be able to start my masters in september if i can get my transcripts before that or would i have to wait till after my ceremony, defer for a year? There is a possiblity that i might now be getting a third class degree as my dissertation is 40 credits and it also gets capped at 40. Would this mean my master's offers being revoked eventhough im averaging a 2:1 barring just one module? If yes then would i have to do some kind of foundation programme/degree so that i can satisfy the entry requirements for my master's?
Sorry i know theres a lot f questions up there
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by rp4904
I was averaging 63 for my degree and had 2:2 conditional offers for my master's. i was recently told that id have to resubmit my dissertation in the summer due to an assessment irregularity. This also means that my graduation ceremony will only be in january or february. Now would i be able to start my masters in september if i can get my transcripts before that or would i have to wait till after my ceremony, defer for a year? There is a possiblity that i might now be getting a third class degree as my dissertation is 40 credits and it also gets capped at 40. Would this mean my master's offers being revoked eventhough im averaging a 2:1 barring just one module? If yes then would i have to do some kind of foundation programme/degree so that i can satisfy the entry requirements for my master's?
Sorry i know theres a lot f questions up there


This will depend on the regulations at the university you are graduating from and the university you want to go to. You don't say what the "assessment irregularity" is - I'm not going to ask - but you will get your results before the graduation ceremony. (BTW. If your 40 credits are capped at 40% and you have 80 credits averaging 63%, then you would receive 55% in total, which I presume is mid-2:2, not a third, which should hopefully be a little consolation that you can still get on your part II course.)

Does the second university not expect you to complete any part 1 "year-out" experience? If not, I would recommend it anyway as there is a big shift in expectations (knowledge, self-direction and time-management) from part I to part II.

I'm not judging here, but if you are averaging 63% (I'm assuming that a 2:1 is 60 - 69% if the pass mark is 40%) for everything except the dissertation, it seems like there might be other issues here. Have you been tested for dyslexia for example? *

If in doubt, speak to the universities. You should be able to defer rather than lose you masters place if you put it off for a year.

Good luck.*
I think there are Masters degrees thag are not part of accreditation systems for architecture, i.e part 2. So perhaps OP is talking about Masters rather than the part 2 diploma. I'm never really sure why people do it as it is not accredited so where will it get them? My thought to OP is will he stand much chance with architecture employers with a 2:2 a masters on top may help but it may all be in vain. Consider perhaps whether you might be able to get a HND at 2:1 or even first equivalent as it will take in first year marks (assuming there decent). A better grade HND may do more for you. Knock the final year off your CV. Then look at other ways of moving forward.
Original post by Stewie2011
I think there are Masters degrees thag are not part of accreditation systems for architecture, i.e part 2. So perhaps OP is talking about Masters rather than the part 2 diploma. I'm never really sure why people do it as it is not accredited so where will it get them? My thought to OP is will he stand much chance with architecture employers with a 2:2 a masters on top may help but it may all be in vain. Consider perhaps whether you might be able to get a HND at 2:1 or even first equivalent as it will take in first year marks (assuming there decent). A better grade HND may do more for you. Knock the final year off your CV. Then look at other ways of moving forward.


Stewie you're right, in that there are non-accredited Masters courses (although technically there are no accredited Masters courses because part II courses are only 120 credits at Masters level rather than 180 credits - this is a relic of the grant funding structure before full fees) however most Universities have relaxed the title rather than calling their Part II courses ProfDips or similar. Taught Masters courses offer specialisms, so I imagine people do them for that reason, although it maybe leads to a career in research rather than practice?

As for your other point, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a 2:2 degree. Before the League Tables started calling 2:1s "good degrees" it's what most people received (as degree classifications were distributed according to percentages rather than criterion, you were unlucky if you were in a talented year!) TBH, (apart from Universities) after your first job no one asks what degree classification you received because they are intested in your experience.
Original post by SebastianMesser
Stewie you're right, in that there are non-accredited Masters courses (although technically there are no accredited Masters courses because part II courses are only 120 credits at Masters level rather than 180 credits - this is a relic of the grant funding structure before full fees) however most Universities have relaxed the title rather than calling their Part II courses ProfDips or similar. Taught Masters courses offer specialisms, so I imagine people do them for that reason, although it maybe leads to a career in research rather than practice?

As for your other point, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a 2:2 degree. Before the League Tables started calling 2:1s "good degrees" it's what most people received (as degree classifications were distributed according to percentages rather than criterion, you were unlucky if you were in a talented year!) TBH, (apart from Universities) after your first job no one asks what degree classification you received because they are intested in your experience.


Way back in the day 2:2 was regarded as decent enough, but we're talking at least 15-20 years or more ago. Now, it's likely to be a killer to many a job application to an architecture practice a graduate would make. There I'd always the exception to the rule but it will be a hard task for many unless they have good contacts already. For sure after a short while in industry it's experience that counts and often applicants just put down degree without stating classification. To be honest I think it's all b*llocks, architecture courses of all variety poorly fit into the degree structure. A simply pass/fail would be better for everybody with a portfolio created being the focus in which the student pursues pushing their skills to the furtherest. There is such favouritism, bias, subjectivity, cheating, helping out by lecturer, parents/relatives/friends in practice that often any notion of classification being any relation to skill level us a joke.
Original post by Stewie2011
Way back in the day 2:2 was regarded as decent enough, but we're talking at least 15-20 years or more ago. Now, it's likely to be a killer to many a job application to an architecture practice a graduate would make. There I'd always the exception to the rule but it will be a hard task for many unless they have good contacts already. For sure after a short while in industry it's experience that counts and often applicants just put down degree without stating classification. To be honest I think it's all b*llocks, architecture courses of all variety poorly fit into the degree structure. A simply pass/fail would be better for everybody with a portfolio created being the focus in which the student pursues pushing their skills to the furtherest. There is such favouritism, bias, subjectivity, cheating, helping out by lecturer, parents/relatives/friends in practice that often any notion of classification being any relation to skill level us a joke.


as I said, the league tables are in large part responsible for grade inflation and the expectation that *everyone* should get a 2:1. If you do the RIBA Examinations for Office Based Candidates (which is not a degree qualification) then your part I and part II are pass-fail. Whilst I agree to some extent with you about the comparability of degrees from different institutions, architecture is more unified than most degrees because of the RIBA/ARB syllabus and the External Examiner process (a misnomer as the role off the EE is to ensure consistency from year to year and with other institutions, not to examine individual students, so they are primarily looking at grade boundaries).

However, you're wrong about 2:2 being a career killer. At the height of the recession (2009) 50% of graduates from my university with a 2:2 had jobs in architecture practices (or other relevant, PEDR-able experience) after 6 months. (For comparison 75% of 2:1s had jobs). So I'm not saying it doesn't make a difference, but the OP already has a place for Part II and no one will be interested in the degree classification once they have that.

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