Got a rubbish uni grade - will I ever get into a masters course?

Have you tried looking at other universities for a masters? There are a great many universities around the country - many that will accept a low 2:1. Having gone to Oxbridge, you may still be of the mindset that you need to go to Cambridge or UCL in order to keep up with the prestige, but it really is okay to apply to other universities.

To the best of my knowledge the requirement at UCL is generally a 2i, and there isn't anything attached to that. I know people that scraped in with the dodgiest 2i, and I know people that have 2iis and have been on certain Masters courses. Possibly the courses you are looking at are in high demand and they're sifting you out - but generally UCL is all about bums on seats and making as much money as possible - so I don't think there's any reason to give up.

One other thing is that UCL is very heavily invested in the multi-disciplinary thing, and various schools teach various subjects from differing angles. I seem to remember that there were about 6 different departments that you could take a neuroscience masters at. So depending on what you're trying to do, look around at different departments.

I can relate to you. Currently also struggling with the fact that I'm not too happy with my grades, although slightly different situation as I am still in the middle of my final year 3 exams. I've thought about what would I do if I was in a similar situation to yours.

I dont know what subject you studied but perhaps there are some online courses provided by some universites that could help elevate your skill set? For example, i was looking at university cambridge advanced online course for clinical trial design. Although these still cost money :/

I think past undergraduate level, a lot of universsities prefer skills/ experience than grades (based off what others have told me). But it also requires a lot of networking/ asking around for such opportunities. If theres something that interests you, perhaps you could email whoever is involved?

UCL Masters accept 2:1s, where did you get the information that a high 2:1 is 67%? to my knowledge its 65%+

I went to Nottingham, 2:2 in Geography and have been accepted (20 years after graduation) for 2 different Masters level courses in Law.

You're hung up now about Oxbridge, but actually in the post graduation world of work, it doesn't hugely matter whether your Degree / Masters is from Oxbridge or from anywhere else... You don't get some free pass into almost all jobs, you compete like everyone else.

Hey, I was pretty devastated when I got my undergrad results – which were a 64 average, with no papers above a 2.i. Was Cambridge so only final year counted, but had got a 69 average the year before & a lot of firsts, and had felt I was on track to get a first (had done well all year, all practice exams & revision supervisions had gone rly well, supervisors were confident in me, I knew my stuff). It was also tripos where second and third years did papers & were examined together, so especially stung that second year counted for nothing because it wasn't even like third year was comprised of harder papers etc. Seeing lots of my peers get firsts, or even higher 2.is, really hurt and I was a bit of a wreck. I definitely missed by grade my Cambridge Mphil offer, can't remember if they revoked it or not (I had already decided not to go because couldn't afford it lol, but I was also already a student at Camb & iirc they can be more lenient internally). To this day, like 4 years later, I still don't know what I did 'wrong,'

I really remember friends etc telling me it was just a grade and wouldn't have a material impact on my life. Seeing as at my college, you got a few hundred quid for getting a first I remember being like 'well that is already a material difference' lol. In particular, I had wanted to do a PhD, and felt like with 'such a low undergrad result' I had no chance in hell of ever getting funding - based both on the experience of people I knew, and just off criteria for how you are ranked by most funders.

Anyway, I decided to try and ~prove myself, and outwardly not let it define me even though I thought about it waaay more than I'd like to admit. Despite getting a low 2.i in my dissertation (which was the lowest grade of anyone I knew on their diss), I got it accepted to a v well respected national conference (fake it till you make it vibes). Then, I went to Goldsmiths to do a Masters part time across 2 years while working 2 part time jobs – again, not getting a first really stung here because Goldsmiths give you a 30% discount on Masters fees automatically if you got one a 1st from anywhere in your undergrad, so once again it felt like my friends claim that my grade wouldn't make a 'material difference' on my life going forward was sorely wrong. But in the end I really loved doing it PT, and it gave me a lot of time both to develop my thinking and build my confidence back up after what felt like a big set back academically (plus one of my jobs had some relevance to my research so that helped). Got some research I did for a module in first year published in a peer reviewed journal, and graduated in the end with an average of 80 (with a lowest grade of 76 on a group project, and 82 on my diss - which I'm p sure was the highest in the year).

But when it came to applying to PhDs this year, I still couldn't help but shake the feeling that despite all these achievements I'd accrued in the interim, that it was my low 2.i that was going to hold me back from funding. I applied super last minute, I think because I kept putting it off because I couldn't bare the rejection I was v sure was coming, and only contacted supervisors in the last week of December (funding deadlines close in mid-late Jan) after deciding it was better to go for it & at least treat it as a practice run. And, ngl, the supervisors I met with did say it could/would be a problem, but hopefully that the rest could balance it out. Anyway I ended up applying to Leeds, Edinburgh, and KCL (the three places someone replied to my email!), and for ESRC funding at KCL + Leeds, and internal funding at Edinburgh (because I'd missed the scottish research council funding window lol). Anyway, I got offers from all three, and ESRC funding offers from both Leeds and KCL (& at Edinburgh I was in the final shortlist for the internal interview - 9 shortlisted for 3 funded spots).

I guess what I'm trying to say is – not getting that high 2.i or First will probably naturally cut off some opportunities (like it did for me with the Goldsmiths scholarship!), and it is dumb to say that it won't – as you already know from missing these offers. However, it by no means has to determine the course of your life, and you can still achieve things academically. Works the other way too – I know people who got firsts in Oxbridge undergrads & mphils, or who ranked at the top of their cohorts etc, who didn't get funding first time round, or who didn't get into their top choice programmes etc. I know you say it's hard to improve on skillset given it was Classics, but what about looking for conferences you could submit a paper proposal to? Or even events and conferences you could attend.

FWIW, everyone I know who did a MA at UCL hated it. I think someone above said "UCL is all about bums on seats and making as much money as possible" – that definitely was how my friends who went there felt was reflected in how they were treated & the learning environment. Have a think as well about what specifically in Classics appeals to you, sometimes unis with departments that rank less highly overall might offer more skills or expertise in specific areas. I know you say you're a prestige chaser, but the academic world is a bit bigger than that. Goldsmiths obviously isn't the most highly ranked uni lol, but the MA I did there was pretty pioneering & unique (and well renowned for this), and I absolutely loved my MA there and would do it again if I could – tbh starting PhD in September I'm always worried I won't find a learning environment quite like it! Reason I didn't apply for a PhD there was less aligned supervisors to my research focus & the fact I know they v v limited funding lol.

I can relate to you. Currently also struggling with the fact that I'm not too happy with my grades, although slightly different situation as I am still in the middle of my final year 3 exams. I've thought about what would I do if I was in a similar situation to yours.

I dont know what subject you studied but perhaps there are some online courses provided by some universites that could help elevate your skill set? For example, i was looking at university cambridge advanced online course for clinical trial design. Although these still cost money :/

I think past undergraduate level, a lot of universsities prefer skills/ experience than grades (based off what others have told me). But it also requires a lot of networking/ asking around for such opportunities. If theres something that interests you, perhaps you could email whoever is involved?

Best of luck for your grades! It’s not over till it’s over!

I did classics, and I did actually do a course for Ancient Greek, and got rejected when I reapplied anyway lol. I can’t really do anything more than that, since it’s not a skills based course. So I think I’m just going to give up.

my self esteem from academia is so low I can't even apply without crying, and I don't even need a degree to get in lol. Probably this is symptomatic of a larger esteem issue, and I aim to apply to these great universities because if I get into them, I surely can't be as awful as I think that I am inside, and when that fails, my worst fears of my being 'average' or even 'bad' are realised, even just in my head rather than reality. I got the same mark as you in finals! And I feel like it's branded on my forehead lol. I think I need to rest for another year and do some serious soul searching.

Hi guys. I was a good student all throughout my years at uni, usually scoring high 2:1s, some firsts. My four years trying my absolute hardest and doing well ended in two weeks of exams that I tanked. I got a low 2:1, which for my uni is ****. I don't know anyone else who did worse than me. I had offers to Cambridge and UCL, and missed the grades and my appeals were rejected. I reapplied, and was rejected without interview, and I'm 90% sure it's because of my grade. Everywhere states that they require a 'high 2:1 (67%+) or a first'. I realise now that I've totally ****ed it for the rest of my life. All my hard work and all my passion and efforts into a subject I loved and the exam board decided on a bad week that I wasn't good enough, and I can never change that on my records. One paper I didn't even pass, and every admissions committee gets to see that I barely scraped by in almost ever paper and immediately will reject me. What can I do? I've been out of uni for a year, and I hate it. Have I ruined my hopes completely? I'm ambitious, I went to Oxbridge, and now I'm working in a gift shop with all my offers pulled and rejected from everything I've reapplied for. Should I give up on academia?

From an outside perspective, there do seem to be some deep-rooted, unhelpful thought patterns that are (a) motivating this desire to do a Masters at a 'top' uni, and (b) perpetuating this sense of despair and failure. I'm a hypocrite saying that because I was similar at your age in my experiences and thinking (though I left Oxford with a 2.2 rather than a 2.1.Definitely felt defined by that/branded on my forehead with it for about a decade!) But honestly, the best thing you can do for yourself is to try and work on the underlying issues that are making you feel this way so that you have more self-confidence and self-worth/self-esteem outside of academia Do things you enjoy: work, travel, do courses just for fun, get some counselling/therapy if you can. These will all help you to see your 2.1. for what it is, which is a great mark! It may not have been the mark you wanted or needed but it's nothing to be ashamed of

Oxbridge is very punitive in how everything - or at least most things - rely on those final few weeks/days of exams and if you're having a bad time of it for whatever reason, then you're absolutely screwed. You're not the first person this has happened to and certainly won't be the last. Did you have your referees try and advocate for you when your offers for Cambridge and UCL got terminated and the appeals failed? Coz what got me into Masters courses (requiring a 2.1., which I obviously didn't have!) was having THE leading name in the field of music studies I was applying to, acting as lead referee and attesting that my BA grades were not reflective of my abilities at all but the result of severe illness in third year. Same for my PhD course when I applied to that. He had been my dissertation supervisor and even though I looked dodgy as **** on paper (with third year transcript marks ranging from 41-70!), his word counted for far more than any transcript ever would.

I had to self-fund both those courses, which is less than ideal in some respects, and these were the days before SFE postgrad loans! But my point is that where there's a will, there's often a way - even if it's slower or less prestigious. Incidentally, I also did a part-time Masters at Goldsmiths like someone else above did and whilst it's far from the best uni in the world or anything, it was a very innovative, cutting-edge MA and had better module choices than I would have done at Oxford. (I applied for the Oxford MSt but was rejected without interview before I sat my Finals. They were fed up of me and my pop music malarkey and couldn't bear to keep me on an extra year, with or without funding My dissertation supervisor was the one who had to reject me as well! So at least you got an offer in the first place!)

If you really want to do an MPhil/MA/MSt course, there will be places you can do that. You may have to set your sights lower but learning not to be too uppity about prestige is no bad thing. You may find yourself pleasantly surprised and much happier - and at the very least, you'd probably be somewhere with a more humane approach to grading students for the overall degree classification!

Chin up and feel free to PM me if that'd help. I know what it's like to end up burnt (out) by an Oxbridge humanities degree

Hi! Can I ask you how you found/chose your referees and how you went about asking them for a reference? What was your relationship like (e.g. did you meet up or have them read your work regularly) for them to be able to attest to your abilities? And did you tell them from the start you wanted them to write a reference for your masters??
Sorry for asking so many questions, I'm a bit clueless & panicky atm! xx

Hi guys. I was a good student all throughout my years at uni, usually scoring high 2:1s, some firsts. My four years trying my absolute hardest and doing well ended in two weeks of exams that I tanked. I got a low 2:1, which for my uni is ****. I don't know anyone else who did worse than me. I had offers to Cambridge and UCL, and missed the grades and my appeals were rejected. I reapplied, and was rejected without interview, and I'm 90% sure it's because of my grade. Everywhere states that they require a 'high 2:1 (67%+) or a first'. I realise now that I've totally ****ed it for the rest of my life. All my hard work and all my passion and efforts into a subject I loved and the exam board decided on a bad week that I wasn't good enough, and I can never change that on my records. One paper I didn't even pass, and every admissions committee gets to see that I barely scraped by in almost ever paper and immediately will reject me. What can I do? I've been out of uni for a year, and I hate it. Have I ruined my hopes completely? I'm ambitious, I went to Oxbridge, and now I'm working in a gift shop with all my offers pulled and rejected from everything I've reapplied for. Should I give up on academia?