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Student at University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh

Importance of final year (Honours)?

I'm just posting to ask what the benefits/pitfalls are of doing/not doing the final year of the Scottish degree? I apologise in advance if this appears to be a ridiculous question - I was just hoping for some more input.

Some background info: I'm an international student (from the US), I started university in the US before I decided to transfer over to the UK, thereby restarting my degree process. I will have been in uni for over 4 years by the time I finish my 3rd year here in Edinburgh.

I'm doing a joint degree (Politics/Social Anth), and in good standing grade-wise, however, over the past 5 months, I have been going back and forth between staying and leaving. There are other passions in my life I want to pursue before starting my career, and I do plan on going to graduate school in the US to get my Master's.

Some information I gathered online makes it seem as if not doing the final year would be 'academic suicide', several posts indicated that, primarily, individuals with poor grades take the 'ordinary' route, and one person noted that employers would be less inclined to higher a student with a simply 'ordinary' degree.

Is this the case everywhere or just in the UK? Would this potentially be the case once I finish my graduate degree as well?

Many thanks for any help - it's an important decision to make.
Original post by mcarr17

Some information I gathered online makes it seem as if not doing the final year would be 'academic suicide', several posts indicated that, primarily, individuals with poor grades take the 'ordinary' route, and one person noted that employers would be less inclined to higher a student with a simply 'ordinary' degree.


It is. You take the ordinary degree if the university aren't going to give you a full honours degree - it's not typically something you volunteer for. The only person I know who willingly signed off after 3 years had a lot of trouble when they tried to do a graduate degree (insufficient credits etc.). If you've got this far, you might as well finish the full thing.
Student at University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh

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