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It's not grade inflation at top uni's as much as it is the effects of the internet..

With a 2:2 though you've kind of proved you can't use a library or the internet effectively. Kind of a double whammy.

Back in the day just means you weren't good at the library. 🙆😂😂
Original post by mnot
She had an engineering degree from Cambridge before grade inflation took off...
Reply 21
Why are you all mentioning 2:2s? A third is below a 2:2.
Original post by Loosie goosie
So because it's coming out of your mouth that suddenly makes it a fact does it?

Don't talk nonsense.

Are you claiming the opposite?
Well you can say bye-bye to any job requiring a degree. A 3rd isn't called a fail, but it essentially is. People with a 2:2 struggle to find jobs in a market where 80% have a 2:1 or above. With a 3rd... well... starbucks is always hiring.

In fact, you may be better off not putting the degree on your CV at all. You wont be getting degree-requiring jobs, and non degree requring jobs will either think you're overqualified for the position having gone to uni, or will be turned off by the 3rd class grade.
(edited 4 years ago)
I’ve got a 2:1 and an MA with Merit and I’m in an entry level job which doesn’t require a degree at all as that’s all I could get!
Original post by mnot
What Uni, what course?


BCU, it was a design course
Original post by DarthRoar
Well you can say bye-bye to any job requiring a degree. A 3rd isn't called a fail, but it essentially is. People with a 2:2 struggle to find jobs in a market where 80% have a 2:1 or above. With a 3rd... well... starbucks is always hiring.

In fact, you may be better off not putting the degree on your CV at all. You wont be getting degree-requiring jobs, and non degree requring jobs will either think you're overqualified for the position having gone to uni, or will be turned off by the 3rd class grade.


I won't be asked what grade I got so I can put it on my cv. It was a design course, for design grades don't matter, it's all about the design work. If an employer likes my design work then I will get a job, they won't ask what grade I got for my degree.
Original post by Anonymous
I won't be asked what grade I got so I can put it on my cv. It was a design course, for design grades don't matter, it's all about the design work. If an employer likes my design work then I will get a job, they won't ask what grade I got for my degree.


I just would have liked to have gotten a decent grade but I didn't.
What was the degree in?
Actually rather incorrect. Here's a story to hopefully lighten people up, I resat 4 modules at uni last/this year and currently resitting 2 exams this summer (one tomorrow).I got approached with a graduate job and had an interview, I was completely honest and upfront, said I was resitting exams and so not a graduate just yet. My overall is pretty much a third class. I came out of that interview with a job offer which they'll then put me on graduate position in December as I graduate. So please don't take note of some nonce trying to say **** about getting high grades, cause I overpassed a 2.1 and 1st class student for the job..and I haven't even graduated yet. Have faith!
There is absolutely no guarantee at all that a person with a first class or 2:1degree will get a job before someone with a third but a 2:1 agreed more job opportunities. Real life just doesn’t work like that. Employers look at more than just your degree, they also look at experience, personality (they tend to not like cocky, know it all types! And prefer amiable, eager to learn, with a good team spirit types). Young people tend to forget that graduate recruitment schemes are not the only way to break into work. They offer great opportunities, but certainly don’t have the monopoly on jobs. You can get a graduate level job without ever applying for a graduate scheme. Lots of medium sized firms don’t even do ‘graduate schemes’, they just recruit for graduate level entry roles. So I will target these types of places. My advice is avoid the graduate schemes as they all filter on 2:1 degrees and keep your eye on general recruitment by corporates etc.
(edited 4 years ago)
Original post by Fermion.
It’s false reassurance. A person with a first class degree is more likely to gain employment than someone with a third class. It’s just facts.


I know a good number of employers (some big names too) that will not take graduates with a 1st - why, because they feel they are often just good at studying to get the grades but they don't have what it takes in the big, wide world of employment. Some employers also have policies in place whereby they no longer request to see what uni the prospective employees went to and are also not allowed to ask!
Original post by Fermion.
It’s false reassurance. A person with a first class degree is more likely to gain employment than someone with a third class. It’s just facts.


I wouldn't say it is facts, as someone who has employed people I look for 3 things when hiring them:

1) Intelligence
2) Integrity
3) Energy
Nice to see the "you've wasted your time/ You'll struggle more than someone who got a 1st" etc. brigade out in force, all nonsense as usual.

Unless you're applying for something which is specifically requesting a minimum classification, it's honestly not going to make a significant difference. Your covering letter and relevant experience are likely to be more heavily weighted for the majority of applications.

I got a 2:2. I list the qualification but not the classification on my CV. If a potential employer cares, they can check with me.
Off a tangent but there was a show about graduate prospects on BBC 2 last night. The guy off The Wright Stuff was on there and said when recruiting he had been told to immediately reject anyone who didn’t go to Oxford, Cambridge or Durham. It really shows how much employers regard your university education.
Original post by avacados1234
Off a tangent but there was a show about graduate prospects on BBC 2 last night. The guy off The Wright Stuff was on there and said when recruiting he had been told to immediately reject anyone who didn’t go to Oxford, Cambridge or Durham. It really shows how much employers regard your university education.

Conversely it shows just how poor that employers recruitment process is.
Reply 36
Original post by MWills99
That's a shame OP, with a 3rd, you may as well not have done the degree

Not necessarily. Sometimes people need to learn the hard way thst going to uni can be a waste if time even if you get a good degree!
Good to see some people being nice and assuring. Well I have a decent story for you. I had a friend who graduated from a middling university (definitely nothing special, but not going to name it) with a third in Journalism. He was not the smartest scholastically so the fact that he graduated was still an achievement, even if some people in here don't see it that way. He then got a nothing job at the local newspaper (I think he was legit just running errands), he eventually worked his way up and started typing articles for them. Five years later and he is now a reporter for the Daily Mail (not a fan of the newspaper but whatever) and is doing VERY well for himself in London.

I also have a mate who graduated in the same year, got a first in Applied Psychology and is working as a till operator in LIDL.
Trust me, grades literally do not matter, it's not medicine or law.
I've made it to finance, which sucked by the way, with top grades from top universities but didn't really need that. Now I'm out of work and being presented job offers which I'm afraid to take, and my grades do not matter. If anything, I wish I studied a bit less and partied a bit more, or at least lived my student life more vividly, or literally anything outside of library.
Reply 39
The idea that a degree improves your life or gives you a better chance of getting a job or earning more money is now an old-fashioned delusion!