The Student Room Group

Ordinary Degrees, are they worth it?

Right, cutting a long story short...

i had to do a re-sit for my first year exams 2 weeks ago. It didn't go well at all. And i now feel deflated as i put the most effort in i can do, but still found it hard.

my results come out in 2 weeks time, but i want to be prepared for both a pass and a fail (as i will need to decide my future quickly)

basically the options are: Fail, but carry on, but on the 'ordinary degree' stream (doing Business at Durham) where there would be a chance to go back onto the honours degree at the end of year 2.

I pass, but only marginally..and i worry about how hard the course will be, so drop out.

or the other is obviously, ive passed..and i carry on and life is great.

but basically, i need to know whether an ordinary degree is worth much?

as im not confident that i'd be able to get back on the honours stream, if my course is going to be this difficult (i honestly put the most effort i ever have done into my re-sit and my main exam that i failed)

i just think it sounds 'half hearted' and that employers will think ive just messed around for 3 years at uni, does an ordinary level degree have that reputation?

this really is my only dillemma, as to be honest i'm not bothered about staying OR dropping out, i enjoy life at both uni and home...so if one had to be chosen over the other, it wouldent be too bad.

so any help would be appreciated:smile:

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Ive always thought that any degree was worth having. Since you are studying at Durham I presume that this will give any degree that you get an extra bit of clout as it has a good reputation as a university. Im not sure about that but I just presume that that is the way that people think. Erm other than that I dont really know as I havnt started uni yet, but anyway good luck with the results and whatever you decide to do
wirbelsturm
Ive always thought that any degree was worth having. Since you are studying at Durham I presume that this will give any degree that you get an extra bit of clout as it has a good reputation as a university. Im not sure about that but I just presume that that is the way that people think. Erm other than that I dont really know as I havnt started uni yet, but anyway good luck with the results and whatever you decide to do


thanks for replying, a lot of family/freinds have said "getting any degree from Durham is good" so they (and you) may be right.

its just that they arnt really clued up about degrees and employer prospects etc (as my family run their own business)

so i just need advice as to whether employers respect it, and TSR is always a help for any problem!
Reply 3
Hi,

Carry on and get your degree, its doesnt really matter whether its HONS or not. It may come up for your first job after leaving uni but after that no one will really care, you'll have a business degree from a good uni. I have a BA(HONS) but half the time I forget to mention the HONS as its unimportant. Having said that if you can get back on to the HONS track it always sounds good and your parents will love telling people you have an HONS degree.
A lot of big employers will want to know what degree result you got and not be keen on Ordinary degrees, but a lot of smaller places, especially where the senior guys didn't go to university, won't know what Hons, 2.1 etc means, and indeed a Business degree from Durham will look good. Nikiln's right that further down the line, people focus on their job experience and may just have a single line on a CV for their university degree without mentioning the grade.
thanks for your repsonses, and i agree Chassez, a lot depends on the employers knowlege of degrees (one of my reasons in picking Durham in the first place, was due to its reputation, as every employer will have heard of it)

so more responses would be appreciated, i just don't want to do the 'wrong' thing..and would rather get this sorted this year, than have to drop out next year (which would mean 2years 'wasted')
more responses would really be appreciated, as i really need this issue clarifying before i get my results.

so anyone with any advice would be helpful
Reply 7
Rooftop, apparently it's pretty easy to get back onto honours at end of year 2, just involves passing those modules relatively well. However, something is way better than nothing so I'd advise to you to continue irrespective.
arkbar
Rooftop, apparently it's pretty easy to get back onto honours at end of year 2, just involves passing those modules relatively well. However, something is way better than nothing so I'd advise to you to continue irrespective.


thanks, i am leaning more to the "stay on whatever the result" option now, it was just that i had no idea what an ordinary degree was until a few weeks ago, so i had no idea of what it entailed.

i suppose im just going to have to work extra hard next year and get back on the honours degree, also ive remembered how hard i worked to get into Durham in the first place, so i'd be silly to throw it all away.
Reply 9
Well the main problem I can see (if I'm understanding correctly) is that you won't have a degree classification. My friend graduated this year with just a BSc (no HONS, hence no first, 2.1, etc.) so he basically just has "a degree" in physics, which some people find a bit strange. The majority of graduate jobs (as in the big companies who run specific programmes) require at least a 2.2 so you'll miss out on them, but other companies I guess might be impressed that you have a degree at all - I'm not really sure. Don't want to go into hearsay too much (there's plenty enough of that around on TSR!). I'd say stick with it though - there's still a chance to get back on to the honours course so don't throw the towel in just yet!
Jenn xx
Reply 10
JennLlama
Well the main problem I can see (if I'm understanding correctly) is that you won't have a degree classification. My friend graduated this year with just a BSc (no HONS, hence no first, 2.1, etc.) so he basically just has "a degree" in physics, which some people find a bit strange.


Sorry to hijack this post, but is that the only difference between a degree and and 'honours'? I really don't understand all the different titles, etc... Does that mean if you don't get a 2.2 you don't get the HONS bit?

From what I understood you get kicked off the course if you don't pass in first year, but is that wrong?
Reply 11
nikiln
Hi,

Carry on and get your degree, its doesnt really matter whether its HONS or not. It may come up for your first job after leaving uni but after that no one will really care, you'll have a business degree from a good uni. I have a BA(HONS) but half the time I forget to mention the HONS as its unimportant. Having said that if you can get back on to the HONS track it always sounds good and your parents will love telling people you have an HONS degree.


hons is important, considering non hons does not have a grade. it is generally a doss's result here.
Reply 12
zeebiatch
Sorry to hijack this post, but is that the only difference between a degree and and 'honours'? I really don't understand all the different titles, etc... Does that mean if you don't get a 2.2 you don't get the HONS bit?

From what I understood you get kicked off the course if you don't pass in first year, but is that wrong?


ach. if you fail your honours year you will get your general degree. if u dont get a 2:2 you can stil get a 3rd.

in scotland, honours year is seperate and is the 4th year of study. whereby, you're third year and 4th year result is combined/calculated to give a final honours degree result. if i dont complete my 4th year I will just be blah blah, Bsc.
Reply 13
zeebiatch
Sorry to hijack this post, but is that the only difference between a degree and and 'honours'? I really don't understand all the different titles, etc... Does that mean if you don't get a 2.2 you don't get the HONS bit?

From what I understood you get kicked off the course if you don't pass in first year, but is that wrong?

As I understand it, you can get a first, 2.1, 2.2, 3rd (all with HONS) or you can just get "a degree". So for example, you might study a BSc in Maths and you could end up with, say, "3rd class honours in BSc Mathematics" (or a 3rd in other words) or something. Or if you don't even get a 3rd (usually between 35 and 40% overall I believe) you can just get a "BSc Mathematics" - no grade, no honours.
Jenn xx
Reply 14
Rooftopcowboy
thanks, i am leaning more to the "stay on whatever the result" option now, it was just that i had no idea what an ordinary degree was until a few weeks ago, so i had no idea of what it entailed.

i suppose im just going to have to work extra hard next year and get back on the honours degree, also ive remembered how hard i worked to get into Durham in the first place, so i'd be silly to throw it all away.


Put it this way, 50% of the population have degrees. About 10% of those degrees are from the top twenty universities. You are theoretically 20 times more qualified, and as such 20 times as likely to get a job offer than other applicants, assuming they do not have degrees that match your own. Which is pretty good odds really :smile:.
I definetly wouldn't waste your time getting a pass/ordinary degree. No grad schemes will touch you and it will be a complete waste of money funding study towards this degree.

Assuming that you have good A levels it would be wiser to apply to a company you are interested in, by the time everyone else has graduated and got jobs you will probably be at the same level anyway!
Reply 16
I think on my course if you do an ordinary degree it isn't accredited by anyone. I don't know if this is important for business or not but for my degree (electronic engineering) not being accredited by the IET is apparantly not good!
Okay, no way are 10% of the nation's degrees from the top universities - top means top 10, right? Anyway, that's irrelevant.

1st year grades don't even count! Why stress? I didn't know what HONS meant before this topic and I'm at a top university and hoping to get a high 2:1 or a first! Don't worry; you'll be just fine :smile:
thanks for all the help guys and girls!

i passed my re-sit! so worrying about ordinary degrees are a thing of the past now (thankfully, after a summer off stressing out)
Reply 19
three years later roof, i would like to know if you have a job yet? How are you doing.

Thanks.