The Student Room Group

Masters with a 2:2 Beng?

In my 2nd year and failing terribly at Civil Engineering. I was hoping for a 2:1 but may end up with a 2:2 and also at risk of repeating the year.

I am looking to do a Masters in something completely different as I hate my course and it has caused me so much stress.

Is this actually possible? Or do I have to study a whole new degree?
It's possible to do some (but not all) masters courses even if they're different from your undergrad - for example, I did an anthropology master's even though my undergrad was in English. It depends on the course though - you'd need to look at the entry requirements for each course you're interested in and email the course director if you're unsure. A lot of master's say they require a 2.1 but might make exceptions for the odd 2.2, so that'd be worth checking too.

That said, if you hate your current course that much and especially if you end up having to resit second year, it might make more sense to call it a day now and start again on a different bachelors. And for some subjects you'd have to do a new bachelors anyway - so it really depends on what you'd rather be studying instead of civil engineering.

Good luck anyway, whatever you do!
What would you do it in? What are the entry requirements?

Do a masters because you want to or need to.
Depends on the course, and their requirements - it's certainly possible. It's even possible to get a 2:2 in your subject and remain in it...

You may want to discuss this with your personal tutor/director of studies, and see what their perspectives are - it may even be possible to change to your desired subject area within your current university, at the undergraduate level, without having to "start over". That would of course depend on the course, but I know people who have done it. Equally you may be able to (or have no other recourse but to) finish your degree in engineering, but given you've realised you don't want to pursue engineering as a career, you may be able to switch to a non-accredited "general engineering" type course and have more leeway in your module selection to try and maximise your eventual graduating degree classification.

Ultimately I'd suggest starting with your tutor and/or DoS and go from there, as that is really why they are there, and they are best positioned to give you advice based on all the (academic) information. I would say, do consider whether a subject change is going to make the difference here - as someone that left an engineering degree I can certainly sympathise with your situation, but I certainly think in retrospect just changing subject would not have helped me, as a lot of my "problems" ran deeper than mere dissatisfaction with my subject (although that certainly didn't help). What is the subject you want to go into though?
Reply 4
Original post by artful_lounger
Depends on the course, and their requirements - it's certainly possible. It's even possible to get a 2:2 in your subject and remain in it...

You may want to discuss this with your personal tutor/director of studies, and see what their perspectives are - it may even be possible to change to your desired subject area within your current university, at the undergraduate level, without having to "start over". That would of course depend on the course, but I know people who have done it. Equally you may be able to (or have no other recourse but to) finish your degree in engineering, but given you've realised you don't want to pursue engineering as a career, you may be able to switch to a non-accredited "general engineering" type course and have more leeway in your module selection to try and maximise your eventual graduating degree classification.

Ultimately I'd suggest starting with your tutor and/or DoS and go from there, as that is really why they are there, and they are best positioned to give you advice based on all the (academic) information. I would say, do consider whether a subject change is going to make the difference here - as someone that left an engineering degree I can certainly sympathise with your situation, but I certainly think in retrospect just changing subject would not have helped me, as a lot of my "problems" ran deeper than mere dissatisfaction with my subject (although that certainly didn't help). What is the subject you want to go into though?


Thanks for getting back, your words of advice mean a lot. It may seem random and in a completely different direction but Graphic Design. I've always leaned towards Art (evidently not when picking a course) and generally am more left-brained. Although I know they have strict entry requirements especially for a master course, which is a little worrying. First-off I'd probably need a lot of experience as well as a portfolio to begin with.

Sadly my university is specialized in engineering and sciences so they do not offer any Art and Design courses. Talking to my tutor is a good shout, I've booked a meeting with him. The most logical decision I can think of is to persevere with the course. Then see what the opportunities are like then.

If you don't mind me asking, what was your engineering degree? And what did you end up doing instead?
Reply 5
Original post by Duncan2012
What would you do it in? What are the entry requirements?

Do a masters because you want to or need to.


I very much want to do Graphic Design. But the entry requirements in this area seem to be very specific, catered towards those who have previous experience and portfolios.

Although I would hate to start a whole new degree when I'm 21. So I can only think a master course would allow me to study this new field without spending an additional 3 years.
Original post by amywhy
Thanks for getting back, your words of advice mean a lot. It may seem random and in a completely different direction but Graphic Design. I've always leaned towards Art (evidently not when picking a course) and generally am more left-brained. Although I know they have strict entry requirements especially for a master course, which is a little worrying. First-off I'd probably need a lot of experience as well as a portfolio to begin with.

Sadly my university is specialized in engineering and sciences so they do not offer any Art and Design courses. Talking to my tutor is a good shout, I've booked a meeting with him. The most logical decision I can think of is to persevere with the course. Then see what the opportunities are like then.

If you don't mind me asking, what was your engineering degree? And what did you end up doing instead?


If it was product design, then you'd probably have an easier route in, because it's likely you have backgrounds in CAD/SolidWorks/similar softwares that you could use to demonstrate your technical background and then somehow convince them of your design chops. For graphic design though you're lacking both the technical background and you may not be able to demonstrate your design ability either.

I would suggest for Graphic Design, you may need to specifically look for employment and further training opportunities in that area. Doing an Art Foundation Year, with a more serious and mature approach, might give you a least some of the necessary background to develop an adequate portfolio to apply with, but you would of course need a first degree in something anyway. Realistically I think you should be thinking about pursuing an undergraduate degree in Graphic Design, if that's your ultimate aim. Of course, there are financial considerations in that...

I was doing EE (although we started as general engineering), I'm now not doing "anything" education-wise as the costs present some difficulties in going back, particularly as the course(s) I'm considering aren't, by and large, available part time. For reference, part time undergraduate funding is separate to full time, so you would still be able to get full funding for a part time course despite your prior study. This might be worth looking into, particularly if you're able to find some relevant design work to be doing while not doing degree work (although I appreciate such work is very hard to find, so it's likely you'll need to look for other more general work in the meantime).

But as above, given the area you want to go into I think realistically you need to start looking at changing course, and thinking about part time courses for funding reasons. I don't think you can "hop fields" with graphic design from a non-design field so much, unlike the aforementioned product design example...and even that would be more amenable to a mechanical engineering background than civil.

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