2:2 Degree. Waste of time?

[Jackass] · 12-04-2013 6:11pm #1

Hi,

Just finishing up in the penultimate year of an Economics degree. At the moment I'm pretty much straddling the border of 2:1 / 2:2 degree. This semester has been a bit of a nightmare and the course content is getting increasingly difficult.

I'm not worried about getting the degree, but am worried about not making the 2:1 grade I've aimed for.

Is a 2:2 degree worth the paper it's written on? I see so many jobs advertised 2:1 and above, if you have a 2:2 are you kind of seen as the poor alternative?

Also, if you complete a masters, would a 2:2 undergrad still be frowned upon?

I amn't there yet, but I feel like a 2:2 degree is a fairly poor return for the time invested and would look bad on a CV if you're ambitious and going for top jobs...

(also, my area is financial services, which is incredibly competitive).

srsly78 · 12-04-2013 6:14pm

It's much like your junior cert results, nobody really cares once you get older. If you don't put the grade on your cv it's likely noone will ask.

It might make things trickier getting your first job, but once your career is ongoing it isn't relevant.

Sugar Free · 20-04-2013 6:43pm

Will probably have an impact for certain graduate programs but after that it won't matter hugely.

Columbia · 20-04-2013 7:05pm

I worked on essay/exam marking at university a few years back. If you're on the cusp between 2.1 and 2.2, your examiners should be aware of the fact, and will find reasons to give you an extra mark here or there.

What's more, in my department at least, someone achieving an average of 59% was always awarded a 2.1, despite the cutoff officially being 60%.

getsome · 29-04-2013 2:14pm

currently sweating about this situation aswell, may just get back to studying

innominat · 02-06-2013 3:57pm

I may a bit of a dunce as I only got a pass. I stuck with a degree I hated simply cos I felt leaving would have been wasting time invested before that. I am truly embarrassed by my degree result but and this is key, no one has ever asked to see my results or my degree.

Trout99 · 08-06-2013 12:08am

I have been applying all year with my 2.2 business degree and not getting very far. so many grad programs are 2.1

hots · 08-06-2013 12:12am

If you're on the cusp I would definitely say it's worth busting a nut to push over the 2.1 mark, I had to make a serious effort in final year to make it and would definitely say it's worth it. As some others have said I would say for your first job it's very important, after that not so much. With business/accounting degrees there are loads of 2.1 cut-offs which are frustratingly strictly adhered to. Having applied for jobs this year what I found even worse was the Leaving Cert points being used as a cut-off point too -_-

ElektroToad · 08-06-2013 11:34am

hobbit of the shire wrote: »

If you're on the cusp I would definitely say it's worth busting a nut to push over the 2.1 mark, I had to make a serious effort in final year to make it and would definitely say it's worth it. As some others have said I would say for your first job it's very important, after that not so much. With business/accounting degrees there are loads of 2.1 cut-offs which are frustratingly strictly adhered to. Having applied for jobs this year what I found even worse was the Leaving Cert points being used as a cut-off point too -_-

This. It seems that nearly every employer has upped their academic requirements these days when it comes to business grads. In my opinion the competition for entry level graduates jobs is as fierce as ever.

I was delighted when I managed to get my 2.1 overall. But then I was totally disheartened when I found out that my 395 LC points would be regularly used against me when applying to various grad programmes or even small accountancy firms :mad:

andrew · 13-06-2013 9:20pm

It depends a lot on what you want to do after college. As far as I know A 2.2 will make it difficult to get into a graduate programme, if that's what you were planning to do. It'll also make it more difficult to get your foot in the door in terms of post-college employment. But once your foot is in the door, your degree mark becomes much less significant, and your experience becomes a lot more important (again, as far as I know).

Gael23 · 20-08-2013 10:06pm

This is me too and I'm getting a bit worried about it. I got 395 points in my LC and expect to graduate with 2:2 in 2014.
At the minute my plan is to try to get into an accounting masters or some sort of finance related masters and work really hard to get a 2:1 that way, not sure how that will translate into reality but that's my idea.
Personally for me , I'm happy with my grades even though I know that they are not enough for employers. It seems they don't have any regard to what that achievement means for you as an individual.

2:2 Degree. Waste of time?

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