Failed degree, what next?

[Dr_Pangloss]

Failing a degree looks extremely bad on a CV, in fact in this climate anything less than a 2:1 is bad and even a 2:1 doesn't guarantee much.

 

If she goes into something else then she will always have that 3 year gap on her CV where she pretty much accomplished nothing, and will be a sticking point in any interview she will have for the rest of her life.

 

Basically she should finish it, and do the best she possibly can, if it take her 4 years to do it then that's something that can be papered over on a CV or in an interview quite easily.

 

Of course it's possible that she will have a hard time getting a job when she does finish, but at least finishing the degree, but even coming out with lets say a 2:1, will put her in a much better position for jobs or further qualifications down the road than failing. 

 

Also she'd be wise to get one or even two jobs right now and look to pay off her debts/strengthen her financial position going into the next academic year...

Edited July 2, 2013 by Dr_Pangloss

[Davkaus]

I thought you could turn up, and write nothing on any exam apart from your incorrectly spelt name, and at least get a third.

 

This may not be a useful comment, but my only piece of standing advice is DHUTWU, and that's probably even less appropriate given the circumstances.

Edited July 2, 2013 by Davkaus

[maqroll]

If your family is in Brum, can she live at home and transfer to university there? 

[snowychap]

In both Stevo and AVFC1991's situation my gut instinct is your shit, your problem. Its NMFP.

 

Does that make me a bad person?

 

It's ironic that you're asking other people to answer that for you.

 

Yes, I know it was rhetorical.

 

[StefanAVFC]

In fact in this climate anything less than a 2:1 is bad and even a 2:1 doesn't guarantee much.

 

Completely untrue. I may as well not have a degree

Edited July 2, 2013 by StefanAVFC

[Voinjama]

 

She's going to be paying for it whatever happens so she needs to just pull her finger out and sort it because a job with a graduate degree is going to make the repayment process a whole load easier than filling those shelves in Tescos.

 

It's obviously worth finishing the degree but there are thousands of graduates stacking shelves. I'm not sure how useful Criminology is.

 

 

 

This was what I was thinking too. Obviously after spending years and spending thousands doing a degree, you want a 2;1 at least at the end of it, but to be honest not having a degree is not the end. A successful career could still be had. I know loads of graduates doing nothing or in jobs only paying them £13000-15000 a year. In answer to the thread title itself, if this is a 1st **** up, a 2nd chance should be given by the parents to rectify the situation. But if this failing in education is just another in a long line of failings due to lack of application then I'm afraid I can understand the parents not wanting to help.

[Avflife]

LOL I would be banned if I put my opinion

[Dr_Pangloss]

 

In fact in this climate anything less than a 2:1 is bad and even a 2:1 doesn't guarantee much.

 

Completely untrue. I may as well not have a degree

 

For the vast majority of good jobs that will give you a career, it certainly is true.

[Voinjama]

I can see this thread slowly morphing into something along the lines of 'is a degree still worth it'

Edited July 2, 2013 by Voinjama

[Avflife]

I can see this thread slowly morphing into something along the lines of 'is a degree still worth it'

Answer probably not, I know enough people who have done sports course and ended up as accountants etc lol. Graduate myself on Monday and plan to only slightly take the experience from my degree into account

[CVByrne]

I have many friends who failed the final year or 2nd last year of Uni in my course. Nearly all either repeated the year or took the opportunity to transfer into a later year of a similar and related course. I have no doubt about 2 things.

 

1. They all to a man would say they are very very glad they didn't drop out. Very glad they repeated and finished a Degree

 

2. That failing a year was a kick up the ass, that they learned some life lessons from it. Just because you have made it this far though life half assed, doesn't mean you can get through your whole life that way.

 

 

I have no doubt that 3 of my close friends have got better degrees for failing 2nd or 3rd year than they would have if they'd passed the year they failed. Because they wouldn't have got that kick up the ass to make them work hard in the final year to get a good mark. 

 

 

I think you have to tell your parents that this is a wakeup call for your sister. To sit her down and have a long talk with her about what it means for them to pay for her repeating a year. If this is really the course she wants to do or did she fail because she hates it. If she failed because she took things too easy but has learnt her lesson then she should be allowed to repeat the year.

 

Everybody makes mistakes and most people will learn lessons from those mistakes.

 

I could not imagine a worse thing your parents could do than to not let her repeat.

 

 

Personal experience, I failed an exam in 2nd year of Uni. A Maths exam of all things. The reason I failed was because I thought I'd done enough to pass and left the exam over an hour early because I wanted to go drinking with everyone else. It was last exam of the year and all my mates had finished 2 hours earlier. Anyway I failed and had to repeat the exam in August.

 

I never failed an exam after that and can say that lesson made me work my socks off in my finals in 4th year, and even more so in my masters the year after. I was lazy and learnt that being lazy won't get me anywhere. Your sister will learn that too.

 

 

Failing a year is sometimes whats needed. 

[CVByrne]

Also people saying at 20 or 21 it's her life and she should take responsibility for it etc.. people mature and learn lessons at different ages. I think some people learn that at 24 or 25 some learn at 19.

 

My younger brother never cared about college and it was a long trouble for my mother to get him to finish school. He worked jobs here and there. But now he's grown up at age 25, he just turned 25 and is back doing an IT course because he realises he needs some education, some skill to get employed. 

 

You know that she will be thankful in 2 or 3 years if you made her finish the degree. Even if she doesn't know it know. It's a huge mistake to throw away 4 years of work and life because you didn't want to do 1 more year and add 1 more years debt. 

[Stevo985]

If your family is in Brum, can she live at home and transfer to university there? 

That's one of the options I was going to pitch to her.

To save her money more than anything. If she went back to Luton that's another year of accommodation she'd have to pay for.

[snowychap]

I may have missed it but has anyone asked the really crucial question in all of this, Stevo: Why the **** Luton? Did she not do any research?

[StefanAVFC]

 

 

In fact in this climate anything less than a 2:1 is bad and even a 2:1 doesn't guarantee much.

 

Completely untrue. I may as well not have a degree

 

For the vast majority of good jobs that will give you a career, it certainly is true.

 

 

Again, total bollocks.

 

And anyway, that isn't how you phrased it. You outright said 'a 2.2 is bad' therefore invalidating the degrees of millions of people. What gives you that power?

Edited July 2, 2013 by StefanAVFC

[chrisp65]

 

 

 

In fact in this climate anything less than a 2:1 is bad and even a 2:1 doesn't guarantee much.

 

Completely untrue. I may as well not have a degree

 

For the vast majority of good jobs that will give you a career, it certainly is true.

 

 

Again, total bollocks.

 

And anyway, that isn't how you phrased it. You outright said 'a 2.2 is bad' therefore invalidating the degrees of millions of people. What gives you that power?

 

 

agreed, any degree is better than no degree

there are plenty of govt contracts where they insist the people doing the work are educated to degree level - they don't specify the degree or the grade, but they require a degree for some reason

[snowychap]

agreed, any degree is better than no degree

Support for the obtuse?

[Dr_Pangloss]

 

 

 

In fact in this climate anything less than a 2:1 is bad and even a 2:1 doesn't guarantee much.

 

Completely untrue. I may as well not have a degree

 

For the vast majority of good jobs that will give you a career, it certainly is true.

 

 

Again, total bollocks.

 

And anyway, that isn't how you phrased it. You outright said 'a 2.2 is bad' therefore invalidating the degrees of millions of people. What gives you that power?

 

It's not, the only chance you have to get a decent job with a 2.2 is to find somewhere to do a PGCE. 

 

A 2.2 isn't a very good mark, especially if that qualification isn't in a hard science or in computer science, it send a bad signal, i.e. that you spent most of your time getting pissed. 

 

If you look at any graduate job description that pays good money you will typically see  '2,1 or above in a relevant discipline'.

[Dr_Pangloss]

 

 

 

 

In fact in this climate anything less than a 2:1 is bad and even a 2:1 doesn't guarantee much.

 

Completely untrue. I may as well not have a degree

 

For the vast majority of good jobs that will give you a career, it certainly is true.

 

 

Again, total bollocks.

 

And anyway, that isn't how you phrased it. You outright said 'a 2.2 is bad' therefore invalidating the degrees of millions of people. What gives you that power?

 

 

agreed, any degree is better than no degree

 

 

lol tell that to one of the many thousands of long term unemployed or severely under-employed graduates who would now be on better money if they would have left school at 18 and sought alternative training. 

[drat01]

 

 

 

 

In fact in this climate anything less than a 2:1 is bad and even a 2:1 doesn't guarantee much.

 

Completely untrue. I may as well not have a degree

 

For the vast majority of good jobs that will give you a career, it certainly is true.

 

 

Again, total bollocks.

 

And anyway, that isn't how you phrased it. You outright said 'a 2.2 is bad' therefore invalidating the degrees of millions of people. What gives you that power?

 

It's not, the only chance you have to get a decent job with a 2.2 is to find somewhere to do a PGCE. 

 

A 2.2 isn't a very good mark, especially if that qualification isn't in a hard science or in computer science, it send a bad signal, i.e. that you spent most of your time getting pissed. 

 

If you look at any graduate job description that pays good money you will typically see  '2,1 or above in a relevant discipline'.

 

 

This is a way of thinking that I just don't understand, or am I misunderstanding it? Having any sort of degree should not nor should it ever be a certainty to a immediate good salary. We see in our industry far too many kids - and that is what they are basically spotty kids - coming straight from Uni thinking that they know everything and expecting the world, all because of a few grades that have typically been decided by a couple of people. A degree surely is nothing more than a extension of education that exposes the person to a few further ideas and get's them thinking and learning. Most times it has little to no relevance on real world issues and challenges and that is why people start at the bottom of the ladder and get recompensed accordingly.

 

The level of degree's from 2:2, 2:1 etc is also big bollox. It goes back again to a lot of what was discussed in the work appraisement thread. The only real exception I can see is people getting something like a first in a course that has a portion of real work experience associated with it, who can then say to prospective employers, look I obviously have some experience in this field of work and I can vouch for my ability to learn