My university years
Consisted of 4 years of total procrastination.

Four essays to do per semester? Pah! Research? Double pah! Preparation? Treble pah! You get the picture...

It started off so well, too. Year one, first semester, I put my heart and soul into my work. Having just settled into a new job, and having also supported my ex wife through seven years of studying to become an accountant so she could fall straight into a swanky job, I figured it was my turn to better myself. And have my meals cooked and clothes ironed. And also to haul myself out of the crappy admin jobs I seemed to have been stuck with.

Didn't work out like that though. No. Instead, come Christmas she decided she'd had enough and fucked off (see squillions of other tales). Which meant that rather than sit pouring over books and working on assignments throughout the semester, I ended up reaquainting myself with alcomahol. Thus, the work was put off until the week before the deadline for each assignment.

My strategy was a simple one - I would take a few days off work (it wasn't as if I actually had anything to take time off work for anyway), visit the university library for relevant books, and print off as many journals from the internet relating to my chosen topics as I could find. Then I would select one to work on, do a couple of hours reading and then bash out a 2500 word essay until it was finished; systematically editing along the way. Assignments were completed at the rate of one per day. As a mark of self discipline, I reigned my social activies in from every night to just five. Or sometimes six, if I thought I'd managed to turn out a decent bit of tat - you've got to reward yourself for good work sometimes, haven't you?

This continued for the next three years until I figured that I wasn't going to be able to do the same with a 12,000 word dissertation. And so I sobered up (a bit) and put a bit more effort into that piece of work (which, luckily, I enjoyed writing).

So, out of four years study, three of those were spent rattling off assignments like Mills & Boon novels, surviving on alcohol, coffee and pizza.

Quite how I managed to get a 2:1 I don't know. The fact that I was two marks away from a first is a matter of some pride for me, I can tell you. Most people would be gutted at that; not me. Because I did fuck all for three years, I'm very happy with my near miss.

And I'm no longer stuck doing admin either. Nowt wrong with admin, but I'm far happier now than I was.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Thu 13 Nov 2008, 19:16, 6 replies)

alcomahol...
the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems.


here's to you and your 2:1...you lucky shit i got a desmond
(i anglepoise, Thu 13 Nov 2008, 19:26, closed)

It was more good luck
than judgement, i think. I was expecting a third at best.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Thu 13 Nov 2008, 19:27, closed)

They say
(and by they, I mean people who don't know what they're talking about) that a 2:1 is more valuable to a prospective employer than a first because it means you are both academically bright, but that you are also more likely to be a more fully rounded person - as most people who get firsts are nerds who have never seen the outside of a library and have no clue about the real world.

Personally, I think that this is made up to make people who just miss out on a first feel a bit better.

A friend of mine did no work, partied all day and night, and got a third. His tutor said to him "You may not have got a good degree, but atleast you've fucked about properly." I suppose failing through idleness is better than trying hard and still failing.
(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Fri 14 Nov 2008, 16:19, closed)

People with 2:1s earn more on average
Which is probably the statistic behind what you just said.

But lots of people get firsts, so they range from unable-to-relate-to-mere-human types down to gosh-you're-bright types.

The explanation was probably invented by a jealous thickie who went to Oxford Brookes.
(teebie jeebie, Wed 19 Nov 2008, 11:42, closed)

I think
You just described how all students get through uni.

Or, at least, all the ones I know did!
(The Apeface Cherub is not a cunty-uber-cunt, Mon 17 Nov 2008, 16:23, closed)