c4countdown

This poll refers to undergraduate degrees only. Note that if you vote for zero, I will look down on you in accordance with The Cambridge Stereotype.

Cannot vote, Charlie, because surely, if you have a degree you are then a graduate.
What is an undergraduate degree?

John Bosley wrote:Cannot vote, Charlie, because surely, if you have a degree you are then a graduate.
What is an undergraduate degree?

One that's not a postgraduate degree I would have thought

I'm the bohemian drifter the system couldn't handle / I was lazy and didn't get a degree.

Degree: 1st class
Use thereof: fail

John Bosley wrote:Cannot vote, Charlie, because surely, if you have a degree you are then a graduate.
What is an undergraduate degree?

An undergraduate degree is a BA or BSc, which is what people usually mean when they say they have "a degree", as distinct from an MA, MPhil, PhD, DPhil or whatever. Not many people have more than one undergraduate degree. Stuart Earl claimed to have two, but I think he got one of them using a solver.

I have an MA, granted by paying the appropriate fee after passing the BA exam, so it only counts as one degree - the significance is that I do have a vote in the affairs of the University, though there hasn't been one where I've gone there to take part.
There was an additional fee to be entered on the electoral roll for the University MP as soon as I was 21, but the seat was abolished before I could take advantage of that

BTW, there are other letters I'm entitled to use after my name, but I don't bother now I'm retired

Peter Mabey wrote:BTW, there are other letters I'm entitled to use after my name, but I don't bother now I'm retired

Do tell!

Zero, zilch, nada

Peter Mabey wrote:I have an MA, granted by paying the appropriate fee after passing the BA exam, so it only counts as one degree

I've never got this. What's the point of a Cambridge or Oxford MA, other than the voting rights? Mind you, you could probably get one cheaper here.

Brian Moore wrote:

Peter Mabey wrote:I have an MA, granted by paying the appropriate fee after passing the BA exam, so it only counts as one degree

I've never got this. What's the point of a Cambridge or Oxford MA, other than the voting rights? Mind you, you could probably get one cheaper here.

It's kinda fun?

Brian Moore wrote:

Peter Mabey wrote:I have an MA, granted by paying the appropriate fee after passing the BA exam, so it only counts as one degree

I've never got this. What's the point of a Cambridge or Oxford MA, other than the voting rights? Mind you, you could probably get one cheaper here.

It's a reward for being posh.

Charlie Reams wrote:

Brian Moore wrote:

Peter Mabey wrote:I have an MA, granted by paying the appropriate fee after passing the BA exam, so it only counts as one degree

I've never got this. What's the point of a Cambridge or Oxford MA, other than the voting rights? Mind you, you could probably get one cheaper here.

It's kinda fun?

So how much does one of these cost? How much fun do you get for your money, and how much fun could you buy elsewhere with the same amount of money?

Brian Moore wrote:So how much does one of these cost? How much fun do you get for your money, and how much fun could you buy elsewhere with the same amount of money?

You get a reunion with people who mostly graduated at the same time as you, a nice dinner in your alma mater and some letters after your name. That sounds like fun to me. Do you usually subject other people's ideas of fun to such scrutiny?

Charlie Reams wrote:You get a reunion with people who mostly graduated at the same time as you, a nice dinner in your alma mater and some letters after your name. That sounds like fun to me. Do you usually subject other people's ideas of fun to such scrutiny?

Ah, I see - revelry is involved. Now it makes more sense. Cheaper than my OU equivalent, and more alcohol involved. Oh hold on, no, I wouldn't be sure about that.

Charlie Reams wrote:

Peter Mabey wrote:BTW, there are other letters I'm entitled to use after my name, but I don't bother now I'm retired

Do tell!

CEng MBCS CITP

Brian Moore wrote:

Peter Mabey wrote:I have an MA, granted by paying the appropriate fee after passing the BA exam, so it only counts as one degree

I've never got this. What's the point of a Cambridge or Oxford MA, other than the voting rights? Mind you, you could probably get one cheaper here.

I was thinking of going into teaching and at that time an Oxbridge MA was good for an increment in starting salary.

Peter Mabey wrote:

Brian Moore wrote:

Peter Mabey wrote:I have an MA, granted by paying the appropriate fee after passing the BA exam, so it only counts as one degree

I've never got this. What's the point of a Cambridge or Oxford MA, other than the voting rights? Mind you, you could probably get one cheaper here.

I was thinking of going into teaching and at that time an Oxbridge MA was good for an increment in starting salary.

A good investment then in that case. The vast majority of the MAs I see next to teachers' names on school prospectuses are Oxford or Cambridge.

Ben Hunter wrote:I'm the bohemian drifter the system couldn't handle / I was lazy and didn't get a degree.

Me too. I prefer the first explanation but in honesty the second is closer. Also I was too having a bit too much fun drinking and taking large amounts of recreational drugs in the very dodgy flats of even dodgier Dundonian ne'er-do-wells. I'm a terrible person.

I learnt everything I know in the university of life. I found it much more useful than gaining a degree on the lifestyle of Australian Eskimos, or some other such nonsense.

Still no votes for two or more, I see. I've got only one friend I know of with two - she did her first in maths, then went on to do ophthalmology straight after ...that was back in the days of student grants.

Brian Moore wrote:Still no votes for two or more, I see. I've got only one friend I know of with two - she did her first in maths, then went on to do ophthalmology straight after ...that was back in the days of student grants.

I'd love to do another one, but I chose to get a mortgage...

I read Biological and Medicinal Chemistry, and Human Biology. My sister was much more interesting; she read Ancient History and Classical Archaeology for her BA, then Psychology for her BSc.

One of the unsung successes of recent Governments has been reducing the number of unemployed not by creating jobs, but by persuading people to stay out of the market. Getting people to take gap years, productive or otherwise, is clever, but getting them to borrow money to fund years of education of dubious value takes genius.

If par means leaving with GCSEs at 16, A levels at 18, or a degree at (for most) 21, and starting full-time employment at your level of qualification immediately, I wonder how people would score nowadays. I doubt if many people over forty have anything other than a par score. We wanted the independence and we needed the money. In fact, owing to my primary school's rather laissez-faire attitude, I took the 11-plus a year early, graduated at 20 and started work, so achieving a score of one under par. Anyone else?

David Williams wrote: In fact, owing to my primary school's rather laissez-faire attitude, I took the 11-plus a year early, graduated at 20 and started work, so achieving a score of one under par. Anyone else?

After spending five years as an undergrad, I messed around temping for a couple of years, did another year at uni to get an MSc, temped for another year, played poker for a year after that and finally got a permanent job at 29.

Not a bad effort at wasting my twenties I reckon.

I left school to go to university but I didn't know anything so I was sent back where I came from. That's right - 180 degrees.

David Williams wrote:If par means leaving with GCSEs at 16, A levels at 18, or a degree at (for most) 21, and starting full-time employment at your level of qualification immediately, I wonder how people would score nowadays.

I was par at 11, one under par at 15 and 17, but bogeyed the last hole (spent a year working in a stationer's before uni) and finished on par after 21 years.

I didn't go to university until I was 21 (graduated at 24), and to be perfectly blunt I learnt more working in the three years prior to uni than I did whilst I was at uni. Maybe it's because I went to a local university rather than went away and immersed myself in the student subculture, but I really didn't get this 'wonderful experience' there that most people seem to, and I don't see my life would be any the poorer if I didn't have my degree.

I also bogeyed due to doing a 4 year degree (3 years plus a year's holiday abroad that counted as studying - highly recommended!).

If only I could manage a bogey at golf!! As opposed to the triple and quadruple bogeys I normally manage!!

I was one under for most of my junior years, but reverted to my correct year when I switched schools and completed GCSEs and A levels on par. Then I made a mess of Cambridge maths exams and was compelled to take a gap year (biggest waste of time ever), and finished my degree 1 over. I'll probably be at least 2 over by the time I get my PhD, assuming that 24 is the target.

Charlie Reams wrote:I was one under for most of my junior years, but reverted to my correct year when I switched schools and completed GCSEs and A levels on par. Then I made a mess of Cambridge maths exams and was compelled to take a gap year (biggest waste of time ever), and finished my degree 1 over. I'll probably be at least 2 over by the time I get my PhD, assuming that 24 is the target.

Any specific career plans Charlie?

Steve Durney wrote:

Charlie Reams wrote:I was one under for most of my junior years, but reverted to my correct year when I switched schools and completed GCSEs and A levels on par. Then I made a mess of Cambridge maths exams and was compelled to take a gap year (biggest waste of time ever), and finished my degree 1 over. I'll probably be at least 2 over by the time I get my PhD, assuming that 24 is the target.

Any specific career plans Charlie?

Selling the fuck out.

Or making video games.

Not fussy really.

Charlie Reams wrote:

Steve Durney wrote: Any specific career plans Charlie?

Selling the fuck out.

Or making video games.

Not fussy really.

A few of the video games companies are just as bad if not worse these days. I'm sure you could create some (more) word games which are a lot better than the rubbish on Facebook.

Charlie Reams wrote:

Steve Durney wrote:

Charlie Reams wrote:I was one under for most of my junior years, but reverted to my correct year when I switched schools and completed GCSEs and A levels on par. Then I made a mess of Cambridge maths exams and was compelled to take a gap year (biggest waste of time ever), and finished my degree 1 over. I'll probably be at least 2 over by the time I get my PhD, assuming that 24 is the target.

Any specific career plans Charlie?

Selling the fuck out.

Or making video games.

Not fussy really.

Have you got your 360 yet, and if so, do you have XNA? Figure you can kill two birds with one stone there.

I'm not sure how I work out par-wise. I suppose on par all the way (I did maths A levels a couple of years early, but did the rest at the normal time, and then did my degree as normal).