Log rolls down stairs, falls over in pairs
One of the hardest entries to write in. Basically, I really didnt’ go all that brilliantly in my thesis. I mishieviously got my marks back today, and the prognosis is less than optimal. I didn’t get to see the comments yet, but as it stands, I got 78.
I guess it isn’t all that bad. Two marks from getting an Honours mark. Still, it is a bit of a blow, as I had expected that I should be getting higher than that. Hmm… actually, strike that. I thought I was going to get worst than that, but I was hoping to get a lot better.
I started the year off with higher expectations than this. I never really thought that I would end up in this situation. I have a suspicion that all it would have taken to get a BRILLIANT mark was some guidance from my supervisor. Once again, I can’t help thinking that if Mick Carter was still around, I would not be in this situation. But there I go…. it is easy to blame things around me.
The two month hiatus mid-semester didn’t help much either. As for the thesis… well, the ideas aren’t all that bad, now that I come to think about it. I’m sure that it could have built a more persuasive argument. In fact, given time, I’m sure that I could incorporate the ideas into a bigger model for the annalysis of times accross different mediums.
I can still theoretically get first class honours. However, this would require an unattainable mark in this dumb essay that I have to hand in, and that is NOT going to happen. I should get second class. I already have enough for third class, without handing this one in. One of my subjects was dragging me down.. and had I achieved a better mark there, perhaps I would have had more of a chance.
This feeling really sucks. I have little motivation to finish this next essay… wondering what hte point of it all will be. I don’t even know what I’m doing next year. My plans are disintegrating one by one. Japan is looking to be more of an option… at least it is something that I can be proud of.
Hmm its not sooo bad, 1st class hons is 80+ so as you say 2 marks off, but hons II division 2 aint to crap.
November 21st, 2003 | #
Thanks. Funnily enough, the words of a certain someone ring through my head everytime I think about it “If you are going to get second class honours, why bother attempting honours at all?”.
November 21st, 2003 | #
Actually, I think whoever marked the thesis stinks. I mean, marking something like a thesis is pretty arbitrary, not like marking multiple choice…..so I think its a pretty shitty thing to do to give someone a mark 2 less than pass, or 1st class honours or whatever!
November 22nd, 2003 | #
Ouch! I’m sorry to hear that it did not go as planned, but as Anya says, it is not so bad either, it is still a good result. It is always worthwile handing in as good an essay as you can for your final one, although I have empathy with how you are feeling at the moment. Good luck with it, and try not to be too hard on yourself
November 22nd, 2003 | #
I’ll get to a meaty comment in a second, this one is pure crap.
bluetang: range for IIi at Sydney is 75-79, there’s not a hell of a lot of space to move in if you want to give someone a IIi — it will always be “only X marks off a 1st class” where X is some stupidly small number.
Sydney’s ranges are I: 80-100, IIi: 75-79, IIii: 70-74, III: 65-69 I think. FWIW I’m at Macquarie and the ranges are I: 85-100, IIi: 75-84, IIii: 65-74, III: 50-64. Very weird. Harder to get 1st (and they give the medal about once every 5 years, it’s not worth thinking about it). Easier to get 2nd 2nd or 3rd.
The entire honours marking system is incredibly subjective — the thesis mark is sometimes set not on its own merits but on a “this person should get 1st/2nd/3rd, we need the thesis mark to fit” thing. This can be both good and bad, but sometimes I think they should take us all out for coffee, chat about research for a while, and give us an honours grade already.
November 23rd, 2003 | #
On to the less waffly crap…
MoS, sucks to hear that you might not reach this particular goal. I haven’t heard about my marks yet (and almost certainly won’t until my final mark for the year is known) so I’m still in limbo land and I know exactly how you feel.
Still, I thought when I read this post that you’re thinking about it all in terms of external validation. External validation is sweet, but it’s not all you’re going to take away from the year. Pride is important and it’s a shame that you implied you didn’t do anything to be proud of. Have some pride in finishing the damn thesis (mine is always going to be my “damned thesis”) — a huge amount of writing, getting some ideas together, and surviving crap supervision (I don’t know what I would have done with bad supervision, but it would have been shit).
It’d be nice to have all that and, say, the medal as well, but you can still walk out of honours with pride after what you’ve done this year.
November 23rd, 2003 | #
Thank you, bluetang. Part of the reason, I suspect, is that one of the markers was actually my supervisor, and I think that they weren’t too impressed with me. I can see him saying “Well, it is kinda ok, but not good enough for first class”. Oh well.
Mary : Thank you so much. You are an angel, for some reason, that is exactly what I needed to hear.
November 24th, 2003 | #
I suspect a lot of the marking is who they think deserves a 1st class or not. Which is fair enough. You don’t want people getting 1st class who didn’t deserve one, and vice versa, based on a technicality. When I am marking projects (10 times smaller than a thesis), I hate being given a marking guide, because then I can’t look at a project, say “this is crap, I think they deserve a 14/20″. Sometimes the guides just don’t include one factor that make a project outstanding or suboptimal.
The year before mine in physics apparently only had a handful of 1st classers. I think the highest mark was a tad above 80. My year, the standard was a bit higher, such that I had the lowest mark in the year, and still got 1st class (but only just). But the quality was still very different. Hell, my supervisor nominated my thesis - the worst one in the year, for a national award.
We are just trawling through potential postgrads now, and apparently the quality is really bad this year. We are not going to hire any students, even though there were a couple from nameless universities who managed to crawl their way into a 1st class. Apprently the last 3 years of students spoiled us for choice
Having said all that, you are then at the whim of marking committees with grudges when they are expected to give marks based on some subjective “quality of thesis”[1] rather than a proper marking guide. I have heard of plenty of these cases. And your may well be one, but since I haven’t seen your thesis, and don’t know the quality of it, I can’t comment.
[1]But then again, I guess it’s hard to not be subjective about non scientific thesii. Sometimes even in science, not that I would admit it
(I can’t get over how in maths, apparently you don’t even have to do original work)
November 25th, 2003 | #
and when it all boils down….hons is hons. and everyone gets to know you survived the most hellish year in academia. bravo, bravissimo.
November 25th, 2003 | #