I am now a BA, w00 hoo.
I got my degree
Overall I’m not too happy with what I got (2:2), but it was what I was expecting as I have had very little attendance to Uni in the last 2 years due to transportational issues and monetary issues and the house move right at the key moment (which then made transport impossible) was a real stumbling block, but I don’t really care, I have faith that my portfolio speaks volumes, especially as most of my course was friggin’ reports rather than designs.
One thing that pissed me off however was a comment I got back on my final year practical which mentioned ‘The geometry is somewhat untidy‘, all I can say to that is, is it fuck! The geometry is fantastically neat (if I do say so myself) and I’ll be perfectly honest, most people I know from the course would struggle to make what I did with as fewer polygons and as neat a geometry as I did, the model was completely welded and actually adheres to modern standards (something they don’t mark on as they are out-dated – fact) which is really fucking bugging me. It also said ‘No discussion on standards and procedures‘ which is baffling, because anyone reading my report will see that around 40% of it all is actually covering modern standards and procedures, something which unfortunately they don’t know much about as I went over their heads and spoke to people in the industry… oh well.
Basically, the person who has reviewed my work doesn’t really know what the subject is about which is a shame (my primary reader is an expert on databases) and had no idea what it was about, and my secondary reader is very uninformed of what certain things are, she was unaware of what SpeedTree was, or that it was supported in game engines – she actually tried to tell me pointblank to my face that ‘no game engines support “Speed Tree”‘ until I rattled off around 5-10 games that are currently out and supporting it… ugh, I believe those were the ‘untidy’ geometry she was talking about as they don’t show in 3DSmax without SpeedTree installed, instead showing as lots of darksquares as XForms, although this was explicitly explained in my report (under the standards and procedures section *rollseyes*) it doesn’t seemed to have worked in my favour. When I went for the presentation 2 readers in the room told me that they don’t even read the Dissertations til afterwards, so loads of my explaining fell of deaf ears as they continually asked questions asked purely IN my dissertation throughout which became more than tiresome.
I’ve also noticed people with simpler models getting higher marks which is a pita, maybe I too should have made a fucking car which requires very very little in terms of texture creation. Whilst modelling is difficult on a car, modelling one would have been easier than what I produced also, I guess that’s what you get for pushing newer ‘standards’ on people who are more easily impressed by recreation of an accurate source (i.e. car blueprints).
Basically I feel my work is under-appreciated for what went into it and if I’d gone the more common route of creating a vehicle it would have taken me less time and I would have had higher rewards. Anywho, I passed comfortably so I shouldn’t complain too much, the degree was only ever to get a foot in the door, it’s my portfolio that should get me further noticed, now to go and work on it 
. Whilst I am pissed off I can understand where certain things ‘went wrong’ and some of my projects in the past have been apalling (Games Interface Design and Level Design spring to mind) which were my fault for leaving them late due to lack of interest on my behalf, however my modelling has always been my strongest part (never recieved lower than a grade ‘A’ for modelling geometry) which is why I am more annoyed about a comment regarding untidy geometry than anything else, because it very clearly isn’t, it’s incredibly optimized (around a month of optimization and removal of around 80,000 polygons) and I know I did a good job, as I said, I’d have been better off doing something else I guess instead of piling all my time into following newer standards and then not getting recognized for doing so, lol.
Sorry for my anger fuelled swear-rant, I won’t say it won’t happen again, it will 
, but I had to get it out there :p.
Anywho, back to the X-Files!
Do do do do do do do, dooo dooo doo doooo doooooo doooooo
Congratulations on the degree
Try not to worry too much about the grade, like you say it’s a foot in the door and a piece of paper to prove you can do it.
I got a 2.2 as well, I also spent about a week ranting and raving about it because I was something stupid like 0.5 points off a 2.1. I’d had no support for my dissertation as my supervisor was never there and never replied to emails. Basically I got left to fend for myself and by the end of it had no interest in the subject anyhow.
It’ll always rattle you a bit but don’t worry about it if you can, go out and prove to them how good you are instead
Oh and yeah the job sucks lots! Looks like I should be able to hand my notice in Friday though and then can go get a full time job as my postgrad dissertation has moved about a bit, more money, yay!
Bet your comment is the only comment my update gets :p
Without trying to sound all old (i just turned 24 last week) i seriously seriously wouldn’t beat yourself up with the final grade you got. As long as you didn’t fail, thats the main point. I just managed a 2:1 in mine and tbh i have found employers are more interested in actual experience (e.g. your portfolio and similar).
I don’t regret going to uni at all as i met loads of ace people and had a blast. However, I’m beginning to see how important is it to have actual exoperince when going for jobs and honestly would proberly try and get into some of trainee role instead.
I was quite lucky i recently as i dropped on quite a good analyst based job due to previous experience (that sort of thing interests me, sad i know
). I really wouldn’t like to be a new graduate again as getting a well paid job seems impossible at first simply due to the amount of people doing them nowadays.
Nowadays (and i say this after going through many interviews) i’m finding employers automatically assume you have a degree, like they assume you can use ms word. It’s becomming that common.
I read quite a lot of your disseration and watched the avis you made, i know for a fact i couldn’t have achieved anything like that.
Ah, good to know someone read it, I was actually marked down for ‘presentation’ of Dissertation… I thought I’d make it nice for them so that bugged me, especially as it cost £48 to print the friggin thing twice.
I think you’re right about the degree though, it’s not like I’m gonna say I got a 2:1 or a 2:2 everywhere, it’s more likely I’ll say I have a BA in Games Design, I guess I just feel I deserved a 2:1, but I’m sure it won’t matter, like you say, it’s all about experience, how often do you hear of people who didn’t do well at school do well in something else
.
Anyway, good luck on those games! When you’ve completed them you’ll have to post them to me so I can do it (I’ll cover postage), and I’ll reciprocate the favour anytime
. <3.
Nearly done with the first one. I’d say another 4 or 5 hours and im in 1000 city. £20 and its yours.
I don’t wanna buy it! lol.
Congratulations. Like everyone else has said there’s no point in beating yourself up over a 2:2. 10 years ago when I finished my philosophy B.A. with hons with a 2:2 I too was a tad annoyed; I’d got a 1st average in year 1, 2:1 average in year 2 and came away with a 2:2 mainly because my dissertation let me down and was 40% of the final mark. (5 years later I did an MSc in Software Development and was one of only 2 people to get a Distinction but this is a for another time).
One must remember that getting any degree is still a quite a feat so well done.
And yet, X-Files is fantastic.