CV Advice - Diploma of Higher Education - 2 years of degree....

[rIcK]

I recently failed to complete a degree in (BSc) Computer Games Programming. Unfortunately i did not hand in one of the pieces required to complete my final year of the Degree, as a result i was awarded a "Diploma of Higher Education". (Some info on what this is below)

So basically i need this to go in a CV since it is still worth *something* yet it simply shows i didn't complete my degree.... So how should i go about this? Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Higher National Certificates and Higher National Diplomas : Directgov - Education and learning

Diploma of higher education

Diplomas of higher education are similar to HNDs. They are accredited professional qualifications and are highly respected by employers both in the UK and overseas.

They usually take two years to complete and offer subjects such as accounting, construction, engineering, nursing, science, technology and textile design.

You can normally convert your higher education diploma to a degree with an extra year of study. The diplomas are at level 5 on the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ).

Diploma of Higher Education - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE) is a higher education qualification in the United Kingdom. It is awarded after two years to three years' full-time study at a university or other higher education institution. They certify that a student has achieved a minimum standard in 1st and 2nd Year courses, and in the case of nursing, 3rd Year courses.

At the moment in the education section i have placed within my CV:

2010 – DIPLOMA OF HIGHER EDUCATION

University of *****
Computer Games Programming

I need to get myself a job and prove what a hard worker i am, i do plan on doing various training courses starting with CCNA Cisco network training regardless of if i manage to get a new job or not.

 

[Aod]

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't manage to successfully complete your degree, but i'm going to be frank and say that as far as i'm aware, most employers will see it as "couldn't even finish final year".

I also suspect you might not get a huge amount of sympathy

I think your best course of action would almost certainly be to retake your final year and get an actual degree that shows your true capabilities. With so many graduates every year that employers are implimenting 2.1-minimum requirements, how do you think your "not-even-managed-an-unclassified" will look to a prospective employer?

 

[Castiel]

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't manage to successfully complete your degree, but i'm going to be frank and say that as far as i'm aware, most employers will see it as "couldn't even finish final year".

I also suspect you might not get a huge amount of sympathy

I think your best course of action would almost certainly be to retake your final year and get an actual degree that shows your true capabilities. With so many graduates every year that employers are implimenting 2.1-minimum requirements, how do you think your "not-even-managed-an-unclassified" will look to a prospective employer?

Do this.

 

[Fr0dders]

diploma of higher education won't help you an awful lot.


You need to either

A) find a good compelling reason that will enable any future employer to understand why you left, and it wasn't because you couldn't be bothered to complete it or were going to fail anyway and decided to drop out to avoid failing.

or

B) re-take your final year stuff to get your degree.



I fell into the Point A) category when i dropped out halfway through my 2nd year. But my reason was one that most employer's would understand - i became a father. I faced a simple choice - spending the next 18 months unemployed and struggling to fund my new family. Or go to work, earn some money to help us through their first years, then possibly go back to uni when he was older and could be left in childcare while my wife worked and i went back to uni.

I obviously took the latter, and employer's never raised an eyebrow about it, most seemed quite understanding about it.

 

[Vonhelmet]

You want to show what a hard worker you are, after failing to work hard enough to complete your degree?

Re-take the final year.

 

[rIcK]

Cheers for the feedback guys, it is greatly appreciated!

This is something i am looking in to but rather changing course to computer science (more relevant to what i wish to do), but it needs to be considered by a "board" i have already written a letter and received a confirmation that it has been read. I went in to discuss my situation with the Course Director and he said the whole system has literally just changed and it is now not just 1 mans decision.

Just awaiting the response, either way i am taking a "worst case" scenario and would and assume i am not going to be allowed to retake this last year of a different course and look towards getting a job and further relevant training. Which all starts with a CV of course.

The main silly reason i didn't hand in this final piece of work was financial struggles, i either had to knuckle down and get this work finished or work my butt off to afford to live.

Maybe i should have gone to one of these "emergency" funds things available, borrowed some money etc. Who knows, at the end of the day should have handed in "something" then i would have been allowed to retake that particular module and get myself a decent mark. But i didn't and now need to live with the consequences of this.

I am not after a "degree level" job, i do not have the qualifications for this, i am after any job which will provide me with income and allow me to show my employer what a bloody good worker i can be. Whilst doing that i am going to train in any way i can to better myself.

I do need to put what i did for those 3 years i cannot lie about it. I worked completed 2 Full years of a degree and the majority of a third, built up a portfolio of work and a lot of experience of good practices. The other option is to simply not put this and say i worked for 3 years as an IT tech and a Salesman and rely on my rather mediocre 'A' Levels?

 

[Mr Jack]

It's not going to look great on your CV but your life is what it is, you can polish up your CV but outright misleading employers on it is a bad idea.

Just make the rest of your CV look as good as you can and keep plugging away. You've still got more to show that someone straight out of A-Levels and there's plenty of people out there who dropped out of their degrees and gone on to make decent careers for themselves.

If you're really after any job, best bet is to pound the streets and go and meet people where you can try and impress them in person rather than just relying on a CV. Also remember that for "any job" the fact you can spell, and have half decent grammar (you capitalise the 'I's on your CV right?) should count for a fair bit.

 

[rIcK]

It's not going to look great on your CV but your life is what it is, you can polish up your CV but outright misleading employers on it is a bad idea.

Just make the rest of your CV look as good as you can and keep plugging away. You've still got more to show that someone straight out of A-Levels and there's plenty of people out there who dropped out of their degrees and gone on to make decent careers for themselves.

If you're really after any job, best bet is to pound the streets and go and meet people where you can try and impress them in person rather than just relying on a CV. Also remember that for "any job" the fact you can spell, and have half decent grammar (you capitalise the 'I's on your CV right?) should count for a fair bit.

My CV gets much more attention to detail than a forum post does I assure you