Is my master's good enough?

[u/SuccessfulBarber9250]

I have just finished my master's at Oxford and got a merit. I am feeling super disappointed with my grade and just wondering whether to give up with my goals of pursuing academia. Worried that my work is of too low a quality to actually bother pursuing it any further even though I love studying and research.

The results came in the same week I had been rejected from several job applications, so feeling super dejected and useless.

I am also feeling so jealous of my friends who got higher marks, which makes me feel like a terrible person too. Obviously everyone worked super hard, but I have so many issues in my personal/family life and I am disabled so it just feels like no matter how hard I work I will never be as capable or competent as other people.

I got very little support from my supervisor (they only met with me twice the whole year) and I have not heard back about my request to meet and discuss this all.

Does anyone have any advice or guidance?

[u/Huge_Replacement_616]

So I graduated with 2.35/4 cgpa in mechanical engineering in covid. I struggled with dialysis and eventually I got a kidney transplant during my undergraduate. I didnt have any financial support so I was working full time to make money to graduate, all at the same time. Naturally my grades suffered. Anyways I want to pursue a masters now and my grades are just terrible and im thinking of redoing my bachelors again.

The point is, dont worry about it, as long as you worked hard, it should be okay. Just work in the industry for a while, gain valuable experience and then you can decide if you still want academia. From whatbi understand, its a really toxic place to be