This may be not right but I have seen students when given this chance graduate with a distinction. Again it depends on the student and it comes across at interview if the third class degree was deserved or if the student is capable of better.
The easy part is getting the place and sadly most people worry about getting the place when they should first decide if they're ready and up for working at the level required.

You're right about the MBA golfpro but only because most MBA's won't take people straight from uni
Taught masters courses are a different kettle of fish.At the end of the day it's up to the prospective student to sell themselves to the course admissions tutor. You have to remember the market is saturated with masters courses right now and the postgrad applicant numbers at many institutes are not rising in proportion (even the top ten uni's are taking massive hits on some courses though they don't freely admit to it outside their own walls). At the same time top graduates are now aiming for graduate schemes rather than further study. Plus as you've often commented at some institutes money talks as a university can either not run a course or let one student on who might not have the right standard of degree but means the course can run.

Another trick is if you find a masters course you really like which is a taught one and the uni won't budge on the 2.1/2.2 entry criteria. Ask if they do a PGcert (which is usually the first few modules of the masters) and if your work is of high enough standard they'll let you transfer into the PG Diploma then if your work is good they'll let you transfer onto the masters. All it means is you will still do the same course and it still only takes one year but unlike the other masters students on the course you will be initially registered as a PGcert student and then later in the year a diploma student and finally a masters student.But no-one else on the course will know.
Not all universities have this policy though so again it's just a matter of research and asking questions and not giving up.
Good Luck!

Lol golfpro!
Ignore him Steven, it's just his sense of humour.
Is it MBA or masters courses you are interested in?
If it's an MBA then you're degree doesn't matter but you need to get several years of relevant business experience. There are people on MBA's who don't even have a degree (and at places like Durham!).Most MBA's won't consider applicants if they don't have any work experience though a few now do. Maybe (if you haven't already) you should consider looking into grants to set up your own business?
If you want masters courses which are not MBA's but for finance or management etc. Then you need to do some research into which courses you would like to do (and would be most helpful to your career).Then you need to start contacting admissions for the courses making sure to point out any work experience, skills or extenuating circumstances which affected your degree. Admissions are used to these questions.

Depending on the university Jaime, your background may be an advantage if you're applying to the top uni's. As they still have WP targets from HEFCE to hit and the postgrads can be including in those targets.
Don't give your background another thought with regards the interview as if you worry about it, it could affect your performance.Also if in the interview they ask where you're from, don't panic!It's a common ice-breaker question.It will be just the interviewer interested as often you find your interviewers are from the same area (even if they don't sound like it)!
Plus when I was doing my BSc, I was one of a handful to have come from a family where every member had been to university so I don't think you're in a minority any more

Hear, hear Juno!
Also not just 'laziness' but other issues can affect degree performance. I'm not talking about the 'my dog died' excuses but about real issues like your parent(s) dying suddenly, suffering from a serious illness, serious financial problems through no fault of the student etc.
Plus it can be 15 years or more between someone taking their degree and being at the faculty application stage (well, in my subject anyway). Most of what was in that degree could be irrelevant 15 years later.
Anyway at the end of the day, we've all got to the stage we're at regardless of how we got here or what grade we received.

You do have a good point leigh1 and golfpro.
It also depends on the dept's policies about rounding up. My friend was ill during a set of exams and got a third for one and I think she failed one because she was absent(in hospital). My dept didn't allow resits (though other dept's in the same uni did). Her final mark was 69.something% and she got a 2.1. She was devastated. Yet at other uni's they would have rounded her up. Similarly I know two people who got the same final mark as me in the same subject but at different universities but they were awarded 2.1's.
Hence the reason most postrad admissions take into account: the age of your degree, the dept., the university, the subject,work experience and skills. Despite what people say about a 2.1 being a 2.1 regardless, you two are right,it isn't, as you can't compare easily enough to be confident the different classifications do represent two different classes of applicants.

I think they both had similar work experience. The one with a 2.2 had a masters and phD and then when working after phD had taken the PGCE on top of his teaching and research duties.
The problem is you don't get to know what your lecturers got do you normally? So you could have been taught by someone with less than a 2.1 and you wouldn't know.I didn't find out about that professor until I got my results and then I was told as encouragement to carry on.He was useless at exams but excellent at research. It also depends on your universities assessment method.At my old uni, modules were 100% assessed by exam,no marks for your practical skills or coursework. So you can have two students, one with excellent lab skills and one who's a danger to themselves and others and the second one can get the first because they're better at exam technique.The exams (including finals) were worth 70% of the final degree mark.
Anyway all over now, onwards and upwards!

"In the present climate, I would imagine the intake of current lecturers will all have something considerably in excess of a 3rd."

Depends what you mean by considerably in excess. I was working in a red brick university last summer and someone with a 2.2 degree got a lectureship over someone who had 1st class at undergrad level! However the 2.2 candidate had completed a PGCE for Higher Education via distance learning,which a few years ago wasn't at all important but now universities really like to see Higher PGCE's.When I asked the Dept. Head about it he said that once you've got your phD all that's important is your research, publications, teaching experience and most of all your personality!
Not fair is it? We might as well just have pass or fail for our BSc's/BA's.

Hi,
I got a 2.2 and I applied to and was accepted by two universities: Durham and Newcastle. Newcastle even offered me NERC funding despite the 2.2 (though I admit I did have exceptional circumstances).I've chosen to take out a large loan and go to Durham instead as their MSc is by research and that suits me better.
My immediate family are academics and I've worked in university admissions myself and it's actually common for people to get into programs without the required grades as universities look at the whole picture not just your grades.A lot of it comes down to your interview performance and personality.This isn't new however-a top professor at my old uni (York) got a third for his degree!A lot of academics I've known didn't get 2.1 or above for their degree so there's hope for us all.