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By ‘less impressive’, I mean that it was at a poorly ranked uni. Bottom half according to the national rankings. I still did well there academically and got a couple of awards.

By contrast, the two Master's are both from world-leading places.

I originally included all three, but a couple of acquaintances advised me to omit my first degree.

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    As with any other accomplishment or experience on your resume, list it if you feel it adds value appropriate to the amount of space it takes up and omitting it would raise questions you don't really want raised (like what you were doing during that time or why you didn't include it).
    – Bernhard Barker
    Oct 27, 2017 at 14:32
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    How is this off-topic? I don't understand.
    – NVZ
    Oct 27, 2017 at 17:19
  • If the degree is relevant to the job you should list it, if it’s not relevant then you shouldn’t list it, if asked about it you should be truthful with your response.
    – Donald
    Oct 30, 2017 at 0:53

2 Answers 2

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I spend about 10% of my workday reviewing resumes and sorting them in "yes", "no", "strong yes", "definitely not" piles. So, I've seen quite a lot of resumes.

One of the things that annoys me is when the bachelor's degree is not listed. So, not listing it contributes to a less favourable impression. Why? Well, I want to see:

  • What environment the candidate was in.
  • What tech exposure they got.
  • Which professors or professionals in my network might have an opinion about the candidate, the program, or the university.
  • What is the overall career path of the candidate. Where are they coming from, where are they going.
  • Does it all hold up together or is this another embellished/fabricated résumé
  • Which courses/experience the candidate likely had. We'll use it to select the tech questions and the use case scenarios we present.

You should include all university degrees.

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  • I'm also confused by the downvotes...
    – man_in_green_shirt
    Oct 27, 2017 at 14:59
  • I don't get the downvotes either.
    – Old_Lamplighter
    Oct 27, 2017 at 15:20
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    FWIW, I like resumes that list hobbies. Makes it easier to assess cultural fit.
    – RJFalconer
    Oct 27, 2017 at 15:27
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    I am on the fence for downvoting, mainly because of the <rant/> part: You seem to think everythin should be as you wish it to be. I am sorry to inform you, but the world doesn't revolve around a (seemingly) US-centric workplace. For example, in my location it is totally normal and expected to include a picture (and thereby and by your name your gender in almost all cases) with your CV. Also, the downvotes might be from people liking pottery as you just labeled their hobby "pointless".
    – dirkk
    Oct 27, 2017 at 16:05
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    I have upvoted the answer, but I'd downvote the rant part. It's good advice, but at the wrong place. I had to think for a second before voting. I'm sure most downvotes are for the rant.
    – NVZ
    Oct 27, 2017 at 16:33
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List it, if nothing else it shows progression, same as anything else on a resume. Going from "generic university" to "Big Name School" shows that you must have done well to pull off a change like that.

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    Thanks. That's kind of what I thought - if anything, it shows that I was able to overcome obstacles
    – man_in_green_shirt
    Oct 27, 2017 at 14:27

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