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I had a pretty complicated college history. I transferred to a small college after spending a year gathering credits at two colleges in NYC. For the two colleges in NYC, I also took high school and summer courses.

Not all of my credits transferred and while I walked with my 2015 class in May, I ended up finishing my coursework in December 2015. Since then, my resume has said "BA December 2015". However, I recently submitted a form for a background check and this was marked as a discrepancy. It turns out that my college had done away with midyear degrees, stating they would only be issued at the end of the school year and my actual graduation date was May 2016.

At this point, I was working full time and had walked with my 2015 class. It honestly never occured to me that I was part of the 2016 class. Do you think this is grounds to rescind an offer? I'm super nervous.

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  • What does your title actually say? What's on the paper? It does not matter when you think you finished or the clerk thinks you are enrolled. You certainly got some paperwork and that should be what you and the institution should refer to. – nvoigt Apr 29 '19 at 5:50
  • Was the "done away with midyear degrees" change something that happened after you were issued your diploma? If you (or a potential employer) requested a transcript from your college, what date would the transcript say the degree was issued? That's the date to put on your resume in the future. – spuck Apr 29 '19 at 16:59
  • It's super weird. My college said I attended through May 2015 which is incorrect if only because I still took summer courses/a fall class to finish due to transferring but listed my graduated date as May 2016. However, my course completion date is listed as December 2015. – ElizaK Apr 29 '19 at 17:55
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Hiring managers are not looking for the slightest discrepancy for which to rescind your offer. They are looking for outright and intentional lies, deceptions, misrepresentations, etc. Your scenario doesn't appear to be a deliberate act on your part to misrepresent yourself.

What you've stated seems like a simple mistake or misunderstanding and should be easily and adequately explained.

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  • I would in future explain this in a covering letter for companies that will do a background check. – WendyG Apr 29 '19 at 10:55
  • @WendyG, why would it not be better to just change the resume to reflect the May 2016 graduation date? – spuck Apr 29 '19 at 16:55
  • I agree about changing it. I'm just worried there might be some confusion as I was already working fulltime after December but maybe that wouldn't matter. – ElizaK Apr 29 '19 at 17:56
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    @Elizak - Lots of people work while in school. Put whatever date your college put on your degree on your resume. Unless this is your first job, it might help, just remove the date from the degree. You have the degree your transcripts will show this. Nobody cares when you graduated unless they are looking for that (which is where knowledge of what they are looking for is important) – Donald Apr 30 '19 at 1:41
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I wouldn't be too worried.

You've got your degree, and you'd finished your coursework by the date that you gave, and they're the things that will matter most. While it has been flagged, it's basically just an administrative discrepancy that may warrant further investigation.

At worst, I'd think that you might be asked to produce some more paperwork, and you should probably correct your resume so that this doesn't come up in future, but I'd be extremely surprised if it were to cost you a job.

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It might not be grounds for them to rescind your offer, but it might be grounds for recruitment companies and/or automated recruitment systems to toss your resume into the metaphorical rubbish bin when you send in a job application in the first place.

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  • Is there any reason why that would be? Anyway, I'm super freaked it will be rescinded since I sent my transcript and explained what happened, along with my school dean explaining what happened but I haven't heard back. – ElizaK Apr 29 '19 at 17:57
  • @ElizaK Because recruitment agencies often receive hundreds of applications for any position that they advertise, so they often look for any reason that they can find to eliminate applicants. Once you get past that stage and you’ve gotten to interviews, though, that’s less of an issue. – nick012000 Apr 29 '19 at 23:52
  • @Elizak - It comes down to the fact, if they have to spend time trying to determine what is actually correct, that costs them money. However, while you should make your resume match your transcripts, you are over thinking it. You graduated, your background check confirmed that’s the case, 5 months is a clerical mistake. – Donald Apr 30 '19 at 1:40

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