I dropped out of college. How do I say that on a resume?

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zer0netgain
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25 Oct 2009, 9:13 pm

arielhawksquill wrote:
I didn't finish grad school, so my resume says "Completed 32 credit hours, Graduate School of the University of _______" as the last line of the "Education" subsection, and I get still get jobs.


True. You could be like me, finish your education and then be pigeonholed into a career you don't want to pursue...therefore never being taken seriously for anything you apply for outside that field.

Should have dropped out of graduate school. Then it would somehow be more acceptable that I'm looking for work in something other than what I went to school for.



TheDuck
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25 Oct 2009, 9:30 pm

MizLiz wrote:
Jaydog1212 wrote:
MizLiz wrote:
I dropped out as a junior but did that many credits worth in something like a year and a half so if I listed the years it would look like I dropped out as a freshman. How do I word it? I need some kind of template to see what it looks like.

I quit because the BS wasn't worth my money.


From the web:
If you didn't finish college, start with a phrase describing the field you studied, followed by the school and the dates (the fact that there was no degree may be missed).

Example:
Education:....Portland State University............................................Portland, OR
...........................................................................................................2000-2003
...........................-Relevant Coursework included Data Structures and Software Engineering.

Of course remove the "......" (just used to reflect spacing)

Here are some templates: MS Resume Templates

Damn it. That's going to make it look like I only did one year when I busted my ass. Is there an elegant way to lie?

Thanks for the template though. That's been really snagging me on my resume.

If it doesn't overlap with other work experience you could just put 1 1/2 years of college (it's not like if they are going to check unless your applying for an extremely serious classified job). I don't feel bad twisting the truth in interviews since I think the whole junk surrounding interviews is bull s**t and I know what I'm capable of.



MizLiz
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25 Oct 2009, 10:44 pm

Jaydog1212 wrote:
MizLiz wrote:
Damn it. That's going to make it look like I only did one year when I busted my ass. Is there an elegant way to lie?

Thanks for the template though. That's been really snagging me on my resume.


Example:
Education:....Portland State University............................................Portland, OR
...........................................................................................................2000-In Progress
...........................-Relevant Coursework included Data Structures and Software Engineering.

Of course remove the "......" (just used to reflect spacing)


But it's not in progress. I dropped out and if they request my transcripts, they'll surely see that.



Ishtara
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26 Oct 2009, 3:59 pm

After the details of my course and dates of attendance, I put that I "left to pursue employment opportunities". That resume has got me at least 4 different jobs since then, so it must be working :)



Confused-Fish
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28 Oct 2009, 1:09 am

i dropped out of college once. i just don't mention it. or do what Ishtara did



Jaydog1212
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28 Oct 2009, 2:42 am

zer0netgain wrote:
arielhawksquill wrote:
I didn't finish grad school, so my resume says "Completed 32 credit hours, Graduate School of the University of _______" as the last line of the "Education" subsection, and I get still get jobs.


True. You could be like me, finish your education and then be pigeonholed into a career you don't want to pursue...therefore never being taken seriously for anything you apply for outside that field.

Should have dropped out of graduate school. Then it would somehow be more acceptable that I'm looking for work in something other than what I went to school for.


zer0netgain, why don't you drop your graduate degree off your resume if it doesn't pertain to the position.



zer0netgain
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28 Oct 2009, 7:43 am

Jaydog1212 wrote:
zer0netgain wrote:
arielhawksquill wrote:
I didn't finish grad school, so my resume says "Completed 32 credit hours, Graduate School of the University of _______" as the last line of the "Education" subsection, and I get still get jobs.


True. You could be like me, finish your education and then be pigeonholed into a career you don't want to pursue...therefore never being taken seriously for anything you apply for outside that field.

Should have dropped out of graduate school. Then it would somehow be more acceptable that I'm looking for work in something other than what I went to school for.


zer0netgain, why don't you drop your graduate degree off your resume if it doesn't pertain to the position.


That's a dual-edged sword. If an employer doesn't want to go that far back in my work history, I can do it and not have an issue. If they want to go far enough back, the gap has to be accounted for.

Sadly, I know my education makes me more of an asset, but there is this "perception" in most people's minds that gets in the way...making an asset a liability.



ScratchMonkey
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28 Oct 2009, 1:37 pm

I haven't had to look for a job for a long time (I've got a very nice one, which tolerates my Aspie nature). But I dropped out of college long ago with good grades because I simply ran out of money and couldn't stand pursuing the student aid options. It's a decision I very much regret, but at the time I had no skills for handling the paperwork and hoop-jumping of the aid regime.

As I see it, I have plenty of very good experience to stand behind me. The main obstacle my lack of degree presents is the HR department, which uses a checklist of requirements before personal evaluation. So the trick is to go around HR and first talk to the people you'll be working with so that they can grease the skids in HR to deal with your lack of paper.



sourus
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29 Oct 2009, 1:22 pm

The very best lie I can come up with would be to say you dropped out because you had to take care of your dying mother. hopefully the interviewer will just want to change the subject.
How about getting back in college. Then you just call it hiatus for exploring other opportunities.



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03 Nov 2009, 11:22 pm

Hello,

In my experience, many employers don't care about education if you have a good deal of favorable experience. If the job announcement doesn't mention education, feel free to omit it.

Or, go ahead and adopt, for example, arielhawksquill's approach to describing education on your resume.

MizLiz, congratulations on doing three years' worth in a year and a half!

And you're absolutely right: "In Progress" is incorrect in this context. If you have left school indefinitely - and any employer with half a brain will figure if the last entry on your transcript is years old that you've left indefinitely - you are not in progress.

More broadly, employers do check resumes. I know the temptation to lie, when we're faced with seemingly irrelevant and arbitrary requirements in the economy from hell. Many people do lie.

And that's exactly why it's a bad idea by now - precisely because employers have learned to check things out.

What if you do get hired? How often are you going to wonder if today's the day you get found out? (Many background checks are only finished - or even started - days or weeks or even months after the employee starts. Sometimes they're only done if the boss is ticked off at the employee and wants an excuse to get rid of him/her.)

Finally, is it right? Especially by Aspie standards?

Meanwhile, Boston_MA has an excellent point. Coaching can help many people get and keep jobs (also friends, personal relationships, etc). I can help you work through these issues and turn your life around.

Last but not least, good luck tio you MizLiz!


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chasingthesun
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04 Dec 2009, 12:39 am

Okay, first of all, you will only need to explain leaving college if you are asked. Have a good reason like money or something. People always buy that you couldn't pay for school.

On a resume, it really depends on the job you are applying for. Your resume should always be tailored to the specific position for which you are applying.

As some suggested, if a position requires or lends itself to a particular background that your schooling reflects, list the relevant courses (as "relevant coursework"). If not, always list the name of the school and the number of credits you completed. There is no need to list dates of attendance. This goes for anyone putting any schooling on their resume; dates of attendance may suggest your age (or an incorrect assumption of your age!) and therefore it should not be included on a resume. There are lots of other reasons as well, but there ya go.

(I come from a background in the staffing/recruiting industry.)



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06 Dec 2009, 10:30 pm

MudandStars wrote:
You could say you completed however many semesters you were at college for and put the focus on the fact you did some instead of on the fact you didn't finish.


This was the approach I took on my latest resume. Since handing it out I have been accused of deliberately misleading those in a position to hire. This was never my intention. I'm not sure how to modify it either without writing defensively that I left for personal not academic reasons. To an NT I cannot imagine this sounding comforting.


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emc2
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06 Dec 2009, 10:48 pm

I dropped out of TAFE (Tech) courses here.

I used to put what others have suggested you put -

sometimes I put the course title

Then I put which modules I passed in a list.

or

Completed the following subjects from Cert III in blah blah blah.

That was enough to get me some work in the past.

In fact TAFE offers courses as being part courses - say if you do Word and Excel, it's called the Word and Excel course, but they write a letter to say you've done module blah and blah from Cert III or Cert IV or whatever.

Uni's the same here, I think for summer school which is new here you can just do one course from a degree.



TheMinnesotaIceman
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06 Dec 2009, 11:30 pm

I dropped out of college. I don't regret my decision in the slightest.