Does Background Check Include High School Diploma?
I've recently been offered a full-time position at a boutique and now all paperworks been finalized. I was told they would check everything up until high school. However, I didn't graduate from a high school. I stayed for 3 years and quit because of some juvenile reasons.
I enrolled at some crappy community colleage for 1.5 years but instead went around traveling and did some part-time work. After this I enrolled myself at another better ranking community college. After two years, I transfered to one of the best public universities in the country and graduated with a decent GPA this summer.
For my background check, they didn't ask much about high school. But I am worried to death how my high school +1.5 years at the 1st college record will come up during the background check.
Should I call the prospective company and explain this history or just sit and wait for the background check results?
Do Employers Check if you Graduated from High School?
The situation described by the OP is a very unique one. However, our users agree that you will likely be fine as your graduation from the state school is the most important thing.
That being said, since you have provided all accurate information without being asked about high school, you have not lied. There is no need to bring up the matter until when and if you are asked about it by the background check company.
Read More About Background Checks on WSO
- Lying About SAT Scores for Job Application
- Do You Know Someone Who Has Personally Lied on Their Resume
- Do Companies Ask for your Transcript to Check Your GPA?
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Be honest and it doesn't matter. You graduated from the public college right? That's all that matters.
^ Yes, I graduated from a public college with a 3.7 GPA.
What's the best way to do it? Shall I call the prospective company or just disclose it on the form and let the background check comapny find out?
So not having a high school diploma doesn't matter as long as I've got my bachelors?
You've got a very interesting and unique situation. My guess would be that other WSO don't have experience in this matter, and therefore their guess is as good as yours.
If I were in your situation, I'd let this one ride. If you truly did not misrepresent any information in your application, I think you're likely to come out clean. Ommission of information is very different from lying. They undoubtedly assumed that you graduated high school, but if you really did graduate with a 3.7 from college, then that is far more important.
I agree with CompBanker. Not discussing an issue is much different than lying about an issue when questioned. Honestly, high school is not important to IB recruiting - it's all about college brand, GPA, and so forth. As long as your resume is accurate, the details of your distant past shouldn't matter that much - it might make for a few questions or an interesting story if it comes up, but it really shouldn't completely screw you. If I were you, I would just hold tight and wait for 1 of 2 things to happen: either you get the job, because they really just look at college and not even worry about HS, or you will get a call that they have a few questions. If the 2nd case happens, don't worry about it - it's your past, you have a solid explanation and you've completely bounced back. Focus on the positive and the distance of the past. I too am guessing on this issue though, since it is a pretty unique situation. Good luck.
Agree with the two above -- it may be a non-traditional path [to say the least], but you were able to get into the public U so that should be good enough for the bank. If they bring it up, it's a pretty simple situation to handle -- you never lied, and just didn't think it was necessary to provide information about your pre-CC education.
Highschool diploma is not a requirement - One of my close frends is a recruiter at a top BB and I just asked her for you. College transcript is what matters
You have nothing to worry about. In fact, they look for college diploma / whatever as a stamp of approval for anything before that. Hell there ar eguys who never went to HS but got into college and were home schooled. Regardless, you're fine. Just don't lie if they ask you. If you have anything specific, I'll ask my recruiter friend for you again
Thank you everyone!! I feel much more relieved now after reading your comments.
GordonsGecko, Many thanks for the help! Could you ask your friend for me what the best way is to handle this situation (I am assuming when they run the check they'll eventually find out everything)? Specifically, my questions are:
Should I disclose that I had been enrolled at the first college? Or just leave it as a gap and say I went travel (which was more like the reality) on the form? I am afraid it will hurt my profile once they find out my grades weren't anywhere close to good... how will the recruiters view this?
What are the general procedures of a background check and in what degree of details will they look into pre college education? Will the outsourced firm pass all the details to the HR at the company or only the results (i.e. pass/fail the check)?
Much appreciated
In general do all banks ask to see your degree as well as conduct a background check?
Background Checks: High School GPA (Originally Posted: 03/12/2008)
Ummm... my HS GPA is on my resume and it might be .1-.2 off (i.e. 4.4 vs. 4.2). Any chance they'll dig that deeply during the checks? I've heard of probing into extra extracurriculars (rare right?) and work experience (guaranteed), but never HS.
To clear any doubt, I didn't do it on purpose... it's just been so long since I graduated HS and the line is something I added literally last minute before I submitted.
You need to lighten up.
They won't be combing through your HS transcripts. You don't have anything to worry about.
From what I've heard, only GS checks.
Chill out.
Short answer is they won't check anything high-school related, I've heard that about GS too but even if you're off by 0.2 it's nothing to be worried about. Being off by 2.0 might be a completely different story.
Either way, you're fine.
Does background make a big deal if I drop a class that are listed on resume?
When do banks typically get in touch after acceptance to start the background checks? I sent my acceptance about 3 weeks ago and haven't heard from HR since. Dropped them an email on Friday but no response...
m8875 - no
jargon81 - usually closer to the start date. so should be soon for SA or even FT starting in summer 2008.
Is when you go to fill out your U4 if you are signing up for an exam and you are right out of college. Hell, they will even go as far back as middle school and elementery school.
That's the SEC and FINRA for you though... thorough as all hell.
Inquisitor, you're the best! The only other anomaly is it says I was VP of a student group from 2006-present when it should be 2006-2007 =P. I don't think I should be too worried though HAHA.
Yeah, I really need to calm down. It's just been a long season!
yeah dude they could care less about HS and i honestly dont even think it has a place on your resume unless you did something exceptional (ie valedictorian)
I didn't even include high school grades in my resume and none of the banks ask for it either, so I don't think it's a big deal at all.
Do they really check extracurriculars? How do they go about that?
yeah, i'm interested in the answer to this as well. there are some ecs on my resume that i haven't been all that involved with, and i suppose a REALLY thorough background check would bring that out. what has everyones' experience been with people checking activities?
Unless you are a freshman or sophmore (even then its a stretch), you should not have anything about HS on your resume. Your employer will not know, nor care, what your HS was, unless by some chance you interview with someone who went to a neighboring school.
Your resume should include: College info Test scores (SAT/SATII/ACT/GMAT/LSAT/whatever else you may have taken at that point) Job experience Leadership/EC experience (activities, fraternity, sports, etc as long as it is in college) List of "interests and qualifications" (should be 2 lines at the bottom of the resume)
Things it should not include: Anything about HS Statement of purpose etc Mistakes Lies "Long walks on the beach" Exaggerations with regards to linguistic ability (they always will get you on this one)
In short, fix any errors, rounding is ok, and no one cares about high school.
my friend said he was fluent in Chinese for an interview (took 2 years of college classes) for a private equity firm and they had a native-chinese speaker interview him and tear him apart :P
Yeah, literally it was ONE bullet point in my education section right below the SAT scores bullet. It just said:
Graduated valedictorian from __________ High School in (city), state) with a 4.xx GPA.
It was nothing crazy or elaborate and I figured at best it would help ever so slightly and at worse it would just get glanced over.
I really doubt it's common at all they check up on that but I guess it's possible? Maybe it's more for if you listed something like... "Division I Men's Rugby Team."
there's a difference between being a rank and file, show up every other week member and actually taking on leadership positions and stuff like that. my involvement in most things generally is more like the former. i never said i lied about anything. don't jump to conclusions.
Background check high school transcript (Originally Posted: 03/03/2011)
Hello all first time posting! really appreciate your input.
I am studying at a target in us and received an offer for SA at a bb(ms/GS/JPM) in an oversee office. Now I am signing my contract and background check will begin soon. I have two questions:
I made a mistake in my high school AP score: out of the 8 subjects taken, I received 7As but put 8As instead ( the subject with wrong score is English). I didn't intend to lie - there is no benefits in lying. I was rushing through my application and was intending to put only 7 subjects but then.. So my question is, is high school AP score important?
my gpa dropped last semester cos I was busy recruiting by 0.2. I screwed up quite a number of my classes. They did not request my transcript yet, but will this be a problem?
Thank you all for your inputs!
Explain to them the situation before you sign the offer.
Yes I definitely will. they requested my high school cert and ap scores and I only discovered the mistake when I tried to dig out my cert. I know I should have checked before submitting my application. So I am going to give HR a call and tell them that it's a honest mistake and I apologize for my carelessness. Do you think this is a good approach?
Thank you!
dude I don't think anyone cares... you should be fine
Thanks!
Just to be extra paranoid, they requested my high school grad cert and ap transcript. I will give HR a call to explain the situation. I was intending to just apologize for my lack of discretion, do you think it's a good idea?
Relax and congrats on your offer!\
No one cares about high school grades as long as you graduated
As long as your GPA was current when the resume was submitted you should be fine
That's good to know. However, they do requested my cert and my scores. I am definitely going to explain and I wish to know what's the best way for me to put it without leaving a bad impression. Should I call HR or the MD?
This is the exact same thing happening to me. My GPA fell by 0.1 since i submitted my resume...hopefully HR won't mind. Should I explicitly express this to them when they start background checks? Or just go with it and let them check? (I heard they don't mind a 0.1 GPA difference anyways).
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