Question on High School Listing / Background Checks for IB Internships

Hi everyone — wanted to get some perspectives from people who’ve gone through banking recruiting or background checks.

I have a somewhat non-traditional education path and I’m trying to figure out best practices for my resume going into sophomore & junior internship recruiting.

Situation:
- Currently an undergrad at a target business school.
- Before college, I attended a well-known U.S. boarding school through most of high school.
- I finished secondary education elsewhere due to personal circumstances (not academic or disciplinary issues).
- Resume currently lists the boarding school only(below the university) without dates or any claim of graduation/diploma.
- I do not list the other high school because it adds complexity but no recruiting signal.

Questions:
1. For IB internships (BB/EB/MM), do firms actually verify high school education, or only college enrollment/degree during background checks?
2. Has anyone ever been asked for high school transcripts during internship recruiting or post-offer checks?
3. Is listing a high school you attended (without claiming graduation) considered standard practice, or could that be viewed as misleading if you completed high school elsewhere?
4. At what point do people typically remove high school, if it's an elite boarding school, entirely from finance resumes?
5. Any HR / background-check insight into what is actually verified vs. what applicants worry about unnecessarily?

To be clear, I'm not trying to misrepresent anything, just trying to understand industry norms for resume construction vs. full disclosure on formal applications.

Appreciate any insights from people who’ve gone through SA recruiting or post-offer background checks.

4 Comments
 

Thanks for the response. My thinking is that as a freshman or sophomore without much finance experience yet, listing my high school(Philips Andover) helps add some early academic signal until internships carry more weight.

I have also heard there can be a small social or cultural advantage early on, especially for networking, since many people in the indsutry recognize certain prep schools and may feel a bit more familiarity.

 

It is possible for the background check agency to contact the high school. Given this I would at most list the boarding school on LinkedIn with your other high school. Additionally, most people remove high school education from the resume sophomore year once they’ve built enough experiences in college.

 

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