Suspension

Cartwright:

What is the nature of the offense?

Regardless, you have been fed some serious lies if you think the "prestige" of a school can overcome a seriously questionable transcript. I would cut bait, and bust ass at a lesser school...though I assume you will still have to explain your time at your current school and your partial transcript will reflect the malfeasance?

Ignoring the transcript issue, and just speaking to the "lesser" school thing, you can get wherever you want from just about anywhere if you do well. I went to an undergrad ranked damn near 100 (though i think people in the region seem to think it's good because it's private) and knew 10+ people who got BB IB offers (pretty strong on a percentile basis).

This too shall pass. Learn from your mistakes and bust ass from here on out.

Don NOT underestimate prestige in finance. After ~10 after school (unless you were like a Kaufman Fellow, Phi Beta, something stellar) your GPA and how long you took to get your BA is almost moot. But where you went to college will always be part of your branding.

Whatever you do, DON'T transfer. What happened at your Ivy isn't going to go away, even with perfect grades from another school. Dealing with a shit transcript will be rough for the first couple years, but I know for a fact there are bucket shops out there that will hire you solely because you were an Ivy leaguer. At my office (the FO groups at least) I know where everyone went to school, but couldn't tell you one guys GPA unless he specifically brought it up and I remembered for some odd reason. Your Ivy degree will proceed your reputation, your GPA will not.

It doesn't by any means ensure success or make you good at your job. But it's a stigma in finance. And keep in mind IBanking is a sales job, and top schools in the US are sexy, 4.0's from Fresno State aren't. Could the Fresno State kid work circles around the 2.1 Dartmouth kid? Probably. But if I met two people at a bar, ask them where they went to school, and one says Dartmouth and the other Fresno (ceteris paribus) I'm going prefer the DC kids background over the State school kid. A lot of the time ,outside of recruiting, that's extent (other than the physical work) of the impact of your education. Ivy league for most people says (excluding pejorative thoughts) "Smart, sophisticated, connections to money, and unless you went to a superior school it'll convey that you have/had access to resources that I don't/didn't" It may not seem fair, but who said this game was fair. It's just the way it is.

Sticking with your school and finishing strong will not fix your problem but it will show you didn't quit saw it through. Your friends at your Ivy will get jobs at big banks and what have you. Do well enough at smaller shops where they won't look like stooges for recommending you and you could be at same quality of firms. You might be 2-3 years behind, but, oh well. On the contrary your friends from Fresno State won't, and your 1.98 will still pull down your 3.798 into the 2.0's which will happen when they aggregate your GPA for MBA.

I was in a similar situation as I was hundredths of a point off from being suspended as well and my parents pulled me out for a semester and made me take another semester of extension classes before they'd pay for the rest of my school. Luckily my slacker state school had take erase, so I literally retook 7-9 classes I took the previous year (my 1st semester I got a 1.65). I did graduate with a 3.6 (for anyone freaking over that math I ended coming out of that mess with only some scratches from a from a C and a B-) cumulative because I figured out what happens to college grades with subpar GPA's from average schools (trust me, you don't want to know); but my transcript is horrendous:W's, F's, D's, and 2 C's and 5 1/2 years (some say 6) to get my degree; I'm already putting together my sob story for MBA admissions. But I've passed a BB's background check without a question asked, so works for me. It's not the end of the world, but it will be rough. Go back to your Ivy finish strong, network your butt off, and I'll bet you'll get something worthwhile.

Cartwright:

Ok you posted this back in February and acted like it was way in the past. Did they just now mete out a punishment?

yeah

<span class=keyword_link><a href=/resources/skills/economics/seigniorage target=_blank>Seigniorage</a></span>:

wait....DID YOU GET BOOKED 4 PLAGIARISM ?!?!? cos that's not Montana, that's a wuss.

lol who hasn't done BS undergrad plagarism? In my case, they wanted to give me a D in the class but I finessed it into being turned into a P/F grade with D=P so it wouldn't screw the gpa (but I still had to retake it because having a grade was a graduation requirement.)

The second slap on the wrist was when I had the bright idea to cancel my oncampus dorm a month into the semester, make an illegal copy of the key, and get my full room fee refunded (almost 5k) . Then I proceeded to live there anyway cost-free (nobodys going to move into a dorm in the middle of the semester). All was well until a neighbor decided to rat me out to the RA after I yelled at him for letting his alarm clock beep too long! Of course by then I had already blown the 5k on expensive dinners in philly and a spring break trip. Still good times in retrospect.

If someone hasn't fucked up in college they're either lying or a complete sissy. But it's around this time when you have to learn "personal risk management." You can't risk so much for small rewards/shortcuts later in life.

So true man. Although granted, I did got to school with some pretty straight laced hard workers who legit earned their GPA. But I went to school with equally as many cheaters who never got caught. I had one buddy in engineering who was ROTC. He was one busy guy, but also very lazy. He graduated our highly competitive Mechanical Engineering with a 3.75 by cherry picking other classmates to copy from and I'd be shocked if he turned in one single homework or project that wasn't copied 10 min before class or learned one single thing on his own. He's got a plush engineering job in LA now pulling 90 + k while the kids he copied off of with their 3.34's they worked the bones into the group for are still at entry level positions at big firms pulling 45+.

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If it's on any record, it may hinder your chances during background checks. Best of luck.

Just be straight with HR about it. They're going to find out, so you need to own it and own what you hopefully learned from it.

x

Disclose it up front, period. That is not a trivial event that slips a person's mind of things you want to relay before a background investigation. Also, please find a way to show how it impacted your life and the changes you have made in proving you make better life decisions now.

Thanks for the helpful information, but how badly would this hurt my chances? Do I fall out of contention for a BB?

My plan of attack would be to talk to HR right after you get the offer, and similar to 3200fps' comment, explain how this changed your life/outlook and how this does not limit your ability to become a high-performing analyst.

I think it would hurt your chances with a BB, but it won't be impossible. Having a criminal record would automatically ding you, but since they do not ask about suspensions on application, you can make it pretty far. And from there, it'll depend on how you handle yourself.

Check your transcripts. This may not be disclosed and there may just be a gap for a semester. If it's not disclosed, I would not go out of your way to tell Hr about it.

Did you stop doing them? I would lie straight up and say I do them even more now, nobody hires a quitter!

All jokes aside, being upfront and honest about it is your best bet, demonstrates humility and that you've learned from your mistakes....hopefully

Can you check with your school first to see if its disclosed as part of a transcript request? This wouldn't come up in a random background check. I think a background check just confirms that yes you in fact do go to that school.

Don't disclose unless they ask. If they ask tell the truth. While honesty is a good policy, unprompted full disclosure is not.

That's ridiculous advice to disclose upfront. There's no reason to bring it up. It's not a big deal unless you make it a big deal. By disclosing it upfront, you're making it a big deal. Plus, I find it highly unlikely that they will find out. Now, if they do bring it up, don't lie, just be honest.

The whole process of recruiting and interviewing is about highlighting your strengths and downplaying any weaknesses. Why would you change your strategy now? Keep playing the game.

Everyone who is saying disclose upfront is dead wrong. Let's be clear, the only reason to disclose anything upfront is mitigate the damage if you are found out later. If you will not be found out, disclosing upfront is straight up dumb.

Most background checks can only verify if you received a degree, and when you graduated without written authorization for more (read the language in your background check release).

Steps I would take: 1. Contact your school's registrar/office of records and find out exactly what can be released to employers and what forms are necessary for them to release. Don't trust Career services, they don't know dick. 2. Some schools will allow you to expunge your record if you meet some criteria. Find them out. Do them. Problem solved. 3. Even if it is going to be disclosed, DO NOT SAY SHIT until you have an offer, and say it to HR, not the interviewers. 4. Stop hunting on message boards for people to speculate on your situation. Contact the school and get to the bottom it.

Yeah, just to clarify - "Be straight with HR" did not mean volunteer the information. Just don't lie.

DO your homework first. Call up the student services staff at your university and find out if they would actually have clearance to access that information on you. If it's 100% confidential for school admin purposes only, then come up with an excuse.

Yeah I don't think they can find this out. Even if they do, there is nowhere on an application / onboarding questionnaire that asks about suspensions or anything like that. I would not volunteer this information. A background check is not going to delve into your disciplinary record at school; as others have said, they verify your degree, dates of education, and maybe your GPA. I got in trouble for stupid shit like alcohol and got an MIP in undergrad and I've worked on the street for 4 years, it's never come up. I would be curious if the people telling you to disclose have any experience working on the street. If it comes up, you explain it. you are not lying by not volunteering this info to HR.

Is it on your transcript?

How did you get into a top ivy with a serious infraction?? :O