I honestly can’t believe I have to post this in 2010 but after running across another LinkedIn profile that pointed to a degree mill for their MBA, I’ve got to tell you this with all certainty:
- You’re wasting your money
- You’re wasting your time
- You’re killing your credibility
- Recruiters will catch you
What’s crazy is that this happened frequently when I was hiring. If I didn’t recognize the name of an institution, it took all of five seconds to figure out it was a fake. You know how?
GOOGLE!!!
Yes, your degree mill may say they will act as your registrar, provide transcripts and have a semi-legitimate looking web presence (well, sometimes). What they can’t do is kill the power of Google to strike through the heart of their scam and bring your ridiculous investment to light.
The state of Oregon even made it easier for me by providing a list of such institutions. Glad my tax dollars are going to something helpful.
Now when I’ve called to contact a candidate about their fake online degree, you know what usually happens? I get hung up on. Or I get some lecture about how accreditation is bogus or that the educational system is a scam or that employers have ridiculous requirements for education. It’s the system, man. The system!
Listen pal, just because you were scammed by some diploma mill doesn’t mean you’re going to rip on hundreds of years of non-faked education. That’s bush league. And yes, some employers have out of touch policies regarding required education but guess what? You don’t combat that by throwing a fake degree on the old resume.
Want a clue for next time? Go to your Microsoft Word templates and pick out a nice award template and write yourself a degree. Give yourself whatever you like, go to the store to grab some nice paper and a frame and print it out. Sure, you’ll still be a liar but at least you haven’t spent hundreds of dollars on something that is only worth the paper it was printed on.
If you’ve got $600-1,500 burning a hole in your pocket, use that money to arrange networking meetings for coffee and lunch. With $600, you could have 20 coffee meetings and 10 lunches (and that’s assuming you’re buying). $1,500 could buy you several real courses through a public university too. Those meetings and courses are going to be worth a lot more than anything you’ll spend on a fake degree.
March 24, 2010 at 7:54 am
Hear hear. If you do have some college under your belt and need to finish up, Thomas Edison State College is an accredited school that has very liberal transfer policies, remote study and low fees. You’ll still look like you got your degree online, because you will have, but at least it will check out. If I ever finish my degree I’ll be forced to do something like this, because even my own college will no longer accept my credits, whereas TESC will.
March 24, 2010 at 9:07 pm
Yep. Getting a degree online from a legitimate, accredited institution is entirely different. There are a couple of other programs like Thomas Edison but it as good of an example as any.
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March 24, 2010 at 10:03 am
Wonderful article! I am currently looking to make a career change and due to my age and the inability to leave my job and study full-time I am looking for a credible on-line college that I can study with and it’s only by chance on doing my searches that I’ve come to realize how many ‘unaccredited/diploma mill etc’ institutions they are out there offering courses that you could end up spending a whole lot of money on then to not have them recognized – and some of them sound sooo good! I have had to start my search over again, looking at the colleges listed with the appropriate accreditation bodies and seeking advice from professionals in the field. It’s amazing how people would look to dupe you for monetary gain.
March 24, 2010 at 9:10 pm
It is the worst kind of scam. Most people are in a tough position and looking for some letters to put on their resume. Paying that sort of money for something that is completely worthless is terrible.
March 24, 2010 at 2:06 pm
I was forced into a career change and ended up going back to college, I’ve been very successful with Strayer Univeristy which is an accredited higher learning institution. The convenience of doing my classes online and the option to take the classes on site was perfect for me as a working adult. Not trying to sound like a commerical here but their online courses will include a heavy workload depending on the degree. Most of your Ivy league and other well known Universities now offer both online and brick and mortar classes. You have to earn your grade believe I’ve put in plenty of hours as it requires a lot of self discipline to complete the courses and to maintain a suitable GPA. The diploma mills that you mention at some point were directly linked to online courses as a way to cheapen someone’s efforts. Thank goodness technology is being utilized within the realm of higher education as I would not have been able to complete this endeavor otherwise.
March 24, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Yep, education should take hard work, not just a fat checkbook. Thanks for doing things the right way. You and your employer will be thankful.
April 7, 2010 at 11:13 pm
yeah but not all of us can afford education. it is really hard to finsish my batchelors degree now, as i work 6days a week and have no money left over after all my bills are paid – I cant pay for classes and i have no energy to take classes
March 25, 2010 at 5:14 am
Cheating brings nothing but fooling ourselves. We will always be caught no matter how well-thought our fabrication is.
March 25, 2010 at 6:39 am
Lance, the Pollyanahs will always believe that the evil-doers will be caught yet cheating is on the rise (be creative and play with Google to find “data”). Rather than offering my POV as to why I believe this is so, consider that people cheat because they can – the bulk of employers are average or worse at recruiting, interviewing and reference checking.
You can color your gray hair but it won’t make you younger; you can change your style of clothes but your behavior gives you away. Yet people still do these things – and lie on their resumes – because they either believe they need to do this to compete in the employment market or they’re really clueless.
In they end, they still have to look at themselves in the mirror and be happy with what they see. Doesn’t matter what we tell them…
March 25, 2010 at 8:06 am
Do people actually get away with the fake college degrees? I guess they do. We pulled back an offer a few months ago after no being able to verify someones degree. It just baffles the heck out of me that people actually spend hundreds of dollars on a fake degree. Lazy, just do it right.
March 25, 2010 at 9:25 am
People who lie on their resume and actually get the job don’t realize how vulnerable they are. Not just now, and in this position, but forever. The company can fire you one, ten, fifteen years down the road, and you have no recourse. Depending on the position and the jurisdiction, you could be sued or charged with a criminal offence.
The resume liars club is full of people who misstated their qualifications on their resume and were caught years after they started their job and were promoted to new positions. http://www.marquetinternational.com/liars.htm. The vast majority of the lies involved overstated or purely invented educational credentials.
July 10, 2011 at 11:15 am
I really aprpeactie free, succinct, reliable data like this.
March 25, 2010 at 9:29 am
Hey, rather than bagging on everyone for doing this (fun as that might be), perhaps what is called for is some advice on how they should deal with it once it has been done. If this kind of behavior is as common as it sounds then a lot of people are at risk. What would your advice be to them, Lance?
March 25, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Yah, it’s crazy that people still try to do this. There are whole background screening companies that specialize in verifying college degrees. It’s just sad human nature to want to take shortcuts.
March 26, 2010 at 7:09 am
Get over yourself Havlick
March 26, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Great article – with very good points! It is extremely important to not be fooled by diploma mills and to complete your undergraduate or earn your graduate degree from a regionally accredited university. Like DHarri mentioned, many traditional universities, like offer online and distance programs with the same faculty and curriculum as the on-campus programs. It’s important to find a program that works for your schedule, your budget, and will help you advance your career.
April 2, 2010 at 5:14 pm
The fact that some employers really don’t give much weight to someone with a degree may contribute partly to the diploma mills. By this I mean some companies are more interested in filling a position looking at experience over education. In today’s competitive job market having something referencing a degree on your resume may be just enough to get that face time with the hiring managers. Its also expensive to retrain people in some areas of business and as most people assume, once your in your in.