Does graduating in two terms look bad on a resume?

[pie]

I've been doing online courses for months now getting ready to transfer back into school. I want to finish as quickly as possible, so one to two terms at UMPI max, but I'm wondering if it looks bad on your resume if you graduated that quickly. Any thoughts?

[mohelena02]

I've been doing online courses for months now getting ready to transfer back into school. I want to finish as quickly as possible, so one to two terms at UMPI max, but I'm wondering if it looks bad on your resume if you graduated that quickly. Any thoughts?

You just said you have been working on this for months, add this time to your timeline when noting it on your resume. Also, no one really questions it too much, but if they do explain that you had credits and you completed an accelerated program.

I finished a Master's degree in less than two months, and whenever I explain that the program was accelerated no one questions it.

[pie]

Great point! Thanks for your input

[bjcheung77]

@pie, I'm hungry! <munch on my apple strudels...> For Masters, it really depends on how you relay the information, be honest and explain to them how you finished...

For undergrad, especially the Associates or Bachelors level, it really won't matter how fast you finished the degree as you would have transferred in the majority of your credits. You can truthfully tell them you started X years ago with your first credits and finally finished completing the degree requirements now. Example, I had many credits and finished my degree in a few months, but the time I started wasn't just those few months, it was all transfer credit and finished the remaining credits after those few months. This is true for many students that transferred from community college to university...

[PrettyFlyforaChiGuy]

You don't have to list the timeframe or even the year of graduation. This trends even truer once a significant amount of time has passed since graduation. There's also an argument to be made that accelerating through a degree is more impressive than detrimental, especially if it's from a place that feels well-established, like a state university system.

[dfrecore]

They don't need to know when you started - and you don't even have to put your graduation date. So how would anyone even know when you started?

Generally speaking, an employer won't even look at your transcript, just your diploma. So again, they don't know when you began the program.

[ss20ts]

Just leave off the dates. Problem solved! Or tell them you transferred to UMPI to complete your degree.

[allvia]

There is no reason to put the dates, especially the start on your resume.  An exception for adding the graduation date would be that you've been working in a different industry and you're looking to move into something that aligns with your degree. Examples are you've been a barista for many years and now you want to get into accounting and just completed your business degree in accounting, or you've been an auto-mechanic and now you want to become an app developer and you've just completed your degree in CS, or maybe you've been working in construction and now you want to get into project management and you just completed your PM degree...you get the idea. You would want to share the graduation date if it has a positive impact in the direction you're looking to move towards on your resume. This doesn't mean that works for all people, many have all the experience in their field already, but they could not move up or elsewhere without the degree on the resume at all (no need to add date, you've already got the experience example - you just couldn't check that box)

[Pats20]

A lot of online applications now ask for start and finish dates for college and require input. So if you have older credits that would be an explanation. But if not, you may be asked to explain. Idk.

[jsd]

A lot of online applications now ask for start and finish dates for college and require input. So if you have older credits that would be an explanation. But if not, you may be asked to explain. Idk.

For the overwhelming majority of jobs, I doubt anyone is looking at this input other than an HR screener giving it a cursory glance to see if you check the "has a degree" box. no one is worried about dates.