Tricky academic questions

1. If a person graduates from a certificate program given at a college, are they a college graduate? They graduated from a college’s certificate program, but not with a degree. I have still seen certificate graduates refer to themselves as college grads and call their certificates degrees. Some even list their grad level certificates as Master’s degrees.

2. Is a person alumni of a college if they graduated from it, or if they just attended the school, regardless of the length of time.? What do you say?

3. It seems that most employers may go to the Student Clearinghouse to validate a prospective employees college degrees and academic history. How do you explain that you college is valid, but does not participate in the service? Yes I know the boss can look your school up on the Department of Education website-duh. Some are just really stuck on the Student Clearinghouse thing.

I'd just like to hear peoples opinions about some of these questions. Inquiring minds want to know.

 

I want to say I have seen it both ways. Mostly I have classification for people who graduate from certain programs (mainly degrees or credit diplomas) offered by the school. Not all programs qualify. For instance, some non credit certificate and diploma programs do NOT qualify you to be a member of the alumni association.

On the other hand, I have seen schools where enrolling in a couple of credit classes and completing them means you are an alumnus/ae because you attended (please send money to the association).

 

2. Is a person alumni of a college if they graduated from it, or if they just attended the school, regardless of the length of time.? What do you say?

My first school, Reed College, has this policy: 2 years attendance or less, no. Three years or more, regardless of degree, yes. So, based on 3 years there, I am an alumnus, which means I qualify to be dunned for donations every few months.

 

1. It seems to me the key is this: does the college itself allow the certificate holder to participate in graduation? If they do, if they are eligible to walk (not just have their name listed in a program), then they are graduates of that college. I don't see how one can in good faith declare oneself a graduate of an institution if one was never eligible to participate in the graduation ceremony.

Listing one's grad level certificate as a master's degree is misrepresentation, pure and simple, because a certificate is not degree.

2. Interesting question. I'd always thought that in order to be an alumnus one had to be a graduate however several dictionaries I consulted all disagree with each other. Some indicate it is reserved for graduates but most say it can be a graduate or any former student. I suppose this is because the term can be applied to non-educational institutions so if a criminal was an alumnus of Sing Sing it wouldn't make any sense to infer they graduated from there.

At the end of the day it comes down to whether one views graduation as a formal or informal event. Theoretically it would make sense--even if it sounds odd--to say that a baby graduated from its mother's womb. However, in ordinary day usage I would aver that we mean its formal sense.

 

No. Not by the standard definition of college graduate. The traditional definition implies completing a degree, not a certificate. In fact, I normally don't hear about people "graduating" from a certificate program, rather I normally hear about them "completing" the certificate.

It depends on the school. Different universities have different rules regarding who they give alumni status to. In fact, the rules can be different amongst the schools within the university. For example, Tyra Banks is an Alumna of Harvard Business School, but NOT Harvard University. She completed a general management certificate course at HBS and they grant alumni status to anyone who completes those specific courses. However, The university will not grant alumni status for a certificate program.

Although most schools are part of the Student Clearinghouse, not all are. It is a common enough occurrence, that I would think most HR people would simply call the school directly if they are not listed.

 

At my old community college certificate (trade) graduates participated in commencement.

 

I agree. Yet if I understand the OP's question correctly the issue is not what tradition dictates but what one can justifiably do--that is to say, what are the limits before one engages in misrepresentation? Tradition is one answer to that question but it is by no means the only answer.

These issues are trickier than they first appear. It goes to the heart of the question that was being discussed in the other thread about whether the designation "Bachelor's of Arts" is a professional title--and thus can be legally regulated-- or simply a description. These difficulties trouble minds both great and small.

http://courts.mi.gov/Courts/MichiganSupremeCourt/Clerks/Recent%20Opinions/13-14-Term-Opinions/146867-Opinion.pdf

The above links to an interesting court decision out of MI about whether a Governor can revoke a pardon. The court holds that she cannot. What's interesting, however, the that the court disagrees among themselves as to when a pardon is actually granted: is it granted the moment the Governor signs the pardon or is it not granted until the Secretary of State actually applies the state seal to the pardon? The majority holds the latter. That is to say that the pardon isn't actually granted until all the formal pomp and circumstances are done with.

Who can justifiably claim they are a psychologist? Who can justifiably claim they are a graduate or alumni? Who can justifiably claim they have been pardoned? The OP is correct that these are tricky questions because one's answer depends on how one frames the discussion.

 

No. That term refers to someone who has earned a bachelor's degree.

Graduated.

Very little explaining done because very little checking is really done! and almost none that way.

 

In practice, schools routinely claim famous non-graduates as alumni. We may not or may not agree with this practice, but that is the reality.

For example, President Woodrow Wilson:

- began his undergraduate career at Davidson College, but left after one year without graduating.
- then transferred to Princeton University, and graduated with a bachelor's degree.
- then attended law school at the University of Virginia, but left after one year without graduating.
- then attended The Johns Hopkins University, and earned a PhD.

Probably everyone would agree that President Wilson qualifies as an alumnus of Princeton and Johns Hopkins. But Davidson and UVa claim Wilson as an alumnus as well, even though he never earned degrees from those schools. The Davidson website currently states: "to this day he remains Davidson’s most famous alum", and the UVa website currently includes him on the list of "Notable U.Va. Alumni".

 

Or we may agree. The point is that schools do it regardless.

 

Harvard apparently solves these questions by establishing different categories of "alumni". If you earned a Harvard certificate, or attended Harvard without earning a degree, then you get a different status than someone who earned a Harvard degree:

So you can still get "Associate member" status, even if you enroll in a Harvard program without completing it. Unless it was the Harvard Extension School:

 

Here in my part of Canada, it seems to work this way:

In my province (Ontario), diplomas, rather than degrees, are the awards for most Community College programs. (Lately, there is almost always a degree completion path if the grad wants one, but that's beyond the scope, here.) There are also certificate awards.

Whether you've earned a certificate or a diploma,

(1) You get to graduate - robes, walk on stage etc.
(2) You're an alumnus /alumna - fair and square.

University:

(1) Degree= alumnus/alumna - big ceremony, robes etc.
(2) Certificate= small ceremony, no robes. Other than that - bupkes!

Exception: with a Uni. certificate, even though you aren't officially alumnus/a, the school will still call you for money...usually about stuff for part-time students, as you were one. Thankfully, they give up after a while.

Johann

 

Minor point. It isn't really different categories of "alumni". It is merely different categories of membership in the alumni association. Associates are not another type of alumni. They are just associates. Depending on why alumni status is important to someone, that may or may not be a big deal.

 

I completed the University of Florida's graduate certificate program in healthcare risk management. I was not eligible to walk at the graduation ceremony and I am not considered alumni with alumni privileges. However, I still do consider myself a graduate from the University of Florida's certificate program.

 

Georgetown University allows students graduate with certificate program attend the commencement ceremony, and they are part of the alumni association as well. So, it give me the impression that schools set their own policy. It sounds like Harvard University alumni do not treat Harvard University's Extension School graduates as real Harvard.

Employers use student clearing house to obtain prospect employees educational records are easier to go through every single school. Most of the time you can only obtain your transcript through student clearing house after graduation. Also, employers can find all kind of dirty laundry at the Student Clearing House; for example, based on my signature I had attended more schools than that. But I do not disclose on my job application or resume because I did not graduate. However, the Student Clearing House might have my record on other schools.
- Indiana University (Undergraduate corresponding courses... never finished)
- Louisiana State University (Undergraduate corresponding courses... never finished)
- Thomas Edison State College (Undergraduate Credit Banks)
- Capella University (2 Doctorate semesters dropped
- George Mason University ( 1 Master semester dropped)
- George Washington University (1 Master semester dropped)

 

Where in the world did you get that? First Harvard Extension degree graduates are full alumni of the university. I know this because I just formally registered with the Harvard Alumni Association this week, after graduation last week. How you got anything different from the above thread makes no sense to me.

Second, at Georgetown, while certificate holders get to participate in the School of Continuing Studies graduation, they ARE NOT considered alumni of Georgetown University. In fact, this was brought home to me when I picked up my Georgetown Alumni Association card over 10 years ago, after graduating. When I went to pick it up, the lady was on the phone with a guy desperately trying to join the alumni association. She told him he could not because he only had a certificate from the School of Continuing Studies. I just called the Georgetwon Alumni Association this morning to confirm that this was still the case, and it is. Certificate holders from SCS are NOT considered alumni of the university.

Georgetown in interesting because each college has their own graduation, and there is no university wide graduation. If the School of Continuing Studies at Georgetown wants their certificate holders to participate in SCS graduation ceremonies, that's cool. But it doesn't make them Georgetown Alums.

 

mcjon is entirely right about HES.

Let me just add one thing: "Eligibility for membership in a school's alumni association" isn't necessarily the same thing as "status as an alumnus of the school." I can think of numerous reasons a person could truthfully and legitimately hold the second thing but not the first.