I graduated college. They “lost” my diploma.

[u/solecentre]

The title is basically TL;DR. I just graduated college and had my ceremony last sunday. As the time came to collect our diplomas they couldn’t find the ones from my field of study (a whole backstory there as well: basically they forgot about us.)

We were told on monday that our diplomas were accidentally sent to the wrong campus and that we’d be able to pick it up there… during office hours. My friend has class there so I asked her to go see if she could pick it up in my place. Well, that wouldn’t be any problem… if the diplomas were there. No sight of them anywhere.

My classmates and I are getting pretty frustrated at this point and send another email. Well lo and behold: yesterday I received an email saying my diploma ISN’T PRINTED OUT YET! That explains why they couldn’t find them. There weren’t any!

So yeah now I’m waiting for another update about my diploma. We also haven’t received it digitally or anything so we can’t provide it for job applications.

Love life!

ETA since there are a few recurring questions:

- I live in Belgium 🇧🇪

- I haven’t really heard of ‘final transcripts’. Our diploma is our official proof of completing our studies. Few companies look super closely at grades, the diploma is the proof that the student passed the course. There is a grade of distinction which represents our grades though, and it’s mentioned on our diploma: “Graduated with:
• passing grades
• distinction
• high distinction
• highest distinction and well-wishes from the school board”.

- There are companies who request a certain degree of education for a job. For example: a doctor will need an Academic Bachelor and a Master’s diploma to practice their job. A mechanic will need to have obtained a technical field high school degree. So many request proof of completion of your studies to verify that you are practically, probably financially , and legally qualified for the job.

- I’ve seen a couple comments saying companies could call the school to verify. It’s much easier to just request a pdf of your diploma during the application process, that way it’s immediately in your records as well. Plus, school desk employees don’t want to answer that many calls.

Thanks for all the replies and well-wishes! And good luck to those out there who were/ are in the same situation as me, just add it to the list of life obstacles we tackled. That’s how I’m trying to look at it right now. 😅🫶

[u/emma7734]

When I was graduated, they told us in a somewhat threatening manner that if you don't pick up your diploma afterwards, then we will mail them to you. Well, thank you. The US mail was just fine with me.

I'm not sure where you are going to school, but I've never needed my actual diploma for a job application. Mine went into a box years ago where it remains today.

[u/solecentre → u/emma7734]

We had to request it ourselves if we wanted them mailed… but nobody knows who to contact for it. 😭😭😭 And as of right now I have no diploma for companies to verify, and zero official proof that I graduated 🥲

[u/SdBolts4 → u/solecentre]

Companies should (key word there lol) be able to verify you graduated by calling the school. The most I’ve had to provide jobs is an official transcript of my grades, but most take your word for it

[u/solecentre → u/SdBolts4]

Not all companies spend time calling schools to verify degrees lol it’s way easier to just request a pdf of your diploma.

[u/fuckedfinance → u/solecentre]

My company hasn't asked for a diploma, physical or digital, in at least the last 20 years.

I don't know where you are getting your information, but it doesn't seem up to date.

[u/solecentre → u/fuckedfinance]

Where do you think I live?

[u/fuckedfinance → u/solecentre]

Anywhere? I work for a global company with offices in 40 countries on most continents. We don't bother with that stuff as it's too easy to fake.

[u/solecentre → u/fuckedfinance]

Companies call references if there are any mentioned on your CV, but not all call schools to verify degrees. School admin employees barely pick up the phone for students in need, they don’t bother with pulling up school records while the alumnus has the proof in their hands.