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[GreenEggs]

So a 1L asked me a question about his resume, and it made me think more generally, so curious to hear thoughts.

Let's say you got a MPP at some specific school within a university (i.e. harvard kennedy school) but your diploma says MPP from university (i.e. diploma just says Harvard University). Can you just put on your resume, "MPP Harvard University," or would that be misleading and you need to put "MPP Harvard Kennedy School" ?

[mjb447]

So a 1L asked me a question about his resume, and it made me think more generally, so curious to hear thoughts.

Let's say you got a MPP at some specific school within a university (i.e. harvard kennedy school) but your diploma says MPP from university (i.e. diploma just says Harvard University). Can you just put on your resume, "MPP Harvard University," or would that be misleading and you need to put "MPP Harvard Kennedy School" ?

For that particular example I'd list the Kennedy School, not because the alternative is misleading but because the Kennedy School is itself a well-known and respected institution. I don't think what's on the diploma controls, if that's your more general question, and for less well known institutions I think it would be alright to say [degree], State University instead of [degree], Caspar Milquetoast Institute for Ornithological Studies, State University. I suppose there might be situations where you'd need to specify, but none come to me readily.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I also don't think saying "degree Harvard University" is misleading. Your degree is from Harvard University, through the Kennedy school. The only way it might be misleading is if you're meerkat(?)'s colleague who went to Harvard Extension and put that on the resume as Harvard University, because the extension school really is a different entity. The Kennedy School thing would be more like the difference between saying you have a degree from the English department of Harvard University, and saying you have a degree from Harvard University.

(I'd list the Kennedy School, too, for the reasons given above, but it's not misleading to leave it out. The only institution at Harvard that grants the degree is the Kennedy school, right? So no confusion.)

[Blackfish]

I can't speak for Harvard but most [law, medicine, business, etc.] schools under [X] University are separate 501(c)(3) organizations with their own 1023 applications for tax-exempt status. IRS treats them as separate and distinct orgs. (although obviously there are interconnections between them). I would just list X Law School or X School of Government instead of X University.

[bretby]

So a 1L asked me a question about his resume, and it made me think more generally, so curious to hear thoughts.

Let's say you got a MPP at some specific school within a university (i.e. harvard kennedy school) but your diploma says MPP from university (i.e. diploma just says Harvard University). Can you just put on your resume, "MPP Harvard University," or would that be misleading and you need to put "MPP Harvard Kennedy School" ?

I think it is odd to list the university when your degree is from one school within the university. Especially since if it's an MPP from Harvard it's clear it is from HKS. Just say X degree from Y school, Z university.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I can't speak for Harvard but most [law, medicine, business, etc.] schools under [X] University are separate 501(c)(3) organizations with their own 1023 applications for tax-exempt status. IRS treats them as separate and distinct orgs. (although obviously there are interconnections between them). I would just list X Law School or X School of Government instead of X University.

No one cares about this unless you're taxing them, though.

I think it is odd to list the university when your degree is from one school within the university. Especially since if it's an MPP from Harvard it's clear it is from HKS. Just say X degree from Y school, Z university.

Thinking about law school as an analogy, actually, yeah, it would be a little weird to list the university alone. (I was thinking of PhDs where you would never say you got the degree from the "Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University," you'd just say you have a PhD from Harvard.) "Y school, Z university" is the clearest and probably looks the best.

To go back to the original question, though, I don't think putting "X University" would be *misleading,* strictly, since everyone would know what it meant - it would just look kind of awkward.

[Blackfish]

You seem dense. The point was to indicate that they are different legal entities. Not sure what you're disagreeing with here. The law school isn't a "department" at Harvard University. It's a separate legal entity on its own. If you got a Ph.D from Harvard Divinity School and you listed Ph.D Harvard University, that would be misleading af. Just put the specific school.

I also don't think saying "degree Harvard University" is misleading. Your degree is from Harvard University, through the Kennedy school. The only way it might be misleading is if you're meerkat(?)'s colleague who went to Harvard Extension and put that on the resume as Harvard University, because the extension school really is a different entity. The Kennedy School thing would be more like the difference between saying you have a degree from the English department of Harvard University, and saying you have a degree from Harvard University.

[A. Nony Mouse]

You seem dense. The point was to indicate that they are different legal entities. Not sure what you're disagreeing with here. The law school isn't a "department" at Harvard University. It's a separate legal entity on its own. If you got a Ph.D from Harvard Divinity School and you listed Ph.D Harvard University, that would be misleading af. Just put the specific school.

I also don't think saying "degree Harvard University" is misleading. Your degree is from Harvard University, through the Kennedy school. The only way it might be misleading is if you're meerkat(?)'s colleague who went to Harvard Extension and put that on the resume as Harvard University, because the extension school really is a different entity. The Kennedy School thing would be more like the difference between saying you have a degree from the English department of Harvard University, and saying you have a degree from Harvard University.

But whether something is a different legal entity for tax purposes doesn't mean that in practice, people treat it that way. I don't think in terms of academic real-life identity people care whether something is taxed differently from something else. My use of "entity" above was probably unclear because it has a kind of legal meaning that wasn't what I intended, so to that extent my statement was confusing. Again, what I had in my head was the PhD example I gave above. I agree that listing the Kennedy School is better.

I still disagree that it's really "misleading," though. People aren't going to be confused as to what the OP's friend is actually talking about, it will just look a little weird.

[Blackfish]

You seem dense. The point was to indicate that they are different legal entities. Not sure what you're disagreeing with here. The law school isn't a "department" at Harvard University. It's a separate legal entity on its own. If you got a Ph.D from Harvard Divinity School and you listed Ph.D Harvard University, that would be misleading af. Just put the specific school.

I also don't think saying "degree Harvard University" is misleading. Your degree is from Harvard University, through the Kennedy school. The only way it might be misleading is if you're meerkat(?)'s colleague who went to Harvard Extension and put that on the resume as Harvard University, because the extension school really is a different entity. The Kennedy School thing would be more like the difference between saying you have a degree from the English department of Harvard University, and saying you have a degree from Harvard University.

But whether something is a different legal entity for tax purposes doesn't mean that in practice, people treat it that way. I don't think in terms of academic real-life identity people care whether something is taxed differently from something else. My use of "entity" above was probably unclear because it has a kind of legal meaning that wasn't what I intended, so to that extent my statement was confusing. Again, what I had in my head was the PhD example I gave above. I agree that listing the Kennedy School is better.

I still disagree that it's really "misleading," though. People aren't going to be confused as to what the OP's friend is actually talking about, it will just look a little weird.

But it's not just different under tax purposes... They're different legal entities, period. If you decide to sue your law school or business school, you don't sue X University. You sue X University School of Business/Law/Whatever. Each 501(c)(3) org. has to have its own governing/founding documents, charters, officers, board members, certification standards, etc. It's not even a matter of it being misleading. It's just flat-out wrong to list Harvard University, when your degree is conferred by the Kennedy School. I mean, yes, as a matter of convenience no one is probably going to give a damn whether you list JD, Harvard U or JD, Harvard Law School. Most people will know what you mean. But it's not accurate and has, at the very least, the potential to mislead people as a result (see the Ph.D from Harvard U vs. Harvard Divinity School example mentioned above). It's better to be just accurate and specific from the get-go and list the specific school.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Sure, it's not accurate. Wrt to the tax/legal stuff, that just struck me as sort of hypertechnical and not how people walk around referencing/thinking about the schools in daily life. I agree the person should list the Kennedy School.

[Blackfish]

Sure, it's not accurate. Wrt to the tax/legal stuff, that just struck me as sort of hypertechnical and not how people walk around referencing/thinking about the schools in daily life. I agree the person should list the Kennedy School.

Eh, if you want to tell your uncle over Thanksgiving that you got a degree from Harvard, then sure that's fine. But the OP asked specifically about listing that information on a resume. Best to be accurate in that context, IMO.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Sure, it's not accurate. Wrt to the tax/legal stuff, that just struck me as sort of hypertechnical and not how people walk around referencing/thinking about the schools in daily life. I agree the person should list the Kennedy School.

Eh, if you want to tell your uncle over Thanksgiving that you got a degree from Harvard, then sure that's fine. But the OP asked specifically about listing that information on a resume. Best to be accurate in that context, IMO.

No, you're right. I was looking at it from a slightly different perspective to start with, but you're right.

[Hand]

How does the person list their law school? If it says "Columbia School of Law" then I'd put in the relevant school or whatever for the MPP as well. (It's not that the former is informative either; everyone knows you earn JDs at a university's law school after all)

[GreenEggs]

I think this started with him wanting to list his BA/MPP on one line, and just wanted to say

Harvard University
B.A. Politics, M.P.P.

Instead of putting

Harvard University
B.A. Politics

Harvard Kennedy School
M.P.P.

(again just using harvard as an example, ignore the independent prestige of kennedy)

[hdivschool]

AFAIK, "Harvard University" doesn't grant or confer any degrees, but I usually list the university anyway. Is it really going to mislead anyone? It's not like you can get an MPP from any other part of the university. No one's going to confuse your PhD in Business from HBS with a PhD from "Harvard University" (presumably GSAS). Listing the graduate school can get confusing, especially when they later change names, e.g., HKS used to be known as KSG.

[bretby]

I think this started with him wanting to list his BA/MPP on one line, and just wanted to say

Harvard University
B.A. Politics, M.P.P.

Instead of putting

Harvard University
B.A. Politics

Harvard Kennedy School
M.P.P.

(again just using harvard as an example, ignore the independent prestige of kennedy)

In that situation list both. It looks weird otherwise.