May have embellished my CV and resume by mistake after I was admitted to MA and Ph.D programs. Could either of my degrees be revoked?

Question

I am a doctoral candidate in a Ph.D program right now.

I reviewed my old resumes recently to see if there was anything relevant I could include from undergrad (as I am about to graduate with my Ph.D sometime in March or May 2024). Long story short, I think I may have embellished and I am not sure whether I did that intentionally or not (I wanted to get into an MA program really bad at the time so maybe). It is getting to the point I am doubting whether I did that on purpose or not.

I initially thought I had listed just my duties and that the time in which I did them was only 3 months rather than 9 months (I thought I had to list how long I was a member, which was 9 months). However, it turns out I had the following:

1. Ran participants using an eye tracker and learned related software
2. Provided feedback for the control and experimental variables used and manipulated
3. Chose images used in experiment
4. Ran data and made charts using SPSS that will be in the study once published

For point 1, the "participants" I ran were just other graduate students for testing the experiment before it was set to be run at the start of next academic year. As implied in my previous post, this never happened since the PI was a well intended, yet very disorganized and forgetful (to the point I could not even get an LOR from her because she was so unreliable).

For point 2, I did this during the summer in the lab. I gave feedback on the stimuli they used.

For point 3, this was one I did.

For point 4, I did help run data at one point and made charts in SPSS. Those were going to be the model for a study that the lab was going to try to publish (but never did).

The running theme here is that all of these points were momentary and they were things I made bullet points out of anyway and seemingly stretched over the course of an academic year. Knowing what I know now, there was zero way I would have wrote it like this. I now see on my resume in the past few years that I cut point 1 and edited the other points so it was more accurate to the time.

I distinctly remember that I had some doubt at the time when wrote it years ago as to whether I was accurate and just went with what "looked better." Again, I did most of these things but I am not sure if I embellished or not. Even so, it was probably an accident.

I was also only in the lab a few hours a week (as in as low as 1-3 sometimes) so I am so doubtful to the point where I am having a lot of stress all over again. I do not even know if I deserved to get my foot in the door somewhere at the MA, let alone the Ph.D level.

Do I need to be concerned about whether this change is going to be noticed at all by other parties? If so, what are the consequences?

Answer 1

The short answer is: you do not need to be concerned, this will not be noticed by anybody, and there will be no consequences.

The long answer: you didn't lie on your resume - you really didn't even "embellished". Hear me out, you were part of the lab for x-time, during that time you did a,b,c,d. No-one assumes you spent literally the entire time doing a,b,c,d only that you did them at some point - which you did.

Personally, I think this sort of worry is a bit neurotic. You finished a MA and are on your way to finishing a PhD. I guarantee that that single entry is not solely responsible for you getting accepted into a grad program. And it certainly did not get you through years of school. Those are your accomplishments.

Worrying that someone will dig into an old resume entry and consider it dishonest and pursue some punitive action is just...not worth your time. It's one thing to straight up lie. But I don't see that here. By all means, update the entry to be more accurate (if you even keep in on your resume - most people drop things like this off sooner or later). But consider where this anxiety is really coming from. This sounds like imposter syndrome more than anything else. Trust that you deserve your position and accomplishments. Good luck!

Answer 2

Every situation is different, so it's hard to give general advice. And like any lawyer would say, this isn't legal advice or anything. So as with most things in life, take everything I say with a grain of salt.

Honestly, the fact that you are worried, speaks to your character. Admirable. Everyone embelishes, that's the nature of a resume. Intentionally lying, isn't good, but from your tone it sounds like you were genuinely confused and not intending to be deceitful.

I wouldn't be too concerned. Just fix it for the future (now that you know it was initially messed up) and learn from your mistakes. It would be incredibly unlikely that anything would happen, especially with regards to any ramifications. And if on the rare chance it comes up, just be honest. People make mistakes, embellish, etc. Just learn from your mistakes and try and avoid intentionally embellishing in the future.

If anything I feel like that's the most important thing to learn in a PhD. To learn from one's mistakes and try and do better in the future. But I wouldn't worry that much.