Here’s a challenge for my readers. I’m making the challenge because I seem unable to manage this myself and I wonder if anyone else can. The challenge is to find free college degree templates — in particular Harvard or Oxford or some such high-end sheepskin.
This came to mind as I was researching various scandals over “diploma mills.” In the process I went to the net to find sources for fake diplomas and there are plenty, but all at a sometimes high fee, even for templates. This makes no sense to me because someone must have scanned in some diplomas and put them on ftp sites or whatever.
This triggered a thought. Why not a contest? Some people are quite adept at doing odd searches. I think I’m pretty good, but this one is too buried. At TechTV the best show ever produced there was called Internet Tonight, and, of course, it was the first show ever cancelled. On that show they used to do a real time search competititon with guests and hosts. It had potential.
I just need to come up with a prize for the best result and see if I can turn this into a regular feature. I’ll leave the competition open for a week. There may be more than one winner. The rule is that you post the URL in the comments section and at the end of the competition when I officially close it you have to detail the search — how you did it.
I’ll announce a prize in the next few days.
Afterwards we can all print out bogus degrees for our friends.
That said, there are interesting “gag” sites.
I think this challenge violates the “no child left behind” rules. I foresee some people winning mugs and others not. I am concerned for the psychological effect this will have on the non-winners. For the love of God and America’s children, can’t you find another way?
http://www.dritantopuzi.com/scanned_documents/oxford_diploma.jpg
Is this dude’s [Dritan Topuzi] diploma from Oxford University in English.
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/hermestranslationsuk/certs/oudcecert.jpg
How about an undergraduate degree in computing?
The University in Pisa thinks they’re pretty sharp, albeit religous — couldn’t find one for Urbino.
http://www.favilli.it/cv/allegati/diploma.jpg
So far so good…but these Oxford papers look pretty dull, don’t they? Geez. I’m thinking of giving myself a PhD in Nuclear Physics from Oxford, but if they can’t do better than that I’m going to switch to Cambridge. I think it would make a nice wall hanging and conversation starter. Think of the possibilities.
VISITOR:”I see you have a degreee in Physics!”
OPTIONAL RESPONSES:
a) “Why yes! Einstein was wrong, you know!”
b) “What? Are you kidding me? That’s bullshit!! I printed it myself. Are you THAT gullible?”
c) “Did you know that ducks are made of paper! They come from another dimension! Would you like a cup of hot tea?”
The Italian diploma is too small to be useful..nice though it is.
How about a degree from Oxford Global University?
http://www.angelfire.com/nb/oxfordglobal/diploma.html
Just as a side note, I did an experiment with Almeda College, an online college which offers degrees based on life experience. I figured it was a scam and all they wanted to do was to sell degrees regardless of any real life experience.
I requested a bachelors in theology. I based my life experience on the “facts” that I’ve read the bible every day, taught bible studies in church for decades, and did varous missionary work. (In relality none of that is true.)
Surprisingly I got an email stating that I didn’t give enough life experience to warrant the degree. I was asked to provide more information to justify it. I was shocked!
A genuine Harvard diploma costs $160,000. I’m sure you could get a good copy if the price is right from somebody. Free? That is a challenge.
Good copies are one thing..a great template is another..that’s what we’re looking for. A template could be made from a good scan if you spent a few minutes breaking down the components. This is an interesting challenge since it makes no sense to me that there are not already a slew of free fakes online now.
John, I’m guessing that there are not any high quality scans out there is because anyone who earns one is NOT going to simply give it away to some scammer.
Basically, someone who didn’t graduate from a prestigious university would have to have access to it and the desire to scan and post it, for no benefit for him/herself. I don’t see it happening too often.
You only need one guy to post one diploma..but still..I want to find templates not scans. It just surprises me that there are a lot online.
I just noticed that now the Google Ads are pitching diplomas online now. Give ebay a try and get a used diploma. One ad says Forget fake degrees. Verifiable and legal diplomas from $100. Maybe somebody with a Google Ad will win this contest. Good gimmicks.
Do NO COURSEWORK whatsoever. You are dealing with the experts.
Bogus Spam Attack against instantdegrees.com
A few months ago, a spam attack maliciously designed to make people believe that our site and online service instantdegrees.com is responsible for spam emails, caused us some problems which we have rectified.
These experts would never send spam. Google really has some classy clients.
I’m looking at this post stand-alone with the comment section and check out the Google ads. Here is a point where they should be pushing fake diplomas, but I get blog ads. Not good.
“I’m looking at this post stand-alone with the comment section and check out the Google ads. Here is a point where they should be pushing fake diplomas, but I get blog ads. Not good.” -JCD
I normally have an ad-blocker active (my belovéd Proxomitron critter), so it took me a minute to figure out what the heck you were talking about. But indeed when I disabled it, I count 5 blog-related google ads (100% blog-related).
I’ve been reading your articles for years.I think you’re the best out of all of the other columnists.You write what you feel and no holes barred.I admire that kind of journalism.I’m a freelanced journalist myself.Maybe if I’m in the area,I would(perhaps)like to sit and do a segment about you/your professional background.I’ll eventually send you some of my work by mail.May I meanwhile have an autographed photo,please(if possible)?Thanks!
I forgot,keep up the good work!
Email is broken. Here is a new twist. I was trying to get spam to look at it and expose it. I got some. Look for more scam spam based on warnings about email scams. Microsoft has this viral marketing gig, so now there are fake corporate email addresses like Cy at MSN Found http://www.msnfound.com/cy.aspx, who is a fake person. According to my whois check, the msnfound site is owned by Microsoft. This seems like a dumb idea for several reasons. ICE is real, as far as I can tell. Maybe the government will put Cy on ICE. The whole thing is creepy. This is how MSN is outwitting Google, or users I guess. Google has other problems. Screwing users is costly. Microsoft has a fake site and there is a real site for the fake stuff. God help us. Maybe you should all be looking for fake people with real diplomas. Just a thought. Did I win the contest John? What do I get? You have my email address, for real. You can’t fake security. Maybe Microsoft will fire people for real. Fire everybody! The stock value will go up in smoke. What clowns. Yea, the dollar is in trouble. Email is a bigger problem Cy.
ICE is warning the public of two new e-mail scams that attempt to establish credibility by linking to the ICE website.
The first scam, targeting the families of fallen U.S. military personnel in Iraq, promises to secure the deceased soldier’s money on behalf of the family. The second scam purports to be from an ICE investigator in Iraq who is tracking funds looted from the Iraqi Central Bank.
In both cases, the scams link to the ICE Web site to establish an air of legitimacy. ICE asks the public to be aware of these scams as our Cyber Crimes Center investigates.
http://www.ice.gov/graphics/index.htm
Why on earth would you want a template of such a degree? They would be useless! Getting a job with a funky colour printout claiming to have studied at Yale, Harvard, Oxford or the like.. I mean really, anyone who has one can tell if you earned your degree or are bluffing.
sedes sapientes
To be honest about it I think it would be hilarious to have a degree on the wall from a prestigious University for something idiotic such as “Babysitting” or “Watching TV” or even “Blogging.” I would find it endlessly amusing. There is really no other reason and I suppose I could simply create such a thing from scratch and few would know the difference.
What hiring manager would accept a diploma in lieu of a background check.
I have found plenty of quality scans of degrees from a variety of institutions: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, San Diego State University, MIT (MA & PhD), University of Mississippi, Washington State University, Ohio State University, University of Calgary, University of Southern California, Kansas State University, but no Harvard or Oxford, and no templates.
Bogus degrees.
While I was visiting my own (ahem!) fabulously elite alma mater, the Registrar told me they average a call a day checking someone who turns out not to have attended. But scarier, they also average a call a day from some company checking up belatedly on a troubled employee — guys who got away with presenting a fake that wasnt checked at time of hiring. Wo! That’s bad. I was a LOT more careful after I heard that. (I mean, careful to fully check potential employees, not careful about faking it!)
Almost 2 months and still running… well, at least Matt and I think so.
Not only can you get a diploma template here, but also a transcript template. It’s not Oxford et al, but you can get an official looking seal to stick on it.. Also, it’s not free, but it’s pretty durn near.
http://www.boxfreeconcepts.com/download/super.html
And for a blast from the past, go here and search the page for diploma:
http://www.deathvalleypizza.com/Steal.html#2.12.15
I tried looking up the ‘Glenco’ mentioned there, but they’ve either disappeared or graduated to a higher form.
You will be suprised at the staggering statistics re-the prevalence of fake degrees and their usage. I am doing my PhD on the topic, and the figures are quite alarming.
Cheers,
George
I had a CEO once who proudly displayed her Master’s in CS from University of Hawaii.. and had never even registered there as an undergrad on any campus! (I got curious when she had no idea what an ATOMIC transaction was, so I checked) Seems the Board never bothered to check her credentials. I sent a copy of the fax from the University stating that she’d never been a student at any campus to the board (anonymously, of course).. she got canned, but picked up a 12 million $ bonus for driving the company to bankruptcy. Gotta love america.
Should we rename this “Dvorak’s Find the Diploma Before Christmas Challenge?”
I still read your articles/columns.I am still a big supporter.Happy writing.
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For your passion for bullet nosed Studes
And in that day a young man came to Jesus and asked, “Master, how may I procure a free college diploma?” And Jesus replied, “Obey your father and your mother, and they will send you to college.” And the young man replied, “I have indeed obeyed my father and my mother, but I do not want to go to college, I only want the degree.” And Jesus said, “Give me all that you have, and I will give you a fake one.” And the young man went away very sad, for he was rich. And Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is easier to find a quality diploma template on Dvorak’s blog than it is for a rich man to get one from me.”
Hello Mr. Dvorak,
Most of the time it makes sense to go to the web and pick something someone else made. So I did and grew tired of it after an hour.
Sometimes, however, it makes sense to make something yourself… And I did…
In this particular case there went some social engineering into it:
1/ Make it completely different from anything else you’ve seen
2/ Make it modern
3/ Make it exotic enough (Europe)
4/ but not so exotic as to worry people in the US (use English)
5/ but include French as well 🙂
6/ Use something that exists and modify it.
It took me an hour of work and needs a bit of polishing, but I’m not willing to put in more effort for something you might reject in 10 seconds…
So I’ll mail John@Dvorak.ORG in a few minutes. If you’re interested, say so and I’ll continue working on it tomorrow (sick of it today).
Cheers,
Fabrizio
P.S. Just in case the above email isn’t valid, just create a temporary SMTP address if you don’t want to hand out your own…