Diploma Bait and Switch

“Dean Sue” received an application for a last-minute faculty position in a difficult-to-fill professional field. In the cover letter, the applicant spoke of his experiences at his Ivy League alma mater and how he would build on them. His record looked strong, but as Dean Sue reviewed the application, she realized that he had not finished his degree at Ivy League U. Instead, he had completed it at a diploma mill with a similar name. He had taken courses at the Ivy League university but, for whatever reason, had opted to buy his degree from a “lick-‘em-and-stick-‘em” mail-slot institution.

Is that kind of experience more common in professional fields in academe than in the arts and sciences? And how frequently have you run into such deception in your hiring?