How thorough is a school's background check?

Graduate School
1

<p>Before you go laughing, here is my situation:</p>

<p>When I was hired by my employer, my official department/title was not related to my area of interest. However, I was assigned to projects with R&D, where I spent more than half my time. That R&D supervisor is writing me a letter of recommendation and that is the experience I am talking about in my Statement of Purpose. </p>

<p>In most applications, however, I deliberately do not mention my work with the supervisor/department I was hired under. In fact, I don't even explain that the R&D work was a side project. I just state the fact that "I worked with R&D doing....for X company" Mentioning the work I was originally hired to do just doesn't flow with my Statement of Purpose. I have also not asked my primary to write me letters of rec either, with the exception of a couple schools that are letting me send 4 LoRs. </p>

<p>I'd like to know how thorough the school's background check is if admitted, and what sort of records the school has access to. Though I am very careful to never say words like "hired with R&D" in my SoP, I'm afraid they'll still have a false impression that it was my official job and use that as grounds for dismissal. My greatest fear is the school calling the company and the company saying "Ummm, he was never hired by ___ R&D, he was in the ____ group," or simply the school looking at my permanent record and finding no information about R&D work. (I don't actually know what a "permanent record" looks like and if that stuff is in there)</p>

<p>I know falsifying data like GRE scores, transcripts, grades, and employers are wrong, but this is more of a gray area I'm concerned about. Am I safe or should I work around this? Thanks!</p>

2

<p>I also forgot to mention that where it asks “Please list any jobs, research experiences, etc etc. below” I am listing *both * experiences separately, listing different supervisors for each, but same dates, company, etc. This is especially where my “lack of official record” w/ R&D concerns me.</p>

3

<p>Depending on the size of the company, if they do contact the company, larger ones will usually only verify that you were, in fact, employed there from x through y. Who you were originally hired under, etc. won’t come up, unless one of the LORs mentions it. If you will be interviewed, expect a lot of specifics about the R&D work you did.</p>