So when I graduated from university I made a public LinkedIn post thanking everyone who helped along the way and saying that graduating as the youngest in my class felt surreal. I’m now thinking that I may have come across as offensive to people older than me who also graduated. What do you think? Is it wrong to brag about the fact that you graduated as the youngest in your class (3+ years younger)?
5 comments
Nope – what you did sounds totally fine. And congratulations!
What I’ve learned when it comes to stuff like this, is that if you set an arbitrary threshold, and that congratulate yourself for overcoming that threshold, it can sometimes come off as bragging.
To give an example here, I recently passed the bar exam to become an attorney in the U.S., some people would post that they passed the exam, which was fine. Others would post that they got a high enough score to practice law anywhere, which came off as bragging to me, because the places that require the highest scores, Alaska, Arizona, and Colorado, are places these people did not intend on working.
They would therefore be working in the same places as people with lower scores, who also passed the bar exam, so it wouldn’t really matter anyway, as everyone will be practicing law in the same places. It still is an accomplishment to do well on the bar exam, but it’s just not something that seems worth posting about IMO.
Graduating as the youngest in your class is also an accomplishment, but not every accomplishment is worth posting about, because whose your audience here? Potential employers, right? They might find this braggadocios. You can still tell people about it, but the context is key. It’s one thing to frame this as “I overcame challenges given the age difference” and another to frame it as “I’m smarter than everyone else because I finished school earlier than they did.”
Without more context, I could see people reading it the second way, which has a negative connotation.
First off, congratulations on graduating!
I get the sense that being the youngest in your class adds to your excitement and accomplishments. Moving forward, I would be mindful of the experiences of your peers. Not everyone’s educational path is linear.
First of all, congratulations on graduating and all the hard work paying off. Now answering your question – I graduated as the youngest in my class. Personally I don’t really consider it that big of an accomplishment. I don’t think it really matters in the long run.
There were way older people than me in class who couldn’t go to college earlier in their life because of financial or mental issues. I’m lucky that I had the resources, time and energy like I did to graduate as the youngest.
Putting “graduated as the youngest in my class” on LinkedIn can come across as showing off or as if you’re better/smarter/have a bigger accomplishment than others because you graduated earlier. Some might not even consider it that big of an accomplishment (esp companies that hire, they are more interested in your experience and knowledge). It could’ve rubbed off the wrong way as if you were bragging, esp to the older students in your class who put in as much work as you.
It would depend on the wording I think, how likeable the rest of the post made you seem counterbalanced against the brag. Perhaps it’s the kind of thing that would be nicer were it written about you, rather than by you, but if you were bright enough to skip grades and you’re in Doogie Howser territory, then congrats, it is impressive!