<p>How much trouble can you get into for fabricating/embellishing an extracurricular activity or volunteer work? How likely are colleges to find out? </p>
<p>And how important to colleges is it that you have some sort of EC/volunteer work?</p>
<p>I'm just curious/not planning to do it either way.</p>
<p>
…and - you know - it was actually for a friend - actually, a friend of a friend - and they were just curious…</p>
<p>My standard response:
If you have to ask…</p>
<p>Fabricating/Embellishing? A lot of kids get away with it on apps, but it could always come back to haunt you later in the college process. You can even get in trouble with colleges, based on the degree of “fabrication” in your app. Your best bet is to be honest, so the college can see you for who you are. </p>
<p>ECs/volunteer work are both very important. You don’t need a ton of ECs/volunteer work, but you should show deep involvement in these. (The whole quality vs quantity concept.) Solid ECs are pretty much expected in applicant pools for top universities now.</p>
<p>"…and - you know - it was actually for a friend - actually, a friend of a friend - and they were just curious…</p>
<p>My standard response:
If you have to ask…"</p>
<p>I set myself up for that.</p>
<p>Okay I would only do if there was a 90% chance I’d get away with it and a 100% chances of no legal trouble. Otherwise my caution would get in the way.</p>
<p>“Fabricating/Embellishing? A lot of kids get away with it on apps, but it could always come back to haunt you later in the college process. You can even get in trouble with colleges, based on the degree of “fabrication” in your app. Your best bet is to be honest, so the college can see you for who you are.”</p>
<p>How bad would it be to add an extra few years of involvement to an activity which you planned to/are already involved with?</p>
<p>Your enthusiasm and the extent of your involvement in your ECs will generally be reflected throughout your application (LORs, essays, awards, etc). </p>
<p>For the ECs that matter, adcoms can verify them easily. Lying that you were a member of XYZ club for four years will not boost your application–it’s the impact you’ve had on your ECs (e.g. awards won, money fundraised, research published) that will make a difference to adcoms, and those things are readily verifiable.</p>
<p>Some schools also check up on the truthfulness of an application. For instance, UCs randomly select 10% of all applications to verify. </p>
<p>Again, you can probably get away with saying that you were a four-year member of some obscure club…but that wouldn’t improve your application. If anything, it’d appear like you’re a serial joiner with no real interest or initiative in activities. Tempted to lie about leadership positions, awards, and impact? Think again. Those things are all quick and easy for adcoms to verify.</p>
<p>Several adcoms have confirmed that they check the “hours per week, weeks per year” values of applications. Most adcoms have had years of experience evaluating applications, so anything out of the ordinary or curiously not in sync with the rest of an application will spark their attention.</p>
<p>And don’t even get me started with the ethical violations of lying on your application…but not like you have any ethics to begin with :)</p>
<p>I want to reiterate that the ECs that can be lied about are insignificant to your application, and the ECs that matter can be readily checked. Still persistent on lying your way into college? The consequences of getting caught far outweigh the marginal (if any existing) benefits of lying about your ECs. </p>
<p>I sincerely feel sorry for you, that you are so doubtful and unconfident of your qualifications that you’ll even make them up. You poor, poor thing.</p>
<p>ECs/volunteer work are my weak spot, as in I have literally none, because it was just this year that I planned to graduate, let alone attend college, so I didn’t participate in any activities as I’m not very social.</p>
<p>I plan to graduate in 2 years, is it worth it to even have ECs for that long? If so what looks good, but isn’t school related, as I’m homeschooled?</p>
<p>Hahahaha are you reading Oedipus, OP? He says “How strange a shadowy memory crossed my mind” and it just reminded me a lot of what you’re talking about. Also, it’s super duper applicable!
Except of course that poor Oedipus had no clue what he was doing and whoever lies on their app clearly knows what he’s doing.</p>
<p>Can’t you get blacklisted for lying on college apps? Like you won’t get accepted anywhere. That’s a pretty intense consequence… At the very least, assuming you get caught, you’re obviously not going to get into the college. Assuming you don’t get caught… I don’t know.
Personally, I really don’t think I could deal with my thoughts and memories if I knew I’d made up something as stupid as an EC and that I didn’t get in as myself, but some kid who had a few extra hours on her ECs. And I’m not even a goody two shoes, I’m a huge Slytherin (wishful thinking), ahaha.
Also, can you imagine how sick with worry and anxiety someone who lied must feel while waiting for results? Ugh. But I don’t know, I assume you’d have to have quite the ego.</p>
<p>I think it is very important that you have been doing <em>something</em>, I mean outside of doing awesome kegstands. So in that respect, yeah, definitely good to have some ECs. But I don’t think that what ECs you have are really going to make or break your app, only the quality. If you started a charity that’s raised a couple thousand, that’s pretty good quality. If you occasionally attended AIDS Awareness Club… not so great quality.</p>
<p>Also, sorry this was all directed to you, OP! I know you said you’re just curious. I only addressed it to you as in meaning the reader. Just a matter of convenience too, that’s how I was thinking and it’s annoying having to translate thoughts at 4 a.m…</p>
<p>I heard that this year, ivy league, stanford, berkeley and other colleges are implementing much broader random auditing process, as in they will select random applicants from the pool and check the accuracy of their information. I don’t remember where I read the article. I think it mentioned something about that guy (don’t remember the name) who got into harvard and stanford (at least initially), who was later found to have a history of fabricating information, like you are trying to do. </p>
<p>I mean, is adding those few years on your EC really worth it? If you get chosen for a random audit and it is found that you were dishonest in anyway, you are jeopardizing your chances not only at that particular college but possibly your entire college admission process. </p>
<p>I doubt that a college, which would normally reject you, will see those added years and gladly accept you. Not worth the risk.</p>
<p>Yes, I didn’t even realize the reference until you pointed it out, funny how things permeate your mine.</p>
<p>Does reading count as an EC? Reading and wasting time on the internet is how I spend my free-time, I don’t read crappy stuff either. What about a bookclub or a philosophical discussion group?</p>
<p>I didn’t know about blacklisting, with that bit added I now find embellishment overly risky, thank-you all for the information.</p>
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<p>Is that how you’ll explain to adcoms once you’re caught? Do you think your lack of involvement can be overshadowed by gaping lies? Have fun telling that to the admissions officers.</p>