Admissions - ask me anything

<p>So CC has been good to me, both when I was deciding on college and as I've been talking to younger friends about the admissions process. I've been wanting to give back to the community somewhat. I made a thread offering to help some people with their essays, but I thought I'd also put this out there. </p>

<p>Anything you might be wondering about this whole admissions thing, what college is like, career paths, life of a premed, the system etc. go ahead and ask. Over time I've accumulated a good amount of insight on how everything works. I'll try to answer to the best of my ability or find someone who knows more to help. </p>

<p>A little about myself (somewhat pasted from my other thread): I'm a few weeks into my senior year at Harvard. I'm an Economics major, possibly Health Policy minor planning on medical school straight after graduation. I'm writing a senior thesis. I'm a California resident and I originally applied to 8 colleges plus UCs.</p>

<p>If you’re caught lying on your app, does the school that caught you contact all of the other schools that you applied to?</p>

<p>sweatyandready:</p>

<p>I read your other post. </p>

<p>If you’re truly planning to do this for “****s and giggles” as you claim, I’m just going to save you some time and tell you that your plan has no chance of success. Under the modern common app system, you need to submit your transcript, teacher evaluations, counselor evaluations (on official school stationary), your SAT scores, etc etc. You don’t just type these into a box, they’re sent by independent third parties like your school and the College Board. None of that can be done under false pretenses.</p>

<p>If you’re in reality wondering you can lie on your actual apps to increase your chances of being admitted into a “good college”…I’m going to guarantee you that it’s not worth the risk. Which college you go to ultimately matters very little for your long-term life if you have the drive to succeed. On the other hand, if you get caught lying on your application, that is something that can potentially ruin your entire life forever. </p>

<p>Short answer: it depends on how serious the transgression is, but in general I’ve heard yes.</p>

<p>Ahh thanks! It’s not worth it then, I don’t want to get rejected by UT.</p>

<p>As an Economics major, how many hours a week do you spend studying? How intense is the math level required?</p>

<p>I was wondering if you lie about a church activity on the common app. Because I was only a vice president for my church’s Youth Group for like 2 weeks, and if i was to put my youth group extra-curricular as an activity, would it look bad? Even so, would colleges find out that I was only the vice president for a short amount of time?</p>

<p>Do you know any colleges who accept the SAT Optional Policy? My SATs scores aren’t that good, and I just wanted to find another option for me to go to college.</p>

<p>As an economics major at Harvard, do you find that it’s strictly economics and economic theory oriented or economics that also emphasizes business? I’m looking into undergrad business school but since many schools offer only economics majors I was wondering how big the difference was.</p>

<p>Did you have to/how did you you justify majoring in econ when applying to med school?</p>