I know of a student that was admitted to both Harvard and Stanford, as well as other top schools, that lied on their application. The lies weren’t small white lies either, they were huge exaggerations of an experience that would otherwise be unimpressive in their common app essay. They also completely made up leadership positions up on their resume (lied about position as club officer), and exaggerated the extent of extracurriculars. If the colleges were to find out this exaggeration, would admission be revoked? What kind of a lie is large enough for that to happen? I think it’s truly terrible that this student lied, because they almost surely took a spot from another student from my school who otherwise may have gotten in (I go to one of the best schools in the nation). Makes me so angry that people do this 
Uh… I don’t even know if there’s anything to do about it. Surprising that the counselor would just gloss over the person’s activities
Since decisions have come out already, if you feel this strongly, you could anonymously report them? But I would honestly just let it go, at this point you’re not going to change anyone elses’ decision.
No lol wasn’t going to report… just so aggravating and inconsiderate.
There is something to be said for integrity. Your integrity is still intact; their integrity isn’t. In one way or another, this will catch up to them. You just need to take solace in this and let it go, even though it is frustrating and wrong what they did.
If a student lied on their applications in a truly major way, colleges /will/ rescind their acceptances. There are examples of this happening in the past.
@beepybeetle A lot of counselors don’t check each student’s individual Commonapp, they just don’t have time for that
@bssurly I didn’t mean like read it, I was thinking more along the lines of a quick skim. But yeah it’d still be quite a time demanding task
Someday they will be great candidates to hold public office.
Best to wait until their senior year of college to inform on them so that it costs them a lot of money.
- It will be a really big scandal for them to have their admissions and any possibility for a degree revoked since admissions was obtained fraudulently. Could even be newsworthy.
- They will probably have to repay any financial aid they received since admissions was obtained fraudulently, thus all of the financial aid was obtained that way too.
If you inform on them now, they will lose their admissions, but will likely be able to apply somewhere else without lying and still go to college next year.
I think you should worry about your own life and move forward.
- As much as people want to “believe” they know why a student is admitted, they don’t. We may never will.
- If Harvard truly cared about any of that crap he lied about, they would have caught it.
- I actually know someone who “reported” a student that got accepted to a top 15 college. The student allegedly exasperated the hours and years he spent in a club… The school said, “Thank you for the information. Should we take any action, it will be between the university and the student. Have a great day.” Guess what happened? Nothing.
Anyways, that’s beside the point. Move on and focus on yourself. I’m not saying it’s fair or that it’s right, but this isn’t going to change their decision.
You were honorable and have the benefit of moving forward being able to sleep well at night, knowing nothing on your application can come back to haunt you, and feeling completely comfortable that you belong at the school you will be attending. The student who lied may be tossing and turning a bit every night.
OP, how do you know this about this person’s app?
Unfortunately there are always people who just can’t let their merits speak for themselves. They feel the need to embellish. maybe from insecurity, extreme competitiveness, or a variety of other reasons. He/ she may have gamed the system this time but their true character will come out in other ways. I’m sure your prospective of this person has changed, as I’m sure it has for others who know.
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I have no plans of reporting… just wanted to discuss (also I’m a junior so I haven’t applied to colleges yet). And the student told his/her close friend some details of the application/essay, the friend knew they were inaccurate, and as high school is, things get around. This information is true but I can understand why it seems like it might be just rumors.
Well, you are hearing it second or third-hand, so I don’t actually think you know that it’s “true” and I actually think it’s inappropriate for anyone to say this person lied on their app if he or she can’t verify that.
@suzy100 The situation is far more complicated than I can share for reasons of privacy. This information was corroborated by the parent and the exaggerations were true. I’m sorry if you don’t believe me but I only intended for this thread to be a discussion of what ~could~ happen when one lies on their application and the college/university finds out, not to discuss the specifics of this situation. I obviously will not be reporting it because that clearly isn’t my place- but this isn’t just a rumor. Thanks.
If you know, others do. If anyone talks to the college, at any point, their admission/credits/degree will be revoked.
This doesn’t add up. Why would his parent sabotage his own son’s success? I find it hard to believe that any parent would openly corroborate something that can get his son in trouble. The information you provided is far from substantial for anyone to form a fair opinion.
We do need to know what constitutes as a “big” exaggeration besides the “multiple” leadership positions he may or may not have made up. Admissions officers are not idiots, anything that sounds fishy would have been grounds for investigation.
To answer your question, it really depends on the severity of the lie and the school’s policy, this is even more true for already admitted students. It is really uncommon for a school to rescind an application, and for the ones that do rescind offers, it is a very small percentage. I read somewhere that it was about 1 or 2% for each college. Basically minuscule. If the lie or exaggerations mattered, he would have gotten filtered out a while ago. Even if he wasn’t, it’s still not yours or anyone’s business. A college isn’t going to take one student’s word for it, maybe not even three or four. That behavior will not come off as helpful, it will appear spiteful.