<p>i'm currently a junior and i basically wasted my sophomore and freshman yrs by not doing any extracurricular activities. i have many ECs now and plan to do ALOT over the summer and during senior year. my problem is that the common app requires you to list the ECs you've done in your freshman and sophomore years..i thought the app only required you to list the ECs you've done in your 4 yrs of highschool. is it okay for me to list an EC i didn't do in my freshman and sophomore year. for example if i say i was in the key club. (even though i wasn't will they really check on that?)</p>
<p>No, it’s not okay to lie.</p>
<p>Lying on your app to make yourself look better, thus potentially hurting other kids’ chances of admission? Nice. 
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<p>My ECs freshman year were also less-than spectacular. That by no means constitutes grounds for lying, though. </p>
<p>List your ECs honestly…you may be surprised by the results. Perhaps adcoms will recognize that you’ve worked hard and steadily improved throughout high school. That effort may say a whole lot more than a standard laundry list of activities.</p>
<p>NO NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER lie about your ECs. :mad: That’s bad, and if they find out, you WILL be screwed. </p>
<p>That said, be honest about what you did, and you may be rewarded by ADCOMs who see too many applicants with perfect EC lists. You can potentially impress them with your progress EC-wise. </p>
<p>But … it’s a big no-no to lie on your app. Always be as honest as you can.</p>
<p>^^yea lying on your EC is really not good…however,just a quick question.honestly,how can the ADCOMS find out if my EC is actually REAL or not?</p>
<p>They can call up the school and talk with your counselor or even ask you to provide contact information with the person in charge. Things like you building a rocket alone in your house can’t really be checked, but if you say you published something and they call you out on it, you BETTER have the source. Same with things like sports or clubs. THey’ll want to talk to your advisor or coach.
Or that’s how they do it in the UC system atleast</p>
<p>Yes, you should lie. All these people are fail, lying is a great idea. GWB lied, look at the amazing legacy he has. I encourage you to lie.</p>
<p>^^principalviola is just kidding 
dont get the wrong idea</p>
<p>God will find you, if not the admissions committee. You will get caught!</p>
<p>No, I am not. Anyone who asks on a scholarly forum if he can lie is pretty serious. I give you the go ahead, as do George Bush and Nixon.</p>
<p>Lying is absolutely not okay… I have to wonder if this was a serious question. Though you may not get caught, do you really want that to be hanging with you the rest of your life if you do get in? Be honest, and good karma will (hopefully) follow :)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/us/27mit.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/us/27mit.html</a></p>
<p>^It might catch up to you later. In the above story, a lady lied about her college degree to gain an entry-level job in the MIT admissions office. She later became Dean of Admissions and, 28 years later, was found out. Ouch. </p>
<p>More plausibly, I’ve heard of tons of cases where an applicant will lie about being part of some organization or club that their alumni interviewer is extremely familiar with. It’s a small world.</p>
<p>Maybe you could get away with it. But do you want to take the risk?</p>
<p>Some schools DO check, and if they find out, you are screwed.</p>
<p>^Especially in your letter of recs if some teachers have some doubt as to how involved you are EC-wise … they can also tell from your essays or interviews if you’re not able to go in depth as to what you did in your ECs.</p>
<p>Honor system all the way.</p>
<p>Actually principalviolin, you’re lying by saying GWB lied. Nice ;)</p>
<p><em>coughhypocritecough</em></p>
<p>Sure, BS your ECs. Be like the students whom I caught in such lies when I interviewed them for my Ivy alma mater. I didn’t bother to tell the students that I knew they were lying. This included the student who lied and told me she was an active participant in an organization that my son was president of and that I had extensively volunteered with. No, she didn’t get into my alma mater despite having sky high stats, and she probably still thinks I was just making casual conversation when I asked if she’d ever met my son.</p>
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<p>David Frost: Are you really saying the President can do something illegal?
Richard Nixon: I’m saying that when the President does it, that means it’s NOT illegal!</p>
<p>But desi_chick is not the President, so therefore she can’t and shouldn’t lie :D</p>
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<p>I would love to hear where she ended up :)</p>
<p>I know it’s bad to lie and all on apps, but does it really matter that much if you started actively participating in a certain club your sophomore year until your senior year and all the club really did was have random discussions and on your college apps, you said you started in 9th grade? I’m not going to do if it it’s wrong, but I just wanted to see what others think.</p>