<p>Well I was looking at the common app and various other applications for other colleges and I noticed that for extra-curricular and volunteer work; the applications don't ask for proof.</p>
<p>So how does a college admission officer know who is telling the truth and who is lying? </p>
<p>Someone could just write down that they were the President of a club for two years and the college would have no idea of validating it.</p>
<p>P.S.: I don't plan to lie. On the contrary, I plan to attach leter/s samples that validate all my claims of membership.</p>
<p>i.e.: As the Spanish editor of my school's world language literary magazine, I plan to attach the magazine (which has my name as the Spanish editor on it).</p>
<p>I have wondered that myself, and when my eldest was applying, we attached copies of things like his pilot's license, air traffic control cert., and other items. The adcom folks I talked to loved it all (so they said) but wanted to make sure I redacted the numbers for privacy. I thought that was so odd, since his SSN and other pertinent info was all over the apps.</p>
<p>BTW, he made it into all his schools, even the super-reaches. I think those documents helped a lot.</p>
<p>can you lie? yes.
will you get caught? probably not.
will you feel guilty either way? yes.
if you get caught, and your application is voided, was it worth it? obviously not.</p>
<p>i suppose you could attach items proving your activities' validity, but i don't think it's necessary unless you have some amazing EC that not many would believe otherwise.</p>
<p>The basic rule of thumb: If it's an activity that is strong enough to help your application in a substantial way, then it can be verified. If it's not something that can be verified, lying about it (like being club president) probably won't help much. So why bother?</p>
<p>
[quote]
I have wondered that myself, and when my eldest was applying, we attached copies of things like his pilot's license, air traffic control cert., and other items. The adcom folks I talked to loved it all (so they said) but wanted to make sure I redacted the numbers for privacy. I thought that was so odd, since his SSN and other pertinent info was all over the apps.</p>
<p>BTW, he made it into all his schools, even the super-reaches. I think those documents helped a lot.
[/quote]
How do you get a pilot license before finishing HS?</p>
<p>I asked him when he was 16, "Do you want to drive the car or fly a plane?" He opted to learn to fly (his life dream), since I could drive him anywhere he wanted to go. By his 19th bd, he had his pilots license (single & multi) and his Air Traffic control certificate. He finally did get his drivers license at 18-1/2 when I got really sick of driving him anywhere.</p>
<p>There are tons of kids like this at schools like Wright St and Embry-Riddle.</p>
<p>I'd say make sure to let your guidance counseler know about ALLLLLLL YOUR EXTRACURRICULARS AND AWARDS AND ETC. because even if they are true, if they are amazing and you didnt tell your GC when the school calls they are going to blacklist you simply because you forgot to tell your GC.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If they think you're lying, they check it by calling your counselor
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</p>
<p>My son's school had a policy against discussing students' ec with colleges, or so they told me. I was told it was a "violation of the district's privacy policies". </p>
<p>I think it must the only school on the planet with guidance counselors who refuse to speak with college admission offices that ask for clarification.</p>