<p>It seems like kids on CC are always wondering if they can fluff up their ECs a bit by claiming to have positions they don't have, etc.</p>
<p>And we, as parents, always tell them that the truth can catch up with them and that in most cases the small things they are lying about aren't enough to sway an application decision anyway.</p>
<p>So yesterday, while I was volunteering at school helping to get set for the new year, I heard an intersting anecdote.</p>
<p>A few of the students at our school applied to the same prestigious (top 3) LAC. Two of the students had each listed themselves as president of the Latin club. At least one of them was lying. A third student listed Latin club but her office was "social chair".</p>
<p>The Latin teacher wrote a fabulous recommendation for the social chair, talking about how she had helped transform Latin club into an organization that even students who did not study Latin wanted to join, creating movie nights and nights at Italian restaurants, an oratory competition, etc.</p>
<p>She had a lower gpa and SAT than the other two students. She got in. the other two didn't.</p>
<p>i completely agree with your point and all, but it seems like there could have been other factors at play. like, she had an excellent recommendation and maybe the other 2 didn't?</p>
<p>but yeah, i can't believe one kid lied about being president. i mean it's one thing to lie about being in a club, but it's another to lie about leading a club. you cold very well be right that this is what kept them out of the school.</p>
<p>DMD, is it possible that having a "founder" and a "co-founder" was the way the organization was organized? It's not unusual for parties, for example, to have "hosts" and then "co-hosts." With "founder" and "co-founder," the founder could have the idea to start the club and then gets teacher to oversee it (or whatever). While there are still no members, the founder's friend comes along and expresses interest and together they figure out the club's goals and purpose and decide how the organization will function and be run. Together they find students to join the group. I would consider the original student to be the founder and the second student to be a "co-founder."</p>
<p>isabella,
My son was co-president of a club last year and is president this year. He listed each title and the relevant dates. He chose not to consolidate it all into just "president," since he did not become co-president until the second semester and out of respect for the other person.</p>
<p>My son was co-founder and co-president of the ski club. My son and his friend, two sophomore boys were upset that there was no ski club. They both rallied a teacher to get him to sponsor the club and they elected themselves co-presidents. They worked very hard to get it going and they deserved to be co-presidents! Unfortunately, there were too many injuries that freaked out the school and it lasted only a year. Our varsity teams sometimes have 3 and 4 captains, which I think is ridiculous, but true nonetheless. It's probably just important to indicate "co-" when you are sharing a position.</p>
<p>Coranged: in fact the founder was the one who did all the work, and the student who claimed co-founder was the person who'd said "wouldn't it be cool if...."</p>
<p>What kind of school is it if two seniors in the Latin club don't know they are applying to the same college(s)? Maybe both of them were lying! Otherwise I would think that the liar would know that there was about a 100% chance of a problem if he (or she) and the real president put the same position on applications to the same schools. (Or maybe senior Latin students aren't as smart as they used to be?)</p>
<p>JHS, you assume that the two were friendly and discussed their applications....if you were going to lie, you probably wouldn't go sharing that info to other club members and are just hoping it works</p>
<p>My D was in clubs and with some members she had no clue where all the schools they were applying to</p>
<p>Some people don't talke about their applications, etc to everyone, but the truth usually comes out</p>
<p>As for small world, I have always warned my Ds about the small world...you can't bet someone knows their daddy</p>
<p><y mom had surgery, and her nurse knew my H</p>
<p>There was a question in the ethics column of the NYTimes recently; the columnist answered by saying in pertinent part that it was unethical for alumni interviewers to "google" students. </p>
<pre><code> I disagree. I "google" very often. In response to a question about leadership, a student told me that he was the ELECTED captain of the swim team andd made all these wonderful changes to the team. I googled. There were 4 seniors on the swim team;all 4 are captains. The site told me a lot about the new incoming coach, who during the interview for the job, suggested a,b, and c changes to the program. These just happen to be the changes my interviewee said he had made.
</code></pre>
<p>Did I call him a liar?Nope. I did, however, report that while he had told me he was the ELECTED captain of the team, the results of my search indicated that there were 4 seniors on the team and all were co-captains. I provided the link. So do I feel guilty? Not at all. </p>
<p>He did get into another top school--they are welcome to him.</p>
<p>At my D's HS the students' EC resumes must be signed off on by faculty/community advisors to prevent such occurrences.</p>
<p>My D was the "founder" of a club and did ask her friend to be "co-founder" because the girl had a family situation that prevented her from being involved in most school EC's. The girl helped with the club set-up and did her "job" mostly from home since she was unable to attend the meetings. </p>
<p>These kids are under too much pressure and they, unfortunately, never feel good enough. It sometimes leads to desperate measures. The adults have to step up and offer real guidance, or at least put guidelines in place that will ensure a higher degree of honesty.</p>
<p>One of my daughter's clubs had three presidents. So, I wouldn't rule out that the Latin club could have had more than one. It is funny though, that all three kids would be applying to the same school. It makes sense that the kid who could prove that she had a significant positive impact on the club would be more likely to get in over kids who merely listed titles, if that was indeed the case, that the other two merely listed their titles and couldn't show they made much of a contribution to the club.</p>
<p>Can you verify that the site was absolutely correct? The candidate could have been a liar, but the reporting could have also not been completely correct either. I google people all the time and find it to be very useful. But in this case, I would have asked him to explain himself.</p>
<p>Posts #9 and #11 got the gist of what I meant. A lot of times a college will stack up the applicants from a particular high school to compare them against one another.</p>
<p>Most kids on CC would think that one or both of the other two applicants should have gotten in because one girl's scores were about 50 points higher, and the other applicant's were about 40 points higher, and both also had a higher gpa. And both apparently claimed a more "presitgious" title with respect to the EC. I don't know if either used the Latin teacher for a reference or not. </p>
<p>But I am sure the college noticed that both applicants claimed the position of president of the Latin club. And I am sure that neither submitted a letter from the Latin teacher--either because the claim of title maybe was not true for either or both applicants, or because if one of the applicants was indeed the president, hand't done much in the office to earn kudos that would be reflected in a laetter of recommendation. </p>
<p>But the girl who did get in had stats that were still well within the ball park of admitted students for the LAC. And she did something that the admissions committee would like to see done on campus--make a diffference and make the school a better place for all who are involved on the campus.</p>
<p>There were two girls I know that won a state award and there was a time the whole group of winners were together (40 kids) and girls A claimed that she organized and ran this event. Girl B knew the truth, which was that the girl wasn't even there. Girl A didn't even know what month it was in. And that was just one of the things girl A lied about.</p>