<p>just wondering, does anyone how "strictly" or "meticulously" adcoms verify the extracurricular information (those not easily confirmed by Collegeboard tests or school transcripts) that an applicant provides?</p>
<p>Thanks for responding!</p>
<p>I would say that they make no attempt to verify them UNLESS something raises a red flag. If your self reported EC's say one thing and they see something in the GC/teacher recs that doesn't sound right, they might call the GC for some verification.</p>
<p>oh i see... well, is your GC/teacher supposed to know every activity that you do? because mine don't at all...</p>
<p>I don't think that it is so much a factual thing so much as the adcoms may smell something funny. If you claim that you are doing 500 hours of volunteer work and you recs say that you lack initiative, then it might hurt you. At that point, the adcom might call the adcom and they might figure out that you aren't really student council president. They don't have to verify that everything you said is true. They only have to find one thing that isn't true.</p>
<p>You would have to lie in a pretty big way to make a difference anyway. If you want to say that you belong to the Biology Club when you really don't, they might not find out that you lied. On the other hand, that isn't going to get you admitted anyway.</p>
<p>Wouldn't GCs look up school activities when writing their reports? And if there are several applicants to a college from a particular school, ad comm people have been known to call and talk to the school. You would also have to come up with bs for what you did on these ECs if you interview -- if the interviewer smells a rat and someone investigates, you are toast.</p>
<p>Also, if they find out you lied (and you ARE certifying the information is correct after all -- I would think one's conscience should kick in at some point), you will be rejected. I've even heard of folks lying on applications, getting in, and then being booted out of the school when the college finds out.</p>
<p>Finally, would you really be happy in a school if you lied on the application? Wouldn't you always wonder if you could have made it on your own merit and start thinking of yourself as a fraud? It may seem expedient now (and I understand the anxiety this whole process entails), but you could end up with regrets later. At least, I would hope so.</p>
<p>well, at our school, all the "school" ECs that we participate in are given to the counselors. we have to sign papers that we were there and they check that we are decently active (the counselors do)</p>
<p>I'm glad they do that. There are three threads going on now on this very subject.</p>
<p>but extracurricular activities are not limited to school activities. i have more EC's than SA's.</p>
<p>ok, but the thread is not about you. lol</p>
<p>DianeR, you give off the impression that I would lie about the things I did and BS about stuff I haven't done. This is NOT the case, I can assure you. I, probably like the people who started the other threads, was simply interested in knowing how adcoms make sure you really did what you said you did. That's all.</p>
<p>I think it really depends on the High school and the college, if you're applying to a college, like Columbia that literally has thousands and thousands of applicants, they are not going to have time to chase down guidance counselors and spend days trying to figure out whether you lied or not - if there's something obvious about your application, then they may just reject you and thats the end of it.</p>
<p>The smaller schools that would be most likely to check - would depend on how your high school is ran, and how organized it is. If you go to a crap high school, then it'd be easier to get away with things, because its more likely to be disorganized and crazed.</p>
<p>I apologize, BingCold, for leaving that impression. I guess dealing with essentially the same topic on three different threads led to my answers getting pretty much the same everywhere. There is at least one person on another thread who has said they have lied, that everyone lies, and there is nothing wrong with it.</p>
<p>I should have said "one" rather than "you." Sloppiness in answering, I assure you!</p>
<p>in that case, it's fine</p>