Most? probably not. Some, yes.
But CC draws hundreds of really ambitious students. Meanwhile, there are thousands of openings in the most selective schools. My kid (Harvard 2018) seems pretty average compared to the most stellar profiles posted here on CC. But really, we’re talking 30-40 kids/year who seem so outstanding? Not to worry. Just be the best you that you can be. The rest will take care of itself.
Colleges don’t admit off CC posts… so it really isn’t something to care about.
My favorites are the students who swear they have a 4.3 unweighted gpa on a 4.0 scale. Maybe @mathyone can help me wrap my head around that. Lol
I definitely don’t see the point of exaggerating one’s accomplishments on here. It’s anonymous- there is no benefit to hyping yourself up. Also, definitely not buying that parents post “chance me” for their children. No way.
A lot of schools give 4.3 for an A+ – but no one is going to get all A+ grades.
Why don’t you think parents post Chance threads? I have see them, and they seem legit.
@Studious99 There are many parents who outwardly say they are posting it for their kids
@cosmeux oh okay. I sure hope my parents don’t post chance threads for me hahaha…
My guess is that the parents posting are less likely to exaggerate than the students.
I think it’s a combination of some real creative writing and the fact that this site tends to draw some pretty Type A, high achieving students.
That said, I’ve found some great advice that’s been put to good use with my B average son. The info is here, you just have to find it.
@dsi411 No offense, but how on earth would a random Reddit user know that KKK members are posting on CC with that specific goal in mind?
This claim is the modern-day equivalent of saying “There are communist sympathizers working at (insert newspaper here),” except it won’t prompt HUAC witch hunts. Impossible to prove or disprove unless someone confesses to the alleged ‘crime.’
There are occasionally make up stories in this forum, but you can tell from the inconsistent content. There may be slight exaggerations unintentionally as people are usually proud of what they do. For instance, one may claim to be president while it is a co-president, etc. But still, I believe most of them are based on truth. Most students posted here are indeed high achievers as they do care about their future.
why would one lie? Isn’t that the point of anonymity? I think the majority of posts are true based on my 2 daughters’ admissions’ experiences, both their admits/denies (as well as their HS and CC peers’) and their personal accomplishments.
I must admit that I don’t know what Reddit is and that explanation (for lying) is disturbing but who can fact check Reddit?
When doing research, always know the source if you want to believe it 100% and naturally one cannot know the source on CC.
To clarify, the admissions officer seemed to think that the posts ostensibly written by students were in fact written by parents posing as students. Parents generally post in the parents section and ask for college list recommendations from parents who collectively have visited many schools and been through the process many times.
Students generally post in the chance section with chance me and i’ll chance you, as though any of them know. I think a lot of the advice being dispensed there is not that good. I would guess if I had posted my daughter’s record there she would be told she was missing x and y and no way would she get in anywhere.
OP, if you want advice, I would skip the chances forum and ask the parents.
There’s no way of knowing for sure. Personally, I take statements at face value unless there is clear evidence to the contrary (inconsistencies, statements that are demonstrably flase, etc.) - otherwise it’s impossible to operate on this site. I also agree that there’s no benefit to falsifying information here. There are clearly kids who do so on their applications, but that’s another matter.
I believe the vast, vast majority of people on here tell the truth but there are definitely people who do lie. Obviously the people with more impressive accomplishments are more apt to discuss their impressive accomplishments and so this site should definitely not be considered representative of the general population. Similarly, there are people who are dishonest in the sense that they are portraying hypotheticals as reality either because of wishful thinking or to try and get a better sense of how the process works. Then there’s a small number who absolutely intentionally lie for the purpose of making others on the site feel bad, their more common name is now a banned word here, I believe the PC term is “people who reside under bridges-Americans”
There are many experienced parents on here who enjoy helping all students not just the super over achievers. Please don’t let other student posts deter you from getting advice.