<p>I have a question as a teacher, not as a parent. For close to two decades I have been writing students letters of rec for programs, scholarships and colleges. I have never had anyone contact me to verify that:</p>
<p>1) I actually wrote it
2) I actually am a teacher qualified to write it
3) What I have said is true</p>
<p>So this led me to also wonder about other aspects of the college application. I am sure that many top tier schools do check up on kids' credentials but beyond the GPA and SAT scores it seems like a lot of "spinning" and outright lying must happen. How often do people get caught?</p>
<p>Well, there's the Harvard student who got in because she published a novel she wrote herself....but I don't think it was Harvard who discovered that "wrote herself" was an exaggeration. She didn't get expelled. There's also the would-be Harvard chick who neglected to mention she killed her mom on the "Have you ever done anything bad" section (she was only fourteen so it was a juvenile case-thought she didn't have to mention it). SHE got her acceptance rescinded. I'm not sure how Harvard found out.</p>
<p>historymom, that is interesting. Our high school sends all recs out through high school guidance along with the transcripts. I assume that since it is sent out in one package from the high school, the colleges know that it is an authentic letter of recommendation.</p>
<p>Wow Muffy! I was thinking more along the lines of students saying that they were team captains when they weren't or that they started a club when they didn't. Matricide wasn't really on my radar.</p>
<p>NEmom I have only given my letters directly to the kids but I assume our guidance office handles the mailing...my Ds are Jrs so I don't have personal experience with the process yet. Many of the letters I write are for local and regional scholarships and I assume that the students send them in on their own but maybe the GC does that too.</p>
<p>Our high school asks that the student send it out- because then the student knows that it actually got in the mail- but as far as I know- the letters have offical letterhead & normally the teacher signs across the flap of the envelope.</p>
<p>Its never occurred to me, but I suppose since there are people who cheat in other circumstances- lying about taxes owed, degrees earned etc. that there is some of that going on- but I do think that some schools check.</p>
<p>Heavenly</a> Creatures (1994)</p>
<p>This was based on an actual event in a well known and successful authors life.
Don't know if she went to college however.</p>
<p>In law school, one of my classmates was discovered midway through his summer job to have provided a fake transcript with elevated grades, during a routine check by the law firm. He was fired and the school reported it to the State Bar.
Plus, everyone found out about it and he skulked through the halls during his last year of law school.</p>
<p>ek...I've never written my name across the flap..good idea. Does your school have printed stationary? Our letterhead is just saved on the server and is plain old black and white downloadable/scanable etc. as long as you can access the server. </p>
<p>I was just thinking that w/ all of the pressure and the cheating that happens that there must be quite a few morally compromised people out there who have padded their aps. So I was wondering if any colleges do check up on people's claims.</p>
<p>OH MY GOODNESS!! what a sad story. sad in many ways. Her parents were obviously not good parents and they missed out on what an amazing student their daughter was. Sad that this girl did this horrible thing.</p>
<p>So Harvard students who cheat in admissions eventually get exposed...but I doubt large poor universities have enough staff to check up on if any kid was arrested for some nonsensational misdeed like breaking and entering or marijuana possession or if they lied about being on student council. </p>
<p>I had a friend who wrote down "yachting" on her resume under "interests" right after she got out of college. The human resources person interviewing her for some finance kind of position said, "So you're a sailor?" She said "No, I've never been on a yacht, but I'm really interested in them!" The human resources person thought that was funny and hired her. You never know.</p>
<p>The rec we saw was on HS letterhead paper. We gave the teachers stamped addressed envelopes to send them in. I think it would be easy to fake them, but if they didn't match up with what the GC said, that would look bad.</p>
<p>When both my sons applied to college, they gave each teacher the generic common app recommendation sheet. I suppose anyone could have written the rec and signed the teacher's name and mailed it in, and unless the school knew what the teacher's signature should look like, they'd accept it as real.</p>
<p>It never dawned on me the recs could be fake. but I betcha some of them are. Wow.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Wow Muffy! I was thinking more along the lines of students saying that they were team captains when they weren't or that they started a club when they didn't. Matricide wasn't really on my radar.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>LOL, Historymom!!</p>