<p>Hey guys, this is my first entry at CC. I know this question is going to sound pretty sketch, but I am really curious. I have heard some friends talking about the idea that many good Universities like Brown don’t check the details of stuff you put on your application concerning ECs. For instance, if an applicant says she was a member of the choir for 2 years instead of one year, or that she was the president of the photography club instead of the vice president,or for that matter if she just flat out invents stuff, like says that she was a volunteer with the “Cypress Project” - an local organization that helps feed the homeless, but , in fact, there is no Cypress Project. I am a student at a community college and my friends and I are planning to transfer. Are my friends correct? Do universities really check on the details of what students say they have been involved in. I really do not intent to do this, but I am curious about how much “embellusment” goes on in this regard.</p>
<p>Who CARES if they check or not??? It's unfair, unethical, and unmoral to lie on something that big. The End.</p>
<p>Yea but if they check you can pretty much kiss college in general good bye</p>
<p>Your entire file has to make sense to them. If you say you were a devoted member of the chess club and yet your teachers and guidance counselors make no mention of it at all, that might raise their suspicion. While some EC may make or break an application (like Intel or other national awards), something like chorus or photography club isn't. If your GPA and test scores and recs don't impress them, then being president of the photography club or volunteering once a week isn't going to get you in. </p>
<p>I know that when something in an application looks suspicious, they will call the GC and check it. So don't lie.</p>
<p>Yeah, they called my school to check all my EC's......(not brown another school)..and they talked to all the sponsors and made sure I was as involved as I said</p>
<p>Thanks for your input. I agree. It is totally unethical. Please believe me, this is not something I plan on doing. I was just curious if universities had a procedure in place for doing routine checks on this stuff. It would seem like a big job for them to do. Also, I think that there is some intercollege information sharing system. So if a person did this and got caught, she would be blackballed completely from any university. However, at a community college, students don't have the same relationship with a conselor that they do at a high school.<br>
Rarely do community college students use conselors for letters of rec.s LoRs are usually from a professor and the truth is a professor doesn't know all of your involvements, etc. So, if I have taken 2 Eng classes with Professor X and have done well in his classes and he offers to write me a LoR, he won't know whether or not I volunteered at the food kitchen on weekends. Even if a university calls him, he won't know all the details of my life.</p>
<p>I know I talk to my professors during their office hours/even write them emails... i think they know me pretty well and what i'm involved in. Either way, if you get a professor that supposedly knows you very well... they should mention some ECs...</p>
<p>yes oceannightskies makes a very good pt</p>
<p>and gosh MORALS</p>
<p>A person is also interviewed. I've certainly heard stories (from those doing alumni interviews) of kids who didn't seem to have the backgrounds their applications indicate during interviews. This gets reported and the school checks.</p>
<p>Anything important enough to change an application decision is important enough for a college to doublecheck.</p>