<p>How do universities verify that all your extracurricular activities are true? Can you get away with making some things seem more spectacular than they actually were?</p>
<p>I don’t think they go and check every single line of your extracurriculars section for accuracy. You may be able to get away with a little bit of that kind of thing, but I hear admissions officials can look right through some of these attempts.</p>
<p>Most truly spectacular accomplishments are easily verified with a web search.
For something specific to your school, a quick call to the GC can be done if needed.</p>
<p>I hope they don’t call my GC as he doesn’t know anything about me, and will most likely tell them something that IS NOT true.</p>
<p>My GC has never gotten a phone call for any sort of verification. We send kids to top schools every year.</p>
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<p>How do you know this? My kids GC talked to college admissions officers very frequently. </p>
<p>Students should give a copy of their activities list to their GCs along with their list of schools and their rec forms, at the very least. They also should schedule a meeting with their GC before apps go out if they haven’t been meeting all along. If you’re serious about going to even a moderately selective college, it’s in your best interest to get to know your GC! And if you’re not applying to selective colleges, your ECs don’t matter.</p>
<p>And if you’re applying to the UCs in California, they definitely do randomly check ECs for accuracy.</p>
<p>I see this is a Harvard thread. They can talk to your GC.</p>
<p>I personally asked him if he has received any calls from colleges requesting more information or feedback on a particular student. He said no. He might just be unwilling to disclose any information, or might have a bad memory, but I took his answer. I’m speaking from my experience; I agree that it is possible that they might reference your GC as they read your files.</p>
<p>He doesn’t know anything about what I did with the school district or my supplementary papers, both of which are my primary EC’s, but I discussed them extensively in my interview, so yea…I guess I’ll see what happens.</p>
<p>Do you have to send in a music supplement if music is a significant EC?</p>
<p>I will have played the piano for 13 years when I apply, but I feel like that number is misleading given my somewhat low skill level.</p>
<p>My school counselor knows nothing about me except my name. I don’t think phoning the GC is always a good way for verification.</p>
<p>Fabrications often don’t ring true or don’t mesh with other ECs. It’s easy to Google major EC claims, as I always do before I interview an applicant. Also, it’s a very small world, and lies can get exposed if one asks around. </p>
<p>Why are there so many questions on this forum about whether it’s safe to lie about ECs? Is it really worth the risk to your applications, admissions, and reputation? (And those are both rhetorical questions.)</p>
<p>To report any new awards we’ve received:Do we email this address, <a href=“mailto:fileroom@fas.harvard.edu”>fileroom@fas.harvard.edu</a> ?</p>
<p>Let’s see…HOW do I answer this? </p>
<p>Do I tell OP that they probably WON’T get caught…go ahead and do it, and let him/her possibly take the seat from my honest child or not?</p>
<p>Let me think about that for a bit. I’ll get back to you if I decide I want to approve of your tendency to lie. Until then…I live this way…“What goes around comes around”. We ALL know that doesn’t always happen, but…I’d like to THINK it does…eventually.</p>
<p>Honestly, if an admissions officer does not check, the activity probably does not hold a significant amount of weight. However, if he or she does seek to confirm something, it likely is important.</p>