<p>This will probrably be the strangest and outrageous thread i'm going to post but do people lie and put stuff down for their extracurricular that they've never done? I mean how how are colleges supposed to find out?</p>
<p>there are a few posts talking about it before. people DO lie on their applications and colleges DO find the dishonesty in that stuff.</p>
<p>Do you have links to those threads? I would like to see.</p>
<p>what you dont hear, though, is that if you do that, 73 years from now when you die of old age the college board angel scratches your name off the only matriculation list that REALLY matters..</p>
<p>^ lol! </p>
<p>10chars</p>
<p>As long as theres a thing called "Google" you'd most likely get caught.</p>
<p>At least for the major EC like National Merit Scholars. Not so sure about minor ECs</p>
<p>First off, most colleges admit based pretty much on scores and grades. So you can falsify all you want because it doesn't matter. </p>
<p>For the 100 or so that do care, lying probably won't get you too far. You can lie about something minor, like adding membership in a club you didn't belong to or padding volunteer hours. Big deal; those aren't the ECs that get you in. The most selective colleges look for achievement and awards, not just participation. You can lie about those things, but you'd better hope the <em>real</em> class president or whatever you claimed to be doesn't also apply to the same college! Many colleges require interviews or strongly suggest them. You can search this forum and see posts from Northstarmom, a Harvard interviewer, who asks kids about things they've put down at ECs to specifically look for kids who are lying or exaggerating. If you're making it up its not hard for an experienced interviewer to tell by asking some questions about it. And one reason they use alum interviewers is they know their local area; claim some bogus achievement or award and they may know you're lying. And finally some larger U's that look at EC's also do random verification. An example is the UC system; they randomly audit about 10% of their applicants, and lying is grounds for rejection.</p>
<p>Basically, if it's anything really worth lying about, they'll probably check it out.</p>
<p>Major EC; google (Ima teh world/national champion in ____), reference books (like there is a AIME book)
Minor EC; won't matter anyways</p>
<p>And usually if you have something major, one of your recommendation letter is bound to mention it. It would be awfully suspicious for you to win state science fair overall, and not ask your science teacher to write a letter. It would be even more suspicious if he/she does not mention it.</p>
<p>You get away, shame on you
You get caught, /gg to your chances (maybe they will contact other schols)</p>
<p>What Zoax says is pretty much the situation. What you end up getting by inflating ECs is an increased risk of getting caught in a lie or exaggeration without an upside advantage. College/highschool world is smaller than you think. I know a number of kids who got caught because of some crazy coincidence. One claimed to have organized a walkathon in which the admissions person was deeply involved. Not a smart thing when you have no idea who is reading your app. The readers could have family members or other connections to the activity.</p>
<p>It's the classic trade off between risk/benefit. What Zoax says sums it up. To lie about something so trivial as to jeopardize your application is both foolish and rather novice really.</p>
<p>Well^ It's the notion that "maybe I won't get caught" that keeps people driven to lie about their ECs or even embellish the minor ones. People would do anything to get into schools and they have the pre-conceived notion that once their in they would be a good hearted person after that.</p>