<p>I've always wondered -- do you think that colleges ever get in touch with the people who write your recommendations? A friend of mine told me the other day that she completely faked a recommendation. She had a letter head and everything from her school and then just made up the contact information, assuming no one would call. What do you guys think? I'm secretly hoping that she gets caught, but I doubt she will since I've never heard of them calling.</p>
<p>how is she your friend if you want her to be caught?</p>
<p>I once worked at a school that sent thank you letters to each teacher (this was a small college). We never had anyone reply that they didn't write a rec for one of our students.</p>
<p>With student information systems being more sophisticated than ever, I think this is a dangerous idea. With the newer systems, I could run analysis on a certain teacher's rec writing. With imaging, I could pull up their actual recs. If things don't match up...</p>
<p>My school is in the process of getting one of these newer systems online. I can't wait to get it going because it's going to make the entire application process smoother and faster. One of the schools that is a little ahead of mine said they reviewed applications 30% faster than in previous years.</p>
<p>That means letters might go out earlier in the future, which I think we all agree is a good thing!</p>
<p>Why would you want a friend who had such a skewed sense of ethics?</p>
<p>I was on an internship selection committee in which we got an app from a student who made up their letter of recommendation. It was easy to identify: Students don't write like teachers. That student not only didn't get an internship, we also called their college to let them know about what the student did.</p>
<p>And it's not unusual for people to call with follow-up letters concerning letters of recommendation. It's also possible that the receiver might know the teacher. The world is very, very small....</p>
<p>Listen, I would never turn her in. She is a good friend of mine, and she knows how I feel. I don't feel bad saying that it is completely unfair what she has done, especially given that I am a student who has had to go through what I consider to be a utterly horrific process of getting teacher recommendations.</p>
<p>What about counselor recs? I don't think she could make that up.</p>
<p>She can pull this off, most likely. Especially at big schools. Colleges almost never check up on recs, unless something bad is said. She wouldn't say something bad about herself, would she?</p>
<p>If you're thinking of turning her in, most people would call you a conniving witch with a capital B. Karma is a *****, and if it comes back to bite her in the ass, likely it will bite you too for betraying her. Betraying a friend is no more moral than what she is doing. No one likes snitches.</p>
<p>A lot of reaction formation goes on around here - I'm willing to bet good money that 75% of the kids on College Confidential who FLIP OUT at the slightest mention of bending the rules either cheat on their own or would do so given the opportunity.</p>
<p>Most likely, the CC's "Morality Gestapo" will stop by shortly (actually, it looks like they already have) and berate her for doing such an "awful thing", but she should do whatever helps her get into the college of her choice. You would be wise to do the same.</p>
<p>I remember how much I hated getting teacher recommendations. I was shy, and also hated asking people do favors for me.</p>
<p>Learning, however, how to ask for those things paid off in adulthood because there have been many times that I have had to get written recommendations from others. The lessons that I learned in high school and college were how to do this in a timely fashion and to also give people information that jogs their minds about my assets, and lets them know about the opportunity that I'm applying for and what I have to offer that place.</p>
<p>Wow, that was stupid. Why even risk messing up your chances like that? Most people are willing to write a nice letter for students. The whole point of recommendations are defeated when a person makes one up.</p>
<p>Cheating in HS can cost a paper or test grade, cheating in college can cost a degree!</p>