<p>was anyone COMPLETELY honest on the entire application?</p>
<p>is it common to exaggerate ex-currics?</p>
<p>Er...I was completely honest...</p>
<p>Hm...I do think the "hours per week" per extracurricular activity is a dumb thing on the app. I wasn't being "dishonest" but I can't guarantee that the numbers I provided are accurate.</p>
<p>I think I was totally honest? On the hours per week obviously it varies from week to week so using common sense I put my outer limit of hours for each activity (and then cut a bit cause it was looking ridiculous). So honest but giving limited information where it made me seem better...</p>
<p>I don't think that Harvard cares about the hours per week one spends on an EC unless it's something like working a job. Oh, and another reason the answer may be important is to see how honest you are. Do you claim, for example, to put so many hours into ECs that you have no time left for school or sleeping?</p>
<p>Otherwise, what's most important is the impact you have on the EC, and the impact the EC has on you. I truly doubt that Harvard would pick one student over another just because one student spent more hours a week on ECs than did the other.</p>
<p>I was totally honest. It's idiotic to think that Harvard doesn't know that people fudge their data all the time.</p>
<p>I was honest in the application. Hopefully it doesn't come back to haunt me.</p>
<p>Being honest won't hurt you. Lying can. Get caught in an admissions lie and your admission will be revoked. If you've already gotten a degree, it will be rescinded.</p>
<p>As for lying: The kind of lies that would make an applicant stand out in admissions are so big that they would easily be caught. For instance, saying one is the national president of NHS would make you stand out. But if you were lying, I'm sure the admissions officers would find that out.</p>
<p>Saying you're school president of NHS, were on a varsity school team or did 600 hours of random volunteer service would not make you stand out in the Harvard admissions pool.</p>
<p>I also have caught applicants in lies while interviewing them. I noted their lies in my write-ups and those applicants didn't get in.</p>
<p>This included a couple of people who were lying about ECs. One said that she did a lot of work in an EC that I happened to volunteer. I knew that she hadn't done the work that she said that she had done. She didn't even realize that I volunteered with the EC (and I didn't enlighten her on that fact. Instead, I let her verbally dig herself into a hole taking credit for activities she didn't do).</p>
<p>I know someone who blantantly lied to all of the ivies about his ethnic origin. He is disgusting.</p>
<p>The sad thing is that most interviewers have no idea about their applicants because they get no info.</p>
<p>Oh, and jerseygirl, this kid that is lying is a jerseyboy. Nothing against NJ, since I am from there. Just letting you know.</p>
<p>Be sensitive to the fact that some many kids these days are pressured to perform and climb up that ladder, where there are oh so few spaces. Not everyone can get into Harvard and as a result people overestimate their shortcoming and overcompensate for that... by blatantly lying, stealing tests, cheating their way through school and coercing teachers to give them every single "A" they can manage. It's a sick problem and the problem isn't solely on the shoulders of the students. It's this general culture of admissions sickness.</p>
<p>Northstarmom, I'm curious to know if Harvard does random checks on an applicant's ECs. In this particular day and age, it seems that grades are not enough, and as a result, students are being pressured into engaging in more activities, which then might lead to possible deception.</p>
<p>I don't know if Harvard does random checks on ECs. However, as I mentioned before, the kind of ECs that would be most impressive are also the easiest to verify and also are the most difficult to lie about.</p>
<p>IMO, the people who are fudging and exaggerating on their applications are probably doing more to harm their chances than to help their chances.</p>
<p>i used to work 84 hours a week as a sales representative, full-time, 7 days a week... and i'm not lying. does it sound too ridiculous to be true?</p>
<p>there was no hourly pay by the way, only commissions.</p>
<p>Admissions officers arn't going to assume you're lying, even if an activity sounds outrageous, since "outrageous" still happens. They might check, and if it proves true, you're good to go.</p>
<p>
[quote]
600 hours of random volunteer service would not make you stand out in the Harvard admissions pool.
[/quote]
Aww, shucks. :p</p>
<p>"The sad thing is that most interviewers have no idea about their applicants because they get no info."</p>
<p>Not true. They get info from the students themselves. Often the interviewers are active in a variety of community organizations so may have a great deal of info about the organizations that the student claims to participate in.</p>
<p>Yea, hass, that sounds completely fabricated. No kidding.</p>
<p>exactly. i quit working for a month coz i was growing mental. i used to wake up at 4am and used to reach home at 10 in the night. do u think i should send my employer's contact details so adcoms can verify it?</p>
<p>***i quit after working for a month</p>