<p>This is something I've always wondered.</p>
<p>How do colleges know that what you state about your EC's is true? Are you required to send in proof or anything?</p>
<p>You are not required to send in proof but some of them "spot check". Just be smart and tell the truth. NO reason to lie, ever, under any circumstances. Do you really want to go to a school that you have to lie to just to be admitted?</p>
<p>Oh no, I'm not planning to lie! I'm just curious!</p>
<p>What's spot check?</p>
<p>They randomly select people from their pool of applicants to verify their ECs.</p>
<p>If you didn't lie, there's nothing to worry about.</p>
<p>Basic rule of thumb - if the EC is outstanding enough to make a difference, it's easy to verify and you'll probably get caught (e.g., state debate champion, Olympic medalist, Intel finalist). If it's not outstanding enough to be easily verified, it won't make a difference in admissions, so why bother to lie about it?</p>
<p>I'm glad there's something like that!</p>
<p>Do you think that some things are so routinely lied about or exagerated that adcoms take them with a huge grain of salt? For example, for every 200 hours of community service, do they assume it's really 150?</p>
<p>I would hope that lying on applications is not common. Our county records community service hours on transcripts (since a certain number are required for graduation) so lying about hours would be a bad idea. I imagine adcoms notice discrepancies between guidance counselor recommendations and student resumes as well. If a student lists a bunch of acheivements and the GC doesn't it might raise a red flag. As other posters point out honesty is the best policy.</p>
<p>I'm sort of focussed on the community service hours lately because this year, the school district has greatly changed what religious organization hours count toward community service. In past years, while things like attending church didn't count, things like teaching vacation bible school or leading a youth group were counted. (Might sound odd to some, but this is Texas.) This year only activities sponsored by religious groups that help people's physical needs (e.g. a church sponsored Habitat build) count. If a teen had put hundreds of hours in to, for example, leading the Youth Group Praise Team, they might write down 200 hours and the school might write down zero.</p>
<p>I think Chedva has it right. If a student's ECs are so impressive that they make a big difference in his or her admissions chances, they're probably going to be documented elsewhere, or at least mentioned by teachers or counselors. But in a lot of cases, ECs aren't a huge factor in the admissions decision, so dishonesty isn't going to help the candidate.</p>
<p>If I were reading a file and some extracurricular was going to make the difference between admit and deny, I'd probably make the effort to find out more about the activity.</p>