im curious… im captain of my school’s track team am i to get my coach to send the colleges something… or how else do they verify… do they just believe u?
<p>yes just exaggerate and make up stuff they wont really be suspicious unless its too extravagant</p>
<p>just dont get caught</p>
<p>well it is true... but the colleges seriosuly dont check? man thats kinda lame</p>
<p>while your at it why dont you just make everything else up on your application. Who says tha you cant win the Nobel proze at 16. Obviously sarcastic</p>
<p>dude wtheck im juss asking if i should get my coach to send anything to the colleges there is no need to give me any attitude. i am not attempting to falsify anything geez...</p>
<p>I heard the colleges verify if they want to. My English teacher (who is also the hockey coach) said he was contact through the school to check whether a kid was the varsity hockey captain as he claimed on his app. Unfortunately the student was lying and consquently got rejected from the school.</p>
<p>What about really small stuff?</p>
<p>Like if you are Co-President of a club, and you just put President?</p>
<p>Colleges do not have time to check every detail of applicants' applications. Colleges also tend to trust that most applicants are honest.</p>
<p>It is not necessary to provide proof of one's activities. In general, one's letters of recommendation and one's essays and interview will provide all of the "proof" colleges need of one's integrity.</p>
<p>Dishonest applicants can get caught when, for instance, their recommendations don't coincide with what they have written about themselves on their applications. For instance, if a student describes himself as the president of several clubs, and the GC writes, "Although he is shy and has never had a formal leadership position, he is well respected by his peers," the college would have good reason to check the validity of his activities list and to call the school and check.</p>
<p>Students who lie also get caught when very unexpected coincidences occur. The world is far smaller than most people realize.</p>
<p>Of course, colleges reject students who they find have lied on their applications. Places like Harvard will even rescind the degrees of graduates who lied on their applications.</p>
<p>As for the "really small stuff" it is always a good idea to be honest. As an alumni interviewer, I have caught students shading the truth in their interviews. In these cases, I have included this information -- with clear examples -- in my report, and the students have not been accepted. Virtually all colleges put a lot of weight on integrity.</p>
<p>alrite thnx</p>
<p>That's interesting. In the interviews, did you try to actively verify some parts of their application (sorry if my question is way off)?</p>
<p>Andrew, I wouldn't worry about that. A co-president is still technically a "president".</p>
<p>I didn't try to verify parts of the application. I don't see the application unless the student brings a copy in, which some students do. I do ask students to bring a resume, though, because I can scan it quickly and then jump into the interview instead of having to spend a lot of time with the students' giving me the background info verbally.</p>
<p>One lie came out because a student misrepresented themselves about their background and then contradicted themselves later in the interview. When I asked clarifying questions, the student hemmed and hawed until the truth came out. In this case, the truth was a fact that there was no way that the student could have been confused about.</p>
<p>In another case, the student padded their reading list, so to speak. I happened to love one of the books the student mentioned, and when I asked the student's thoughts on the book, the answer was so vague that it was clear that at best, the student may have read the book jacket.</p>
<p>Bottom line is that it's not worth it to lie even about small details. </p>
<p>If I were co-president of a club, I'd still list my office as "co-president," not "president." I don't recommend telling half truths. Remember, it's possible for the adcom or interviewer to know the other co-president, or to see a recommendation describing you as "co-president" and then to consequently view you as a liar.</p>
<p>Thanks. </p>
<p>I put actually put president rather than co-president, and that has gotten me a bit nervous since the sponsor writes recs for me.</p>
<p>On a liter note, I guess this might be an issue with the interpretation. I can see the differences in the spectrum (Sole president, the president, a president, co-president), but my though was that plain "president" is could refer to all.</p>
<p>so northstarmom when a person puts down something thats completely false like holding some position in a club colleges dont verify? cuz i kno ppl that have done that and did not get caught</p>
<p>well for things you do outside of school, you should definetley have some proof. For example, if you run a website or something, have the link handy. There is no way to verify anything, which is why my school may have five debate captains...obviously if you were in a bigger school, its a lot harder to keep track of who is an officer of what club</p>
<p>I think the best proof of your accomplishments is that you need to be consistent. For example, if you say that you are a winner in chem or science olympiad and you get like a 500 on SAT 2 chem, colleges will be suspicious. Or if you say that you are really interested in history/politics and your history/government teacher says you seemed apathetic in class, that could blow your cover. Or if you say that you are on student council yet you are described as really quite or something like that. For actual awards and things, there is no way to verify but they should be consistent with your academic coursework grades and test scores to an extent.</p>
<p>Edit: Of course, there are limits to how much you can exagerate...don't say you were a competition like westinghouse if you weren't in it at all etc.</p>
<p>One way to address the OP's question is to give your guidance counselor a resume and talk to him/her about what you would like to be highlighted or mentioned in the GC recommendation. It's certainly appropriate for your GC to say that you're the captain or president or whatever.</p>
<p>what's GC?</p>
<p>yeah, on a brag sheet...but isn't it your job to mention acitivites, and your Guidance Counselor's (GC's) job to mention your personality more?</p>
<p>Acutally, I don't really know what my guidance counselor wrote or was supposed to write lol</p>
<p>Guidance counselor = GC</p>
<p>Other thought, send in a press clipping that has you identified. If no clipping exists..send a press release to local paper and see if you can't get one printed. Some schools don't want additional letters of rec from coaches.</p>
<p>I have heard of students who were caught claiming to be news paper editor and both had their applications rejected. What are the chances of getting the same reader..apparently they are good.</p>
<p>Lol, that sucks, but what if one of the students was actually the editor for their school?</p>
<p>That would easily be verified by calling or e-mailing the GC. Remember, kids, the adults in charge of these things <em>talk</em> to each other.</p>