<p>I'm a high school graduate from Brazil and I've applied to 7 universities in the US for Fall 2011.</p>
<p>A peculiar doubt about the college admission process has recently come up and I would like you, if possible, to clear it up to me.</p>
<p>When applying to colleges in Brazil, one is supposed to inform a lot of specific numbers that show up in his/her ID. These numbers are the only piece of information that are used to crosscheck data when the applicant enrolls at the school (make sure he/she is the owner of that certain application).</p>
<p>While working on my applications to American schools, however, I noticed that nothing but my own name, birth date and some other simple data built my personal information page.</p>
<p>Basically, my question is: how do colleges make sure I am I when I enroll and when I get to the university [phisically]? If they only look at these simple pieces of information such as name and birth date, how do they make sure that applications will all be prepared by the applicants themselves?</p>
<p>Please notice I'm referring only to international applicants, since I realize domestic applicants have a so-called Social Security Number.</p>
<p>Because if you are not you then you will be deported when you hit immigration. Hence the schools don’t have to worry about it as it is not their problem.</p>
<p>And documents from your school attest to who you are. That being said, some areas of the world are notorious for fraudulent test takers, transcripts, etc. Universities now require extreme levels of verification for TOEFL exams, for instance. My alma mater once rec’d six applications from one Asian high school. Of the six, there were five different sets of transcripts and school documents – basically at least four of them were forgeries – all attesting highest grades and recommendations. Schools that routinely accept foreign nationals need to be very adept at spotting fraud.</p>
<p>Thank you for your time and effort answering my question, gentlemen.</p>
<p>UTPG1234, so you’re assuming the “final” applicant is not the one who sends the application, but the one who has a Visa (photo document) with the same name contained on an accepted application. That means the university will ask to take a look at my Visa/Passport to make sure I am I, doesn’t it?</p>