<p>So, I had a interview with my guidance counselor today and it went HORRIBLY. the interview was for the guidance counselor rec letter (our school is big so we have interviews so our counselors can write our rec letter). I understand that this interview really isnt the end of the world, but it frightened me because I feel like i get too nervous easily and will definitely be a negative thing in the future. </p>
<p>Here are some reasons why i didnt do to well:</p>
<ol>
<li>So we got a questionnaire a month ago where we filled out info on our accomplishments and personal info to let the counselor know about us more. the interview was so the counselor can ask us follow up questions and get more info from us. She started asking questions and I had no idea how to answer them-- so i answered them horribly. For example, on my questionnaire I wrote that I got a job shadowing opportunity at a price forecasting company. My counselor asked my what i thought about the experience and if it influenced me to go into business. I panicked an made up bs. I told her that I really didnt like the experience and didnt want to do business anymore.</li>
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<p>I also mentioned on the questionnaire that I had a marketing internship, and she asked me what i thought of that experience. again i panicked and told her that i thought it was pretty useless and didnt learn anything. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY I TOLD HER THAT. now she thinks all the stuff i put on my resume was bs.</p>
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<li><p>i started getting nervous cause i lied about some stuff on the questionnaire and i was concerned she would bring them up and ask questions. this made my REALLY REALLY nervous and i was sweating A LOT. my shirt was literally soaking wet, and droplets of sweat kept dropping down on my hands. she clearly noticed and asked me if i wanted to turn on the fan. i said sure, trying to play it cool, but when she tried turning it on, it wouldnt work. i said its fine, but she probably saw that i was sweating and really nervous so she took me to another room that had functioning AC. it was quiet awkward cause my entire forehead was wet and i just wanted to go home and forget about the interview.</p></li>
<li><p>i stated above that i lied on my questionnaire a bit, and unfortunately she ended up asking questions on those things. i was already nervous at this point in time, so i just gave up and fed her more bs, which we could both tell was a bunch of horse manure. she gave me weird looks but i kept going on with my bs, and i just stopped caring. </p></li>
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<p>when i came out the interview i felt really bad and disappointing that i didnt do well during the interview. my social skills are already really bad and this interview reinforced my notion that i suck in pubic situations. please help??? any help/consolation is appreciated. </p>
<p>Agree completely with @Hunt. I’m not even sure why you would put so much effort into lying to someone whose very job it is to be on your side. </p>
<p>The consolation here, since you asked for consolation, is that you didn’t create this maelstrom of lies on your actual college application or in an actual college interview. What you did still has consequences, but at least they are less severe than the potential consequences of lying on a college application.</p>
<p>You have time to set yourself on the right path. Break this habit of fabricating lies and hew to the truth. Ideally, you’ll want to start by apologizing to your GC for disrespecting the process and wasting both of your time, then humbly request a new interview so that you can both plan your future with the truth as a basis.</p>
<p>It probably won’t feel good to make that apology, but it’ll be worth the shame and anxiety if you’re able to repair your relationship with your GC and have a strong advocate for your college applications. </p>
<p>You took a friendly interview with someone who want to help you and you turned it into a disaster by lying and telling them what you thought they wanted to hear. Go back, apologize, ask for a do over, and tell the truth next time. There are no wrong answers - they are there to help you get through the process and look within yourself to find the answers. If you don’t know, say that honestly, or say whatever is on your mind. Clearly you fear being judged for not knowing, but that just makes you like most everyone else in your situation. Try not biting the hand that is trying to help you next time.</p>
<p>“Clearly you fear being judged for not knowing, but that just makes you like most everyone else in your situation.” This sentence is pure gold. It’s perfectly normal to feel unsure of your own worthiness, unsure of your direction, and worried about the impression you are making. That just makes you a teenager. </p>
<p>Did you actually do the Job Shadowing and Internships or were those some of the suff you lied on? As mentioned, go back and apologize to your GC. Hopefully he/she gives you a second chance and writes a recommendation that depicts “you” and not someone who you would like to be. Good luck. </p>
<p>@learninginprog @Hunt @cptofthehouse @DreamSchlDropout i didnt make things up out of the air. i just overexaggerated things. like the job shadow experiance: my dad’s friend in india owns a price forcasting company and he let me come there for one day. i only stayed their for a day and honestly indians are **** explainers. i didnt understand anything they did cause they couldnt teach it properly. i told my counselor that i learned a lot from the experience, and when she asked me what i learned, thats when i started making bs.</p>
<p>also, i did have the internship, but it was a BS internship. it was online and i probably spent like 20 minutes for the whole internship. i told her i learned a lot about the internship and gained real work experience…</p>
<p>so i didnt make things up compeltey, i just over-exaggerated. surely that is fine right?
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<p>Lying will only get you into a situation where you don’t want to belong. I think you know that now. I’d write your GC a letter–not an email–a handwritten letter apologizing for lying. And that should be the start. </p>
<p>You really need to figure out why you did what you did. After all, there are plenty of very nervous college applicants who don’t lie. And once you’ve figured out what the problem is, resolve to fix it. Start small–try being totally truthful to everyone you talk to in a day and then build from there. </p>
<p>@Massmomm like i said in the previous comment. i didnt make up lies out of thin air. i did do what i said i did, but i just over-exaggerated them. dont most applicants brag anyway? or should i still send her a letter.</p>
<p>Yes, send her a letter! Bragging is different from lying. Bragging: I got an 800 on my math SAT (when you did in fact get an 800). Lying: I got an 800 on my math SAT (when you got a 650.)</p>
<p>Bragging is calling out the achievements you actually achieved. Many people who wouldn’t brag in real life should certainly do so on their applications. You may not go on and on about your (real) leadership positions to your peers, but you’d better do so on your applications. Your GC needs to hear that you understand what you did wrong and that you will resolve to be more honest in the future. She really is on your side. Tell her you appreciate that.</p>
<p>@Massmomm but what would i say? should i tell her, “I did do the internships and job shadowing experianes but they are bs and fake”? wouldnt that seem just stupid? i mean i did do them, i just didnt learn anything from them nor were they legitimate internships, but nevertheless they still are internships. should i tell her that i overexaggerated?</p>
<p>The only difference between a completely-fabricated lie and one based partially in a small kernel of truth is that the latter is usually easier to make believable.</p>
<p>What you should be telling your GC is exactly what you told us: the work shadowing and internship were both minimal investments of your time and effort. Knowing that, I am sure your GC would say that they are not worth putting on your application. Focus on the ECs where you have substantial contribution, or on applying to schools that don’t give much weight to ECs.</p>
<p>You can’t get that kind of good advice unless you are willing to come clean about exactly what you have been doing, though.</p>
<p>Your justification of the lying is a slippery slope. People make similar excuses for all kinds of bad decisions. “I wasn’t cheating on the physics test…I just programmed the formulas into my calculator, but I still had to do the calculations and know what numbers to plug in.” “I wasn’t plagiarizing, it was an homage to the author’s style” “It wasn’t predatory lending because we didn’t even check the borrower’s credit” Etc. </p>
<p>When you take full responsibility for your life, things done and things left undone, it can be a painful process at first, but ultimately it leads to a feeling of great freedom. You’d be surprised how effortless life can be when you’re not juggling multiple exaggerations and trying to keep them aloft.</p>
<p>Obviously like everyone else has said, you shouldn’t have exaggerated. Re-iterating that won’t change anything. However, we all have bad interviews. Even if the interviewer is supposed to be your advocate in this scenario, it’s okay to feel nervous. I’ve had a handful of bad job interviews and you just move on. I’ve also had work experience that I felt was useless and was honest about it in interviews looking for other jobs. It’s OKAY that you didn’t take much away from those learning experiences. It happens to everyone. Just breathe. It’s not the end of the world. Do you HAVE to use your guidance counselor recommendation or can you ask your teachers? I know I didn’t use a guidance counselor recommendation letter when applying to college. Mine was just there to help guide me through the process. </p>
<p>Whether or not OP has to have a guidance counselor recommendation - and I suspect that for most colleges he does - it is blindingly obvious that he needs guidance in the application process because he’s clearly not getting it anywhere else. So I wouldn’t be so blithe about implying he should just blow her off.</p>
<p>Oh, and calling 20 minutes on a website an “internship” is not exaggerating, it is hallucinating. </p>
<p>At one time I had a whole closet full of “Participant” plaques and “Honorable Mention” trophies and the like. All of those went honorably unmentioned on my college application.</p>
<p>I’m actually slightly ashamed to admit I even invested the effort to carry them home in the car from the events. </p>
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