<p>So, the other day a few people were discussing how certain applicants lie on their application. I know there's Karma and stuff, but seriously, some of these kids land up at top unis by lying. I'll jot down a few examples:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Faking GPA: Yes, a few kids do fake their GPAs. And the school also supports it. This happens at the "dummy schools" normally. These schools make any abroad applicant a Topper by morphing grades on their transcripts! I mean Wth?! They have ranks like 2/450 without studying one bit. (dummy schools preparing kids for JEE normally have such a large no. of kids). They then only have to work on SATs, not on grades. The GPA is so EASY to fake. Why don't they ask for real Board marks instead of hoping that we will not lie? (Read: offers system in the UK)</p></li>
<li><p>Faking leadership positions: I recently read about how one girl was made "head girl" in a dummy school where such positions don't even exist! Another fellow was made captain of a non-existing football team! And some other kids were given fancy titles like "cultural head", "school president" and stuff. And all this, supported by the very school. </p></li>
<li><p>Faking achievements: I heard about a fellow who called himself an accomplished footballer and basketballer despite the fact that he doesn't play these sports. He also wrote stuff such as "best player" at XYZ tournament and stuff. The US colleges don't even ask for certificates right?</p></li>
<li><p>Faking interns and research: Ah, this is with the rich kid who's got contacts. On their applications, they talk about internships at big firms that they never even did! And even worse, they get professors to give them LORs for research that was never done by the student. And this comes from the most prestigious Indian universities. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>My question is: How do univs figure out if an applicant is lying? I've seen people doing it time and again and honestly, it pinches me. I would never do it. But the people who do cheat, land up at top unis, despite not deserving it. It looks so goddamn easy to game the US system especially if you have an "extremely supportive" school and have contacts in academia, firms etc. to give you LORs and certificates for doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Given the perfect support structure, I can blatantly lie my way into Harvard Is there no safeguard against this utter crap? :/</p>
<p>It is not for the Universities to figure out, the ones who fudge figure out very soon that their own lies will come back to bite them. My reading, If one ends up in a selective college by doing all that you mentioned, trust me they won’t survive there beyond a semester. And even if they did, they will end up in the bottom of the heap. And for them to manage, they they would have to change the rules of the game which is to work very very hard and very sincerely.</p>
<p>And those who cannot or will not change, I know and have seen many coming back home after the first semester/year on pretext of health reasons, taking a semester off, not enough credits…and then they end up in some college here in India.</p>
<p>More importantly I believe one has to decide early in life what kind of human being one wants to be. So if one chooses to lie to oneself then he can expect to meet his/ her kind all their lives. I am sure all their lives they will meet ‘fakes’ like them and will never find peace, honesty and trust because they do not have it in themselves to begin with. And these people will forever be those miserable, nasty and mean souls that everybody likes to avoid. You know what goes around comes around. So we live with the choices we make.</p>
<p>I have a decent shot. But every day, I meet people like those in the post above who go absolutely out of their way to bs. I know the feel. </p>
<p>All I can say is, by faking stuff, you can’t get standardized scores, and your ECs can only be raised to a nominal level. Even if you fake everything, you will come across as moderately good in every field. But you can never fake your way to being the best at anything.</p>
<p>After reading a lot of chance me posts, I can tell reach ones are genuine and which are BS. Adcom can do the same X 100. Incidentally, people constantly abuse this site for a sounding board as to what kind of puffery will fly and what won’t.</p>
<p>@sosomenza, this year 8/10 people that I know who got into good colleges faked their way through! I mean, there are certain elements of the app which are vulnerable to cheating. </p>
<p>@hatsonakabob : How easy is life if the only thing you gotta do is focus on standardized tests?
Btw, in China, a huge number of people have proxy ‘SAT champs’ writing the test for them for huge sums of money.</p>
<p>What the cheaters should realize is that many offices of admission employ people with good knowledge of regional educational practices , for example they ask Indians to look at applications from India so cheaters like the one on the MIT thread can’t get in.</p>
<p>@journeyinwards the reason many Chinese use proxies to write the SAT is because Chinese educational policies prohibit Chinese nationals to write the SAT in China and also Chinese
SGRs ( second generation rich i.e sons/daughters of billionaires ) donate millions of dollars to trustees of colleges to get in.</p>
<p>@journey inwards
SAT in Mainland China
Within mainland China, the SAT is currently only administered within schools for dependents of foreign personnel, also known as international schools. These schools within mainland China are only authorized to enroll students who hold passports from countries outside of the Peoples Republic of China. The current policy of China’s Ministry of Education prohibits the administration of foreign admission tests (such as the SAT and ACT) to mainland Chinese national students within mainland China. Chinese national students interested in taking the SAT are welcome to take it in SAT testing centers in Hong Kong, Macao or any other country such as Taiwan or Korea, among others.</p>
<p>I do believe karma catches up…For now, focus on what you can control and not what others are doing. Also I think the top colleges do take feeder indian schools into account. Haven’t seen a lot of students from “unknown” indian schools get into the ivies.</p>
<p>Certificates are an unheard concept in the States, but nothing is going to stop an admissions officer from googling your name so to fake it you need to be lucky/skilled.</p>
<p>I agree with @bestofthebest.
I speak from personal experience ( and this issue has been reported by a few achievers as well).It may be a national/zonal/state level competition in India, but unless a prestigious organisation is behind it, it is not covered by the press.
The newspapers in my city too rarely feature articles about achievements/competitions.</p>
