<p>an international friend of mine told me that like 1/3 of the international applicants applying to US colleges fake their apps (doing research, winning an award for a book, etc). have you guys heard of it? he said its VERY easy to do.</p>
<p>it is qu ite easy. im saying that applying from another country.</p>
<p>i am not doing it though!</p>
<p>yeah, right, 1/3? where did your friend get this number from? as if cheaters would declare themselves as cheaters.</p>
<p>The only thing i can say to this is DO NOT DO IT!! Not because you are going to get caught.. coz you probably will not, but because it simply isn't the right thing to do.. blah blah blah i sound like your mom right? Well, she is right. It takes the advantage away from all those people who worked really hard for their volunteering and awards. It may or may not help you but all i know is, i could not live with myself knowing i lied on my app.</p>
<p>O and if you do get caught, you are done son!</p>
<p>These threads are always so damn transparent. 'A friend told me this but I don't agree' = 'I'm thinking of doing this, is there a risk'</p>
<p>Canada, Australia, China, Brazil, are four countries that I guarantee you are throughout checked, just as rigorously as US applicants due to most top universities having extensive networks of students from these points.</p>
<p>They especially rely on your advisers to comment on these points.</p>
<p>As for others: Everything is a Google check away....which ad Coms also do. If an award is too small/fictional to pop up on the world wide web...it's not going to count and will not count in your application.</p>
<p>Not all awards pop up on the web, buddy.</p>
<p>IT would be a good idea (upto an extent) if they required photocopies of the certificates.</p>
<p>
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As for others: Everything is a Google check away....which ad Coms also do. If an award is too small/fictional to pop up on the world wide web...it's not going to count and will not count in your application.
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<p>blindly parroted, overused, ridiculous and totally not true. -_-</p>
<p>being an international myself, i can tell you this much: Hell yeah it's easy to fake credentials. I know tons of people who faked their "student council members" - even presidentship if you will, to get that A1 grade for O Level Extra-curricular (if you follow the british system), so why would they stop when it comes to college application, right?
Not only awards/ECA, even letters of recommendation are faked/self-produced because in some countries, the teachers don't know how to speak English and are not familiar with the whole application process. They'll sign everything. And in some Asian countries where corruption abound, as long as there's money, anything goes.</p>
<p>So then do we worry?
For US citizen people, don't. Because you're not competing in the same pool anyway, it doesn't matter.
For other internationals, if you think about it, faking is really not a good idea, because it's not that hard to spot and admission officers are not stupid. There have been cases when they call the school to check, and they can always double check against the essays and other materials. Let's say you have "Council president" and nothing else of the similar sort to show your "leadership potential", do you really think they're gonna buy that? Even one sign of forgery can mean rescission of admission offer(s).
Anyway since it's so easy to fake, other people might be contemplating it too, so in the end it really boils down to the SAT score, GPA, essay and interview, which are not easily fake-able.</p>
<p>I think forgery/faking/lying (probably not the same kind but you get the idea) is kinda an art that only the smartest can master. But if you're so smart that you can fake things perfectly and talk your way out of it during interviews, chances are you don't even need to fake it in the first place.</p>
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These threads are always so damn transparent. 'A friend told me this but I don't agree' = 'I'm thinking of doing this, is there a risk'
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<p>First off, WORD.</p>
<p>Secondly, although I'm not an international, I spent all my schooling years in Asia so I pretty much know what you're talking about. No offense to Chinese and Koreans, but making up ECs is very rampant in China and Korea just because there's so many people that all want to go to Ivies. I've heard of Chinese students that make up all sorts of leadership positions and academic competitions just for the sake of college.</p>
<p>Does this matter? Personally, I think even if they manage to get away with it, the effect is going to be quite limited. Adcoms admit you based on a solid package, rather than just a list of achievements. I'm a firm believer that no matter how hard you try to fake, there are always signs that still leak through in your essays, interviews...etc. For example, if you wrote about spending years working for the Fakeryfake Science Scholar's Prize and finally getting gold on your EC list, but is relatively apathetic about the accomplishment in your free responses or tries to avoid talking about it too much in the interview, then suspicion is easily engendered by the school.</p>
<p>Lastly, I just think that because internationals are in such a competitive pool, it would be insignificant to make up ECs, since adcoms would probably just skim by a bunch of ECs that are too obscure in favor of looking for the nationally recognized ones (National Olympiads, IMO, IPhO...etc.) And largely for internationals, admissions don't come down to just a list of ECs - I think English ability is another big factor that schools consider.</p>
<p>Can they get away with this at schools like NYU, BU, USC? Possibly. But I doubt faking their app would help them at HYPMSC.</p>
<p>I'm an international student myself - an indian living in the Middle East - and i agree that it's fairly easy here to get away with faking minor leadership/EC awards, but I doubt anything big or substantial, like a national competition or something can be faked. And the more you fake with the little things, the greater the chance is that you'll be caught. </p>
<p>Besides our school is extremely strict about it and coz we're IB, most of our EC'S contitute to our CAS hours, so theres a relatively less chance that we pass off something fake. </p>
<p>I still feel that getting substantial EC's are harder when you're an international student (in some countries), so I can sorta see where these kids are coming from.</p>
<p>the sad thing is how internationals, or anyone else for that matter, don't get caught once they get safely and successfully past the application process. after admitting the student, the college isn't gonna fish out everyone's application to re-check and verify their credentials during their college years... not to mention after they graduate. the lies are stored away in some part of the college's records department and forgotten. how many frauds could be roaming the world with brand-name degrees right now?</p>
<p>lol I'm international but I don't know much about faking :D, maybe there are loads of people doing it
However, faking is not good. If you want to go to Ivy, the officials will consider a lot. There's no way you can cheat them. lots of kids are qualified for Ivy. the officials can turn you down if they find any dishonesty in applications. rejecting you doesn't cost them a penny :)</p>
<p>I guess its pretty easy to fake ECs in my country as most of ECs are things done outside school. It would be quite difficult for the officials to discover that I, for example, don't take dance classes 5 times a week or don't volunteer in the animal shelter.
(Just for the record - I don't have any intention to cheat but it is depressing when to think how easily I could be a superhuman ;p )</p>
<p>:) cheating is the task that every student has ever done in 12 years at school.
If you lie in the application, remember not to make it so impressive :D or just put down the member of blah blah blah</p>
<p>I think you will go nuts worrying about what others do. Just take care of yourself. People cheat, people get away with it, people get caught. You can be sure any massive problem will get a close look by the college admissions folks -- they are not stupid.</p>
<p>^ maybe they are...</p>
<p>an international friend of mine told me that like 1/3 of the international applicants applying to US colleges fake their apps (doing research, winning an award for a book, etc). have you guys heard of it? he said its VERY easy to do.>></p>
<p>Perhaps this is why so few internationals get admitted to US schools.</p>
<p>there are 2 situations: those who apply from outside of US can cheat, especially from Asia cuz few people can speak English and the officials may be fed up with calling to verify. However, if the award or something is so well-known, you will be caught easily. another situation is those studying in the US will be verified if officials see something dishonest in applications.</p>
<p>Slightly O/T but not by much. At my graduate school a student was a fake. He had a roommate who was accepted to my graduate program. At the last minute he was accepted to a different program and chose to take it. He wrote a withdrawal letter and asked his roommate to mail it. Rather than mail it, the roommate decided to show up at school on day 1 using his (now former) roommate's name. He made it almost all the way through a first year of classes before he was found out and, obviously, expelled. </p>
<p>This is a true story.</p>