Is this application misrepresentation?

Applying to College
1

<p>I know this topic pops up all of the time, but my friend recently talked to me about a worry he had. He was recently accepted to a fairly good school, but he feels some qualms about his application. I'm telling him he's crazy because I could never imagine someone being reprimended for so small a 'mistake', but he needs reassurance.</p>

<p>Basically, he was involved with a math contest in our school. At the state level, each grade level is split into teams consisting of five kids per grade. One year his grade's team got 5th, and the following year they got 2nd. He was one of the five on the grade's team both years. On the application, he put "Math Team (or something like this), 5th in state (topic indicating grade level), 2nd in state (other topic indicating grade level)". The problem is he feels the wording was too ambiguous, because the contest also recognizes individual top scorers. He feels the wording made it seem like he was indicating he was individually recognized, when in reality he was recognized for the 5-person team effort. Also, later he wrote "picked to participate" in a national science test, which is true. The teacher picked only 2 kids from the grade to take it. The test is structured into two parts, however, a local and then (if qualified), and larger exam. Again, he feels his wording indicates he qualified from the local level for the harder exam (when in reality he missed the cut-off).</p>

<p>He's an honest kid, and he put his application together fairly late. He feels like he should be rescinded or something, but I told him not to worry. He did not blatently indicate anything that is a lie, but he felt like ambiguity left implications. Should he worry? I told him not to. He's a smart kid, but he seems like he's paranoid that he's going to receive a random call revoking the admission.</p>

<p>Thoughts and/or reassurance to relay to him?</p>

2

<p>I don’t think that it will be a problem. What he wrote was true since he was on a team that did that well. If he were doing the app now, I’d have suggested that he wrote 5th in state for team’s performance to clarify, but I don’t think that what he wrote would get him rescinded or in other trouble.</p>

3

<p>Since he’s really worried, he should pick up the phone and call his admissions counselor at that place. That way, he will know for certain if this information was indeed the factor that put him into the “Yes” rather than the “No” pile. </p>

<p>However, I’d put money on the counselor’s answer being more along the line of “With your grades and test scores, we didn’t even look at your ECs”.</p>

4

<p>^^ Well, it’s a top-top school. </p>

<p>He also put down a sport that he was involved with up until senior year. At the time he applied, he was in full intention of continuing it in the spring. However, he says family matters pushed it back, and he had to start working more. He ended up not doing the sport, and at that point he went to his high school counseler for advice. He felt very anxious about having the senior year box check-marked, so he told him he wanted to update his application noting that he could not participate. The counseler said almost any admissions office would say that something that small (and not-so-intentional) was barely worth a call (so my friend just let it be). I told him that I’ll be putting together all his future applications for him, hah.</p>

<p>I think this is an extention of his questioning of his abilities. He doesn’t feel qualified for the type of school, and so he’s assuming (wrongly I think, because he’s a vary smart and down-to-earth person) he’s an ‘admissions mistake’.</p>