<p>I doubt a few hours matters at all, for good or bad</p>
<p>congrats!</p>
<p>Dont we already have to send letters from advisors, certificates about the achievements we do mention in admission forms?</p>
<p>It was cheating, no matter how you look at it. It won't affect the admission, but it should. Ah well.</p>
<p>jeez people calm down, its not like you should take a stop watch and time every event perfectly.</p>
<p>You got in, congrats.</p>
<p>Gasior is right, I guess many people overreacted unnecessarily with such a petty issue and distorted the real thing. </p>
<p>N citygirlsmom, i dont think it was cheating as hydel didnt do it intentionally, and the single fact that hydel does regret the incident is enough to prove the honesty, something many of you and admitted undergrads/grads dont have in many countries.</p>
<p>There are a lot of cases much more important than that...</p>
<p>CONGRATULATIONS & BEST WISHES FOR YOUR COLLEGE LIFE hydel</p>
<p>yea, people calm down. If you got in a prestigious college, I don't think some added hours make a DIFFERENCE. The guy must have done other good things to get in. CONGRATS! ENJOY YOUR COLLEGE LIFE, you will not go to hell, and if you do, well then all of us will see you in hell. And now please don't start a debate on hell. :)</p>
<p>lol i don't call that cheating, i reserve that word for when people make stuff up completely</p>
<p>Why do I feel like I'm in the Enron board room?</p>
<p>I was thinking the same thing, hayden....whole lot of 'ethics evasion' going on here.....</p>
<p>It only like stealing a little...kind of sad really that so many people think lying is okay..</p>
<p>So the OP MADE UP HOURS</p>
<p>lol. I would argue that lying on your college app is a victimless crime, but its not, since it hurts other candidates</p>
<p>still, not quite as bad as enron</p>
<p>I hate to tell you citygirls mom, but the extra hours did not get hydel into college. He was obviously a more than qualified candidate to begin with.</p>
<p>If it was truly an accident then its fine. If you did it on purpose its wrong. Thats all there is to it. Dont cheat or lie on your applications. Its sad how many people lie on their applications these days Even if it doesnt determine admissions its still wrong. And for people who support this kind of thing need to grow up. Just because a mother has a sense of ethics doesnt mean everyone should start attacking her point of view. If I didnt have morals or ethics I would in today's sense be more "successful" - in regards to perfect SATs, APs, and ECs.</p>
<p>who cares. ethical shmethical.</p>
<p>"I hate to tell you citygirls mom, but the extra hours did not get hydel into college. He was obviously a more than qualified candidate to begin with. ."</p>
<p>If he's lying on his app he's obviously not qualified. Schools consider two things about candidates, academic performance and personal character. Harvard will probably see 8,000 candidates with acceptable academic performance, they cut it down to their final class size based on character (interests, personality, etc). If our young friend here lied on his app, a big chunk of character (the one marked "integrity") is missing. Five kids from my high school got into Harvard and I didn't. I have no problem with four of them. The one who claimed to be in the art club even though the art kids tell me he only showed up once and other such application "enhancements" is the one I have a problem with. Not because the little thing he claimed pushed him past me, but because the fact that he lied should have left him way behind me.</p>
<p>no offense --- but harvard doesn't really care about the art club. the kid got in because he had good grades, etc. unless you are gettin national recognition for something or are a recruited athlete, top colleges just want to see you did something. they would rather you be the best in one thing, then be in a bunch of clubs. what interests them the most is the score of your SATs and how high your GPA is. in borderline cases, the teacher recommendations and essays reveal character.</p>
<p>I think that the students are mostly telling him its OK, whereas the parents are not, is because we remember what it was like to fill out those apps. I never intentionally lied-- but I know that it was really difficult for me to remember exactly how many hours I spent on any project. When in doubt, I'm sure that it is the natural inclination of most applicants to err on the side of more. We remember the uncertainty and the general guesswork that was involved. So I guess at least I am assuming that the OP didn't purposely do this so much as, when looking back, realizzd that he did this through the general, "I'm filling out my application, **** how many hours per week did I spend on this? Ummm... two hours in meetings... outside projects... I guess it was 5?" That's how I did it. I didn't think I was lying, but all of the numbers are probably not 100% accurate. It's because we're human, fallible, and if we're unsure, certainly don't want to write that we did LESS than we did.</p>
<p>"Dont we already have to send letters from advisors, certificates about the achievements we do mention in admission forms?
"</p>
<p>No. Colleges spot check (especially when things seem suspicious), but in general assume that students are honest.</p>
<p>"no offense --- but harvard doesn't really care about the art club. the kid got in because he had good grades, etc. unless you are gettin national recognition for something or are a recruited athlete, top colleges just want to see you did something. they would rather you be the best in one thing, then be in a bunch of clubs. what interests them the most is the score of your SATs and how high your GPA is. in borderline cases, the teacher recommendations and essays reveal character."</p>
<p>Is that not exactly what I said.</p>
<p>He had a good GPA, decent SATs and I assume a strong application. None of that changes the fact that he's a liar. It doesn't matter that he gained nothing by lying, in fact that almost makes it worse. He compromised himself and his integrity by putting things on his application that he knew to be either false or misleading. It's that lack of character that upsets me about his acceptance, not that his supposed participation in art club made Harvard stand up and recognize him.</p>
<p>if he is willing to lie about something as simple as art club...what else is he willing to lie about?</p>