<p>Every year it seems you hear about kids who are compelled to wow their classmates by fabricating some story of Harvard/Cambridge (insert school here) accepting them. Often, it's poorly constructed and nothing but shame and embarrassment result from the charade.</p>
<p>It's a head-shaker for me. It's a shame that some young people need such validation from their peers.</p>
<p>Are you sure it’s the kids and not the parents behind it…</p>
<p>You’re right - even in a school as small as ours where most kids have been together since kindergarten we get one or two who feel obligated to create scenarios that few believe. It is sad.</p>
<p>"Are you sure it’s the kids and not the parents behind it… " I had not thought of that possibility. I can envision it though. </p>
<p>I can also see parents doing their own form of this charade with peers and relatives, too. </p>
<p>“No, Junior turned down Princeton and Yale because he’s more loyal to our state alma mater. What a darling he is!”</p>
<p>Then after the “acceptances” you get the “we got a ‘full ride’”…yeah, sure you did when your kid never showed up on ANY of the honor roll lists…</p>
<p>Then it’s the “my kid is getting a football scholarship to play at Joe’s College”…except that Joe’s College is DIII</p>
<p>I know of a case where the parents told many their student turned down H.
The schools updated profile - which lists “accepted” and “attending” numbers…doesn’t agree…Meaning if their student had been accepted, it would show in the accepted column and not the attending. The accepted/attending numbers match.
Even on the day of graduation they were telling us why their student turned down the school to do something else…
It is sad they feel compelled… Have no clue why.</p>
<p>At my kids’ school, it seems that each year some kid puts on his Facebook page that he was accepted at Harvard as a “joke.” But it’s never funny.</p>
<p>There’s a mom I know in the music community who insists that her son was accepted at the highly selective arts magnet school but that he turned it down because the orchestra at his local high school is just much, much better. Most of us just find her kind of sad and, well, delusional and no one actually believes he either got into the selective program or that he turned it down. There’s another mom who has never actually arranged for her child to take any music lessons beyond the weekly group lessons offered in elementary school who nonetheless insists that her child is going to Julliard. I feel bad because my kid is naive and gullible and has felt bad in the past when he has seen these kids posting outrageous lies on facebook. He will say things like: Why should I even bother working hard? All this admissions stuff just seems so random. (and I find myself thinking that yes, it probably is).</p>
<p>Sometimes the guidance counselors fall for it. Last Spring I stopped by our high school and saw prominently displayed among the list of colleges to which our seniors had been accepted were MIT and Princeton. I am very familiar with the students in our small high school and where they were applying. Ivy League applications are rare and acceptances almost unheard of. I questioned the principal on this “good news.” Three days later MIT and Princeton had been removed from the list.</p>
<p>I think some people are really good at covering up an unpleasant reality with a more ego-flattering, appealing story. The “I got into Harvard” story becomes “I was offered a job at Goldman, but I didn’t want to work 100 hours” or “I didn’t get dumped – I didn’t like her politics” etc.</p>
<p>I think some parents are confused by the marketing letters sent by colleges. I’ve known parents to say that “she was recruited by Harvard” and they think that they are telling the truth.</p>
<p>I’ve heard the same thing countless times from parents whose children have been invited to our local presentation of “Exploring College Options.”</p>
<p>siliconvalleymom–well, I supposed in the strictest sense of “recruited” they were–they don’t send those letters to just anyone you know…ha, ha, ha—we need emoticons here. It’s kind of like the people that really believe getting an invite from People to People is “an honor”.</p>
<p>I just got an invitation for five new credit cards! Wow!</p>
<p>To me there is something wrong about the culture of a high school or possibly a community that would lead to kids feeling they had to “lie” about college acceptances when it is still an honor and a priviledge in our country to go to college at all. There are days when I feel very fortunate that I raised my kids in the midwest.</p>
<p>T26E4—CONGRATULATIONS!!! Did you put that on facebook.</p>
<p>I’m guessing that exaggerating and/or lying about acceptances occurs everywhere.</p>
<p>“Sometimes the guidance counselors fall for it. Last Spring I stopped by our high school and saw prominently displayed among the list of colleges to which our seniors had been accepted were MIT and Princeton.”</p>
<p>You should suggest to the Guidance office that the kids bring in the acceptance letters before they post anything. That is what they do at the school my son attended.</p>
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<p>This is what my kids’ school does. Last year, rumor had it that a particular kid had gotten in to Princeton and Brown (among others), neither of which has accepted a student from this high school in many years. And it was somewhat surprising that this student would have been the one accepted over others who applied, though of course you don’t necessarily know what ECs etc. everyone has outside of school. However, acceptance letters were never provided to the college office, and the kid went somewhere else for college.</p>
<p>T26E4 – OMG – I know someone famous!!!</p>