<p>For the benefit of future applicants, many adcoms google students. Any applicant with significant ECs, it is very likely for that student´s name to appear in its school newspaper and local papers. </p>
<p>I just went to my D1´s old high school and looked up Student Council Reps, every class´s President, VP, and representatives were listed. I did the same with D2´s new school, and they were listed also. I would imagine it would be the case for Yearbook editor, Newspaper editor…</p>
<p>I don´t think there are that many business owners who would be willing to lie for a college application. They could be vague about how many hours (±10 to 20%), but they are not going to say someone worked significant hours, if they didn´t.</p>
<p>I am with a second kid going through the process now. With both of my kids, their ECs all some how tie in together. D2 is a humanities person, so she writes a lot for her school newspaper, and she has an online blog for her school. She was part of her school´s SMART team (a science team that represented her school). Adcom may not think it fits her profile and question validity of it, but if they googled her name, they could see her name was listed.</p>
<p>Why is everyone assuming s/he got in because of the fabricated ECs? It might very well be the case that those were minor, inconsequential parts of the entire application. </p>
<p>However, you are definitely beyond the morally gray area. Welcome to the dark side… We all can only hope that this is not indicative of your future college career. Academic dishonesty is a pretty big deal in college. If this is any indication of how you’ll approach college, it might very well be you own undoing.</p>
<p>OP said: “I know that what I did was technically against the rules. But with admissions so insanely competitive and so many people exaggerating on their apps, I did whatever I had to do.” </p>
<p>Translation:
1- I know what I did was wrong.
2- I think there’s a big difference between “technically” lying and “really” lying.
3- I think that lying to get into a college is only “technically” lying.
4- I also think it’s OK to lie for soemthing really important.
5- So getting into college is also really important (see #3)
6- Whenever “many people” do something wrong, it’s OK for me to do it. too.
7- The more important something is, the more OK it is for me to lie.</p>
<p>This kind of selfish, self-aggrandizing behavior is addictive, for it has no stopping rules to prevent one from continuing to lie until one is caught. And, OP, sooner or later, you will be caught.</p>
<p>Perhaps you should take to heart Mark Twain’s advice about how to lie:</p>
<p>" . . . the wise thing is for us diligently to train ourselves to lie thoughtfully, judiciously; to lie with a good object, and not an evil one; to lie for others’ advantage, and not our own . . ."</p>
<p>Yes, this is the key point. Someone who would lie on his college applications and convince himself that it’s only “technically” lying and ultimately excusable because of the greater goal of getting admitted is going to get caught sooner or later. There will always be one more step in the road where a similar kind of “technical” lying (= “actual” lying) may seem advantageous—getting that prized internship, getting into grad school, getting that scientific paper published, getting that first job out of college, getting a bigger job, getting a promotion. And if it’s not caught at this stage, the temptation will be that much greater the next time, and the time after that. Sooner or later, though, it will catch up with him; someone’s going to decide the padded resume just doesn’t look right and actually investigate, or simply catch the lies on a random check. It will explode, and the liar will be shamed and humbled, and ever after distrusted—and appropriately so. He’ll have trouble getting a job at the local gas station because the manager won’t trust him to mind the cash register. It’s a shameful, sad path to go down.</p>
<p>Actually, it’s even worse than frazzled1 says. If you were accepted under false pretenses, I believe they can rescind your degree at anytime and sue you to return any scholarship or financial aid money that they gave you, even years later. </p>
<p>That should make you sleep well at night. </p>
<p>Didn’t Harvard just do this to someone?</p>
<p>I highly recommend reading Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky.</p>
<p>However much I’m tempted to respond to the OP’s moral musings (■■■■■ or not),
isn’t anyone else here as equally disturbed as I am with the waitlisted students’
knee-jerk response of “what a ■■■**t”?</p>
<p>To me, that is as morally wrong as the ‘exaggerated’ EC’s.</p>
That they’re mad at him, or that one used a derogatory term initially associated with homosexuals, but lately developed into a general, all-purpose insult that is painfully overused?</p>
<p>hop - Actually I don´t think it is morally wrong for those WL kids or anyone for calling OP names on an anonymous blog. It is how they feel, as immature as it is, and there is no rule against how someone should feel. If OP did what he did, he lied, and on the application it asked him whether everything he put down on his application was 100%. OP didn´t stretch the truth, he lied (saying he participated in an activity for 2 years when he only did one), and there is no grey area for that. Whether he will get caught or not, it is another matter.</p>
<p>OK, it sounds like you are guilty of some major exaggeration but chances are nil that you will be caught. Don’t worry about some of the posts on this board saying otherwise, it seems like others are “just jealous”.</p>
<p>And ladies and gents, please, devote a very small number of your neurons to the fact that this boy right here, note that I didn’t say man, had enough brains to post about his situation on CC, where Adcomms frequently hag around. I say 3 cheers for this lad!
Hip Hip…</p>
<p>I find the whole situation so sad
I know someone who’s child is applying next year and I can
guarantee you they are going to game the system, with exagerrated EC,
and even apply as an URM even though they are rich & white :(</p>
<p>My D worked very hard and did all the rights things and got into the schools
that were important to her. It makes me sick to see people who cheat, PERIOD.</p>
<p>Seriously, If I were the OP, I would just accept a space at a different school where he didn’t lie on the application. That’s the best way to handle the situation. That will be the only real way he can sleep.</p>
<p>Northwestern is on the Common Application. Assuming it is the school in question, it’s quite possible that most or all of the other schools that accepted him also received the lies.</p>
^your kidding right?? Seriously these two acts are nowhere close in terms of how wrong they are. </p>
<p>I suspect the same thing as someone else earlier posted that this is a ■■■■■ who is considering lying and now knows how he/she will be caught if he/she lies. Now this person can fabricate different lies to use on their app next year to avoid being caught. @sax, great point!</p>
<p>Wow…my son spent a lot of time going over his EC’s to determine if he were misleading admissions people in any way. He actually removed a couple of things I thought he should have left because he felt he hadn’t given them enough attention. And his hours…he always lowered them, because he said he sometimes isn’t busy during every single minute he does an activity. What a contrast! The bigger payback will be later in life, when your personal integrity will be revealed in a situation that will cause you harm. You think you’ve gamed the system this time, and you have, but bigger and better lessons are in your future.</p>
We all can only hope that this is not indicative of your future college career. Academic dishonesty is a pretty big deal in college. If this is any indication of how you’ll approach college, it might very well be you own undoing.</p>