<p>“Cheaters risk punishment for potential gains. Being honest has no risk, but it also has no gains.”</p>
<p>Being honest does have lots of gains. The colleges that consider more than stats as admission factors care deeply about integrity. Consequently, a student who, for instance admits to having a 2 or 3 on an AP test or who in an interview tells the modest truth about something instead of lying impresses interviewers and admissions officers.</p>
<p>Saying this as someone who has interviewed as an Ivy alum.</p>
<p>"“And if it was an activity done just for resume padding, there’s not much you can do. So long as they didn’t make up the activity, they haven’t done anything wrong.” "</p>
<p>Admissions officers don’t care why people did activities: They care about what was accomplished in the activities.</p>
<p>If you consider your own life, you’ll probably realize that there are many things that you did because you had to or because they would help you get ahead in a job or something similar. That doesn’t decrease the worth of the activity. In addition, often something like community service that was done just to get ahead ends up being a lifelong pursuit because once a person starts doing it, they end up liking it.</p>
<p>And even when it comes to courses taken, it’s typical for students to take many courses because they have to or because a heavy course load will help them get into the colleges they desire. That doesn’t lessen their accomplishments in those courses.</p>
<p>My thoughts are that the OP was far too optimistic about their student’s applications to top colleges. Most people who apply to top colleges qualify for admission, but for space reasons, most applicants – no matter how stellar – will be rejected. Consequently, one should pin their hopes on a college that’s realistic. If one gets into top school, one always can decide to go there.</p>
<p>Sounds like a post from a bitter parent. EC’s are honestly nowhere near the most important aspect of the application. And lots of people claim their kids have “top academics” but unless their profile looks like val/2400/perfect SAT 2’s/all 5’s, then that’s a lie. </p>
<p>Finally, it’s easy to overlook the “personal qualities” aspect of the app as demonstrated through teacher recs, the counselor rec, and essays. Admissions is not a computerized game in which research equals 2 points, 100 volunteer hours equal 1 point, etc. It involves human beings reviewing the applications of other human beings. Helicopter parents turn their kids in to sheltered and boring “perfect applicants,” and then they’re surprised when their kids come off as such to admissions people.</p>
<p>When my D was admitted to a top Ivy (and other top schools), some were surprised, but that is only because they did not know that she was world-ranked in something outside of school, and my D is humble about it. Most people are focussed on their own lives and don’t notice when others do great things.</p>
<p>This OP has to be joking, right? “Gee, my poor little Timmy got deferred and I’m so mad. Everyone who got in is a cheat and liar. Poor, poor, Saint Timmy.” What a buffoon.</p>
<p>Lying on the application is one thing, but finding a way to express your personality by focusing on certain things is not. And a child who has participated in a summer program, research or otherwise, and done well deserves to put it on their rec, regardless of whether or not their parents initiated the process. You seem bitter because your child isn’t the shining star you though he/she was. But he/she was deferred, not rejected, so clearly the adcoms at that particular school saw something redeemable in his/her app. Have your S/D (not you–this is not your process!) reassess the app and look for anything that could have been made clearer? Do they really love, say, French…then focus the app around those sorts of accomplishments. But there could also be issues in the more tangible scores/grades part of the app. If you really want to know, have the GC call the school in question and ask what could have been stronger about the app. Personally, I think that’s a bit overzealous, but it will give you the black and white answer you so clearly crave.</p>
<p>Exactly! It’s not about the love of the activity necessarily (at least not for the Ivies) but more about what it accomplished, and what it might have forced the student to learn both about themselves and the world around them.</p>
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<p>Which gets me thinking…if everyone who did get in is a cheat and a liar, does the OP or her son really want to go to that school? Because if he does get in, there goes that integrity. xD</p>
<p>I guess it didn’t work. But I’m hoping that OP will take the comments and maybe help his student “sharpen” his app for RD round. Now that you know that presentation counts, there’s nothing wrong with helping ds work on his, ya know? Good luck!</p>
<p>I don’t think it works like that in real-life. Most schools aren’t the cesspools of depravity and evil that people who get rejected think they are. But you’re right; if the school was that bad, then going there would be a waste of time for the student since they’d end up having to go to a community college just to wash the stain of evil off of them and learn some actual skills for the job market.</p>