<p>Why couldn't a student completely fabricate a story about an illness and how they coped etc? I would hope the adcom could spot this type of deception ...?</p>
<p>I suppose with the rec's etc etc, they get a feeling for the child.</p>
<p>On the application, each student attests that the contents in the application is true and the work submitted is their own. At pretty much every school if a candidate for admission to the college makes a false statement or submits falsified material in connection with his or her application, and the misrepresentation is discovered after the candidate has been admitted, the offer of admission ordinarily will be withdrawn. If the misrepresentation is discovered after a student has matriculated, the offer of admission normally will be rescinded and the student will be required to leave the college. If the discovery occurs after a degree has been awarded, the degree normally will be rescinded.</p>
<p>As an international student, it would be very easy to find you out once you submit your paperwork for you visa. Living in a post 9/11 world is not something that the U.S. federal government would take likely. You must ask your self would it be worth it if your visa were revoked and you could not study in the U.S. ?</p>
<p>For a student who has had a major illness, especially if they have missed school as a result, his/her story is going to be corroborated somewhere else on the application (most likely in the GC recommendation) perhaps an indication on the transcript if the student was under home instruction.</p>
<p>mqd,</p>
<p>My bad about the international part. Please ignore as I was trying to answer to similar threads at the same time. No more multi-tasking before coffee</p>
<p>Thanks … I think I am getting a bit to obsessed with this college process. Maybe it is time for me to go back!</p>
<p>If you have the creative ability to lie so well as to deceive a group of people whose jobs revolve around reading thousands of life stories.. then, in my opinion, that constitutes a unique skill of its own.</p>
<p>Sad as it is, people lie a lot about their EC’s (claiming to have held office positions in certain clubs while reality told a different tale, beefing up on the number of hours devoted to an EC, stuff like that) and rarely get caught (I haven’t heard of anyone getting caught). It’s highly unethical though, so please think of moral ethics and how a misdeed would twist your conscience.</p>
<p>Unfortunately in my family we can’t lie … it shows in every crevice! My only hope is that the authenticity will shine through …</p>
<p>What Sybbie said is true. If a student has had a major challenge - an illness, death in the family, etc. - it will be discussed in letters from the guidance counselor and/or teachers. If the student writes an essay about such an obstacle and the GC letter is silent about it, it will raise giant red flags as the file is reviewed.</p>
<p>Although I have no doubt that students lie on their applications, especially to inflate ECs, these too are often caught because these are the kinds of things that show up in letters. A student boasts of being president of X EC and the GC doesn’t mention it at all or says “Johnny was a member of X, Y, and Z ECs but never held a leadership position.” Oops!!!</p>
<p>In my opinion, it’s not worth it. Be honest. If nothing else, you’ll feel better about yourself.</p>