<p>I recently heard from a friend of mine applying to college that many of his friends have lied about some aspect of their extracurricular activities, mainly the extent of time commitment to the activities. Many would exaggerate the number of hours they spend doing the activity each week and some even go as far as to lie that they have been committed to that activity since freshman year when they really haven't.</p>
<p>My question is: do colleges see through their lies or is it something they never really notice?</p>
<p>Usually colleges don't bother to check cuz they're too busy, and if they're not too extravagent they'll believe it for the most part. Another way to lie is to invent a club/organization that does not exists and make urself president of it.</p>
<p>i heard about a girl from my school who had gotten into vassar 2 yrs ago and lied about some extra curriculars. my understanding is that they checked after she had gotten in and needless to say she didn't go to vassar.</p>
<p>how do they check though? do they actually call the school? just wondering...</p>
<p>Look, if you're in Student Council, and you put down "4 years" instead of "3 years", who is to know? </p>
<p>At this busy time of the year, even if the colleges check up on you, I doubt the guidance councelors would call up leaders of various StudentCouncil committees and ask whether you've been participating for the last 4 or 3 years.</p>
<p>But if you claim to be the President of Student Council when you're merely a member, I think that'd be obvious and risky.</p>
<p>In general, those lies don't get anyone in, but if the students are caught, they will be rejected.</p>
<p>The kind of lies that would get someone into a college -- being national president of an organization, for instance -- are difficult to lie about because one would be so easily caught.</p>
<p>Colleges really don't care about whether you spend 5 hours a week on ECs or 12 hours a week on ECs, so lying about things like that doesn't matter.</p>
<p>Also, most colleges don't consider ECs much in the decision process. This particularly is true of public universities. The universities that put a lot of weight on ECs are top colleges -- places like Harvard that get an overabundance of high stat applicants. Such places also get numerous applications from NHS members, Student council presidents, having such ECS isn't likely to make one's application.</p>
<p>The ECs that could make one stand out -- being a person who is a child prodigy musician who gives solo concerts around the world; having been the star in a sitcom; being the national president of an organization like NHS -- aren't things that one can lie about without getting caught. Get caught and even if you've already gotten your degree from Harvard, it will be rescinded.</p>
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The ECs that could make one stand out -- being a person who is a child prodigy musician who gives solo concerts around the world; having been the star in a sitcom; being the national president of an organization like NHS -- aren't things that one can lie about without getting caught. Get caught and even if you've already gotten your degree from Harvard, it will be rescinded.
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While this is the way it OUGHT to be, the real world isn't always so strict. Ask Kaavya Viswanathan, a Harvard undergrad who plagiarized to author a book "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life". I don't know how much her EC of "published author" helped in getting her into Harvard, but she has not been dismissed from the school on account of her deception/plagiarism.</p>
<p>Several years ago, a girl who occasionally attended our church put on a scholarship application that she was a leader of the youth group. This was a really big scholarship. She was their first choice, but before they awarded it to her, they called the church and spoke with the Youth Advisor to verify what she had written.</p>
<p>Sadly for her, she had never once shown up at a youth activity. She was certainly not a leader. The scholarship committee dropped her immediately and moved on to their number two choice.</p>
<p>What was so strange about this was that she really was an outstanding hs student in many ways, numerous ec's and community invovlements. It's just that the church was not one of her activities. I always wondered why she thought she needed to put that on the app.</p>
<p>What would the exact letter look like if the college is telling you that you, an applicant who WAS accepted, is now rejected?</p>
<p>Also, how WOULD a college call up a church and ask about you if they don't know what church / phone number? On my UC applciation, i just put "Youth Group", i didn't have room to state church's name, etc.</p>
<p>AND If you just made up an EC, how would the SCHOOL even know?</p>
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AND If you just made up an EC, how would the SCHOOL even know?
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As mentioned earler if the lie is small you probably won't get caught and it probably won't help much either. If the lie is big enough then wholistic applications tend to cull out lies. I used to do alumni interviews for a top school ... if a student mentioned a high level EC and it did not appear otherwise in their application (essays, recommendations, etc) it's a red flag worth a bunch of questions. Any every once in awhile lies would be brought to light by someone trying to help ... such as the applicant who said they were a captain of a team while one of the teacher's recommendations went on about what a great leader the student was and used the example of the student's leadership on that team even though they were not a captain (whoops).</p>
<p>You know, I wonder if colleges have a plausibility factor. Like, if you are seemingly working constantly 24-7, save for 6 hours of sleep, that may be suspicious, because every normal person takes a break now and then.</p>