<p>Well I doubt they'd ask to see your mom's medical records to prove she had cancer...</p>
<p>You do realize how backwards the UC system is right?</p>
<p>80% of you chance to get in comes from GPA and SAT. If you want to get into the high schools you HAVE to have a high capped GPA which can be as 4.4 at some UC's.</p>
<p>SAT's (SAT II included) i believe make another 2400 points. So if you got a perfect on your SAT + your SAT IIs youll get a 2400, right now im looking at around 2200 for that set.</p>
<p>Essays are worth 500 points
Leadership roles count for a MAX of 500 points (and they only want to see one leadership role to get the max)</p>
<p>No points given for community service (ya kinda dumb).</p>
<p>So the above make up another 10%.</p>
<p>The rest comes from either an incredible jump in your GPA (if you always had the good grade you cant get it), and more points come from the sob stories. However if you had good grades dont count on getting bonus points for the sob story becuase theyll see it really wasnt that bad as you claim (thus backfiring). The entire purpose for giving points to students going through difficult times is to curve their score to make up for a poor semester or year in which they had the difficult time.</p>
<p>Theoretically its "possible" to get 10,000 points, but as there are some mutually exclusive items the most you can get is around the high 8000's.</p>
<p>how are you going to ask someone to verify that their mother is a drunk? how are you going to ask someone to verify that their father has cancer? i know what you are trying to say, but still.
btw, it's funny how in some asian cultures, you don't air you dirty laundry, but i guess when it comes to college essays, despereation will make some really desperate.</p>
<p>why don't you go tell the UC that your classmates are lying?</p>
<p>here's are some links about lying on your app:
<a href="http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?757/15475%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?757/15475</a>
<a href="http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?99/62352%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?99/62352</a></p>
<p>How am i going to know? Have you ever worked with children that are disadvantaged before?</p>
<p>There are aspects of their life in which they have trouble and its apparent, but you know theyve overcome a lot. If your 800x3, 4.6GPA and have participated in many different ECs you are NOT disadvantaged. You might have issues from pushng yourself too hard and you could write about that, but Ive never seen that achievement out of someone without a strong family.</p>
<p>Oh, and if your mom did die/got very ill your grade would drop drastically, your GC would know it and so would your teachers. However no recs are required for UCs.</p>
<p>i'm trying to say that even though one may be an adcom, one still hax no right to ask someone to verify a parent's death or illness. if you assume from the start that everyone's a liar, then there's no trust or honor
for those sob story people who lie, you have no honor!</p>
<p>One girl at are school, graudte 2004, lied that she was Student Body President (she ran and got beat by a landslide) which gained her a half-ride scholarship to Old Dominion (for leadership/community service, lol), acceptance at Richmond, and UVA.</p>
<p>I know she didn't get in for academics, especially at UVA with her 3.33 average. those fake ecs and doctored essay really must have got her going.</p>
<p>The biggest case of lying on applications I know of is plagarizing college essay. At Amherst, they said they actually hold back suspicious essay and varify some of them over the summer for kicks. They said there is one online essay they've caught being used 9 times, lol!</p>
<p>would saying i did 50 hours of community service for a certain activity when i really did 43 matter? is that a big deal? i just rounded up cause 50 was a nice number...</p>
<p>i would rather be accepted knowing that they accepted me because of me not because of someone i was pretending to be. Theres a saying by Mark Twain "If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything."
Do you really want to give off a fake image? It makes life so much simpler by telling the truth.</p>
<p>p.s. t4885214 thats ok. at least you did the work.</p>
<p>I didn't lie, but my extracurriculars are pretty overwhelming (there are so many, about sixty hours a week), which is why I believe an admissions officer called my counselor, who confirmed my activities and excellence. I got deferred, but we'll see what happens during regular notification. Some colleges do follow up to a certain extent. i don't think phone calls are that uncommon, so it would behoove you to 1) not lie and 2) communicate often with your GC</p>
<p>lol....9 times.......</p>
<p>i suspect that lying or fudging ECs on an app might be easier for transfer students like me because at college there's no GC to call up and most of the clubs are completely student-run.</p>
<p>"why don't you go tell the UC that your classmates are lying?"</p>
<p>In fact, I have thought about that idea - be a snitcher - to reveal all those liars! But then I thought it is kind of impossible to be done: should I target on individual candidates or should I describe the situation in general? Furthermore, if I go ahead to tell the UC about the lies my classmates are making, I would want to remain anonymous. Will the UC, who is busy evaluating all those applications, believe an anonymous letter? </p>
<p>I realized that people do so because they desperately want to go to a UC. By the way, when they submit the application, they had read the so called honor codes on "the authencity of the information one provide in this application". So if they are lying, there will be serious consequences and punishments (although I highly doubt).</p>
<p>i guess nowadays speaking up is called snitching. doesn't being aware of these lies and not saying anything make you an accomplice?</p>
<p>whatever, it doesn't matter because people are going to keep on lying and the rest of us are going to keep complaining about it.</p>
<p>A difficult choice - a snitcher or an accomplice?</p>
<p>be happy, forget about these people</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I am happy because I never thought about lying on my app.</p>
<p>Guys here it goes.</p>
<p>If you need to cheat to get into what you want then you probally do not enjoy what youre doing and wont be happy later on. If you think getting into the top school will make or break that career for you try to learn that in reality it doesnt matter.</p>
<p>You can find something you love at any university and grow that joy anywhere you go through projects, research, and internships.</p>
<p>As for cheaters on the application, yes they exist but they wont decide whether or not you get in. If you dont get in its really your own fault and you need to accept that. Not that you didnt do this or that or didnt get an A instead of a B, but that you just didnt really "fit" into the school.</p>
<p>Schools want smart students, but they also want students that share the schools interests and personality.</p>
<p>no elizabeth2005...we cannot forget...
bcoz liers steal our acceptance letters at college!!
i know one senior who responded like this...
....lying makes ur application look beautiful. I kinda regret now for not lying and ensuring my chances, instead of believing that honesty pays off. On the other hand, all those who lied got in!!!!
.......
damn!!! i am so confused...honesty or reality!!!
is an adcom reading this....everyone of us would love ur opinion!!!</p>
<p>You can dress up a rat as best as you can, but the rat will always be a rat.</p>
<p>If you cheat you might get in, or your GC might find out and flag your conduct (i certainly wouldnt want to recommend a liar). You run the risk of losing all that you worked for.</p>
<p>Or, you migth cheat and get in and done the road screw up and get caught. Booted from college, get fired from your job and GL explaining "cheating" for a reason.</p>
<p>But in the end... is it really worth it? You'll prolly still get into a good school and can excel, but you want to jeopordize all of that for what you THINK is better? Tell me that when you find yourself at the bottom rung of a group of students far above your level, with people you generally dont share interests with. If you fit the college youll get in, if you dont you wont and thats that.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
lol....9 times.......
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>There was some "Essays That Will Get You Into Harvard..." market online that admissions caught onto. I guess what students didn't know was that a number of those essays have been published b/c of their high quality and can be cited not only online, but in the library and on newstands...very hard to hide if admissions comes across that.</p>