<p>My friend, applying to college this december, has the following ECAs:
Model UN, founder, prez(grade 11, 12, no of activities yet-0)
Student Council(same as above)
Drama Club(same as above)
Newsletter(same as above, no of issues/publications-zero)
plus some LORs from internships my friend never did, but is still getting them because my friend's dad is best buddies wth them.
I tried to show my friend that this was ridiculous, but that person probably thought I was jealous(and maybe i was a little bit....), and thus,did not pay much attention to my words.
What do you think?</p>
<p>The truth will come out when they are asked about these activities in the interview. I’d say don’t worry what your friend is up to and just concentrate on your own application. There are lots of dishonest people in the world and you can’t get worked up about all of them.</p>
<p>well, the thing is that most US universities dont have interviews in this 3rd world country. Only MIT and Harvard.</p>
<p>In other threads, people have noted that the most impressive extracurricular activities to admissions committees are those which are verifiable – e.g. regional or national recognition for some achievement, publication of an article that shows significant amounts of research work, participation in a regional or national academic or athletic competition, etc…</p>
<p>Well, our school is not really very stringent about certificates, so I guess my friend can request the school to provide those for himself/herself. and once certified, my friend can take the place of someone who has been busting his ass working 36 hours a week internships, doing a few detailed research papers, getting above average SAT scores and so on.</p>
<p>To be honest those ECs are pretty standard and will hardly make a difference in his admissions profile. I mean, Drama Club? Newsletter? Come on now, you really think any top schools care about that crap?</p>