<p>How would colleges identify bogus info, something that is not overtly obvious? Do the college adcoms go through a painstaking investigation, tracking down every thing you've mentioned?</p>
<p>No, so lie as much as you want!</p>
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<p>it's really disturbing how often such threads pop up.</p>
<p>that said, despite what the harvard viewbook says, i don't think colleges would ever check through an application again after admission process, if the applicant is admitted. they have the next admissions cycle, and the next, and the next, to contend with, so i doubt they have the time. so good luck.</p>
<p>Why do you ask is always a question. Simple answer is look at the downside versus upside risk. Gain versus loss in not even close when you are caught. An often the gain is not much, because anything critical (grades, tests, reco's, etc.) are hard to fake.</p>
<p>The reason why I asked is that in one of my essays I've tweaked the truth slightly for the purposes of a more interesting story. Call it imaginative license or misrepresentation.</p>
<p>My question still remains: do colleges take the effort of tracking down such minute details in your application?</p>
<p>lol believe me, recs arent that hard to fake. anyone thats been around the forum knows about my friends' fake yale recs. all he needed was the school's header. the letters themselves didnt get him caught, just my meddling. </p>
<p>I have a feeling this may happen more than one thinks. its really pathetic. Right now I'm trying to get into yale without lying so that should work out pretty well! what goes around comes around.</p>
<p>EDIT. In the essays, probably won't. If it really is slight, not like you are making up the death of someone lol.</p>
<p>Akash Maharaj got into Yale with fake Columbia transcript and letters of recommendation, and he would've not been caught if he didn't tell all of this to his ex who ratted him out.</p>
<p>^ True that. If you lie about something minuscule, and not that of a death or something entailing of that sort, you'll be alright.</p>
<p>gosh i wasnt even contemplating something as grave as faking a rec. i was thinking more along the lines of changing around some of the dates for one of your ECs.</p>
<p>Any lie big enough to boost your admissions chances will probably be caught.</p>
<p>Any lie small enough not to be caught probably won't help your admissions chances.</p>
<p>Conclusion: there is no upside and plenty of downside to lying on your app.</p>
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Any lie big enough to boost your admissions chances will probably be caught.</p>
<p>Any lie small enough not to be caught probably won't help your admissions chances.
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<p>A huge false dichotomy. As with everything else, there's probably an intermediate area in between. But yeah, still don't do it.</p>
<p>If you are lying in the gray area - like it will help your app get a tiny, tiny edge (lets say you are putting captaincy of 2 clubs that you are an average member), there is a chance you will get caught. And a chance that you wont. Just remember, if ONE college catches you, there is a fairchance all your schools will be notified. </p>
<p>All that aside, I think all these threads miss the point. Adcoms are human and develop feelings about apps. Thats why they will go to bat for really touching, promising ones. They can also read about you and have a slight bit of doubt or unease. They may think you are heavily exagerating something to the point of phoniness, or they may just feel that the way in which you described your passion for X was just a LITTLE bit off. That is enough, more than enough, for your app to be binned. Because they are going to deny 1/2 of their apps right off the bat, no discussion, no questions asked, just thumbs down. They dont have to justify themselves, if they FEEL it is off, then your binned, they wont even bother to investigate. Even if your app is genuine, it can come off as sketchy, and they dont have to investigate and confirm, they can just press the red button. Thats why lying hurts 9 times out of 10, because everyone who is reading this is thinking, "oh, im too good with words to sound phoney," but in most cases, your not.</p>
<p>Question about (mis)representation:</p>
<p>Okay, so I participated in this "American" computer programming contest that is actually an international competition (the winners are always from Croatia and Romania! >:[) during my freshman year. In my team's division, which was nine teams of five, those individuals with high scores on one portion of the competition were called up to the stage and awarded prizes (books.) I'd say about 15 of the 45 of us got this award, so it wasn't anything amazing. But I'd like to mention it on my applications 'cause it shows that I actually DO stuff when I compete in computer programming competitions, knawmean? However, it seems grossly inaccurate to check off the "international" box on CommonApp lol even though that's technically what it is. How do I downplay it so as to not misrepresent myself by claiming an "international" award?</p>
<p>^ there should be ample space for you to explain it briefly, shouldn't there?</p>