Reporting someone who admitted to lying

^^^ True. But many people also applauded you for both your integrity and your maturity in handling an awkward situation. IMO you handled that about as well as it could have been.

I don’t understand this MYOB idea. Is it American thing? I may not contact Harvard without absolute evidences, but I I will definitely tell my counselor.

If she doens’t get in, good for others.

If she gets in, she is basically stealing a spot from someone else who actually deserve it. This whole “she will get in worse consequence” idea is nothing short of being a bystander

^ no it’s not an American thing at all. Some of us actually attended colleges with honors codes where such things would be student- enforced as representing everyone’s integrity.

Unless you saw her APP, mind your own business. How do you know she is even telling you the truth? And what is the guidance counselor going to do? Common App is private and between the applicant and the college. While your at it, fly to India and complain to their boards that medical school test takers are getting answers from parents who are clinging to the walls outside. The world is full of cheats and scoundrels. They eventually get theirs.

This reminds me of a situation this Sr. year. Off school outing for the seniors to watch the sun rise. Some students were smoking pot. Their own classmates felt it best to video them and turn them into the administration. Why? Just to screw them over and their acceptance into college. The world is full of scoundrels worrying about others. Worry about yourself and your own ethics. Even do gooders are as bad as people up to no good.

This being stated my teacher who taught at the IB level at my school.
Noted that in her years of teaching many of the students who got accepted
to selective schools lied on their application. This being noted there is indeed
a grey area due to the fact that there is a key difference between lying and stretching
the truth. This being stated I would not report the person lying on their college application
because of the long term impacts it could have on her academic career. This being noted
I know very top performing students who live very stressed lives and unfortunately contemplate
during harm to themselves. This being stated Harvard University has a low acceptance hence,
the probability of her getting accepted is not in her favour. This being stated I would focus on the schools
you are applying to.

@Edward4Stanford - This being asked why do you write like that?

@marvin100 Excellent question? If you have time could you elaborate?
I may have been writing like this for such an extended period
of time that I may not be able to notice what you precisely mean
when you state “like that”.

“This being” is a very unorthodox way to start every sentence (or fragment, in your case), @Edward4Stanford

@Edward4Stanford - Using the phrases “This being stated” and “This being noted” at the beginning of many of your sentences is a bit strange. Perhaps you are not a native speaker of English? At any rate, whether or not you are a native English speaker, using repetitive “This being…” statements to start so many sentences is very clunky and distracting to the reader and actually detracts from the message you are trying to convey.

Try writing without using those “This being…” statements. For example, in your post#24, you could simply have stated::

“My teacher who taught at the IB level at my school noted that in her years of teaching, many of the students who got accepted to selective schools lied on their application.”

There is no need to start the sentence with “This being noted”

:slight_smile:

Thank you I will begin implementing your advice in my writing. Your advice is greatly appreciated.

What an interesting footnote to this thread! I wonder what OP did about her lying classmate?

fwiw, pretty sure that organizing one charity walk is NOT going to be the difference between admission and rejection. And, if she really is a piece of work teachers have lots of subtle ways of damning with faint praise ;-0

Update: this student who lied was admitted to Yale and duke and vandy. Admits to falsifying several ECs, like being a varsity athlete. Some students at my school reached out to Yale to ask them to look into her resume

Wow! Did the students who reached out to Yale also talk to a guidance counselor or administrator at your school? Most schools have an honor code of some kind which requires/encourages students to report instances of cheating.I hope you post an update down the road.

I would encourage you/other students to speak with her GC who should then call Yale, Duke, etc.

Hm, lying about being a varsity athlete is pretty serious since it’s a big thing in high school. Please update!

Being or not being a varsity athlete is a very easy thing to check.

I got a girl from my high school school rescinded from pretty much every top 10 school…many of things she claimed she did was stuff I did and I was very angry. So, yes, it can be done. If you choose to report it follow these guidelines:

-Be courteous, calm, and professional. You want to be very clear that you are the sane one here, don’t shoot yourself in the foot by being angry or appearing vindictive. Politeness goes a long way towards being taken seriously.
-Never assume anything. They “may have claimed” they did such and such. Don’t explicitly say they’re a liar, just that if they said x, it is not accurate. Don’t even assume that they got in, they are always “the applicant” who “may have applied and been admitted.”
-Be specific. Don’t leave anything vague, schools do not want to rescind, and if you say anything unclear, it is not going to help you. This brings me to…
-Provide evidence. People to contact to corroborate, rosters, links from the internet, etc. Show why they did not do what they may have claimed they did. Prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that if they said x, it is not correct.
-Be aware of the consequences. I got death threats, threats to get me rescinded (in my affluent, ivy-obsessed suburb, these are basically equivalent), and threats of legal action. Their family harassed my family for a while, including showing up at my house and shouting down my little brother who was home alone about how I’m a horrible person

I only went this route after I went to the guidance office and they ignored me b/c it would make the high school look bad. Contacting them through official channels is always preferable.

If you choose to proceed, good luck, but please think carefully about what you’re doing and what may happen.

@HydeSnark How did the family find out it was you? I assumed any such reports would be sent and received anonymously.

@ambitionsquared Good guessing + pressuring the guidance office at my school to admit I had come with complaints before