<p>Let me make this very clear: I would never lie about anything on my application. But how would a colege know if someone were lying.... obviously the bigs things like grades, SAT scores, and other test scores are hard to lie about, but other things might seem kind of easy. For example how would a college REALLY know if someone did 50 or 250 hours of community service? How would a college REALLY know if you were captain of your varsity sports team if your school doesn't keep that on record? How would a college really know your involment ( president, vp, etcc) in a certain club if the school doesn't have that information available. I only ask because for some schools like the UC's...one lie could really matter: heres an example.... lets say a student plays for their varsity sports team but falsly claims on their application that they were captain.... they would be awarded 200 points for "leadership" from the UC system. That is the difference between a 2000 SAT score and a 2200 SAT score!! WOW! So...how do colleges really know? I only ask because more than one student at my school has claimed that they are the captain of the varsity basketball team when in fact...I am the captain. how would UC Berkley really know?</p>
<p>Well so long as your college doesn't ask for evidence, you can lie all you want provided it's believable.</p>
<p>However, if you don't have evidence from an EC (e.g. rec letters, certificate, etc.), it's not going to be given much weight by the admissions crew anyway.</p>
<p>This maybe untrue in UCs case, but hey, what if they called up to corroberate information with your counselor? Yea...that would suck.</p>
<p>Do most high schools keep a record of a students ECs?</p>
<p>In addition, an applicant's lies can easily show through. For example, someone lies about being a captain on the cross country team and then a teacher while writing a recommendation and trying to help writes something like .. "3togo is a natural leader; although not a captain of the cross country team as a senior was one of the leaders that led the team to the county title" ... whoops. Recommendations, interviews, ECs, overall application elements ... a lie (big enough to "help" admissions) can easily pop out.</p>
<p>To the OPs question ... what prevents lying on an application? How about the integrity of the applicant ... a quote I like a lot ... "the best test of a person's character is what they do when no one is looking". It's easy to lie on an application ... I'd rather get accepted on my true accomplishments rather than a trumped up application.</p>
<p>I don't think so... EC's are only looked at for 5% of the application I believe anyway, because they know many people tend to exaggerate, or outright lie. I believe there is a big difference between bending the truth a little, and lying. Either way, unless you won Intel, colleges really don't care very much.</p>
<p>Your integrity?
Nothing really prevents lying except that if you are found out somehow, you will never get into that school...so it's not worth it.
I think a lot of people exaggerate or word things a certain way that makes things sound better, but flat-out lying? You should really be careful.</p>
<p>At my high school, you're required to have the faculty advisors of your ECs sign a special sheet for you, proving that you were in club so and so. So that prevents lying.</p>
<p>IHATESAT- ECs are more important than you think. they reflect your interests and personality, and colleges count that way more that 5%.</p>