What prevents me from lying about stuff in my COLLEGE APPS

TheBAMF · March 13, 2008, 8:52pm

i mean you can't lie about grades or SAT but i'd think it would be pretty easy to do so for extracurriculars, talent/ability, volunteer work, work experience, possibly even alumni relation

Duper · March 13, 2008, 8:54pm

I think you answered your own question.

Sheed30 · March 13, 2008, 8:56pm

Um, morals???

sylenteck0 · March 13, 2008, 8:57pm

Some colleges do check (I've heard that the UCs do this quite a bit). To be honest, if it's not important, probably not. But if you say you won the Siemens competition, or that you were student body president, trust me, they will.

llpitch · March 13, 2008, 8:57pm

Hopefully your conscience does.

boomer2o5 · March 13, 2008, 9:14pm

As long as its not over the top you can lie, but I mean knowing you got in by lying could come back to haunt your conscious. I understand why some people feel the need to on their "reach applications" but its all up to you and if you think its going affect you negativly once you get a cheated acceptance.

sherpa · March 13, 2008, 9:30pm

"What prevents me from lying about stuff in my COLLEGE APPS ?"

Your personal integrity. Trust me, that is worth more than any college acceptance.

enderkin · March 13, 2008, 9:31pm

1) morals.
2) the possibility that any time in your life, you can be discovered and your achievements stripped. check out Marilee Jones. doesn't matter what you do.

Student615 · March 13, 2008, 9:32pm

Remember that you're not the only one contributing to your application. Your GC and multiple other rec writers will be submitting pieces that you'll probably never see, and everything will have to match up. If you have a weakness that you try to cover with a lie, and your GC points it out and attempts to explain it in her letter, then there's a problem. If you slip up in an interview, or get waitlisted and submit an updated resume that you've forgotten to "embellish", there could also be a problem. Applying is a complex process, so you might not realize until a ways into your lie that you've woven yourself too tangled of a web. Morals aside (because that answer should be obvious without the aid of an internet forum), it's risky and unwise.

I just can't imagine that it'd be worth it. There have been a few anxiety-ridden threads of kids who "embellished" their apps and are now, months into the process, terrified that they'll be found out. IMO, if your lie is significant enough that it makes the difference between a rejection and an acceptance, then it's big enough that you risk suffering serious consequences for it. If it's not big enough to make that difference, then there's certainly no reason to do it in the first place.

ETA: Multiple cross-posts.

Narcissa · March 13, 2008, 9:37pm

well some people don't have consciences, like me, altho i don't cheat because I feel like I don't need to, and don't care about grades and colleges that much anyways. Plus I don't want to get caught cuz the consequences are severe. And I also want to know whether or not i can do it on my own, and whether or not i'm smart/talented/good enough, etc. but I can't help the fact that I don't feel absolutely horrified and outraged when I hear about some trivial cheating scandal.

Altho i do spend some time coming up with outrageous schemes, just for fun when I have time (one of which involving my sister impersonating me impersonating someone else with the same name as me...yeah they were pretty crazy, but fun to think of). Then i wondered wht I would do if I actually carried thru with some of these plans, and I think that I would actually feel really really bad. And I guess that means I do have a conscience after all.

PS. I remember in middle school i had a really strong conscience. What happened? Well it kinda tuned down because like when I mean "really strong" i mean like if i accidentally threw a plastic bottle in the trash can I would feel horrible about if for days or something like that. Yeah now it's gone..

menloparkmom · March 13, 2008, 9:41pm

The possibility of your acceptance being recinded /or you being expelled if you are found out [which is not hard for a savvy admissions office to do these] The only alumni relationships that admissions offices care about are parental. So were you to lie about being the child of alum, it would be pretty easy for a colllege to find out that was not the case.

nicha89 · March 13, 2008, 9:59pm

I don't know about other colleges, but the UC's would pick 10% of their applicants randomly and request them to submit the proof of what they wrote in their essays, EC's, etc. So, one reason that could prevent you from lying is, if you lie and happen to be requested to submit evidence, you're screwed...

mikesown · March 13, 2008, 10:26pm

There are two answers to this question, one pragmatic, and one moral.

Morally, you can't be serious about forging activities for your essay. Honestly, what kind of statement does that make about you as a person? You're willing to cheat and lie to get into Harvard(or some other elite institution). One of my teachers had a great scenario to dispel the "ends justify the means" mindset of cheaters: imagine yourself needing an operation, but then having a guy who cheated his way through medical school operate on you. How would that feel to you? To know that someone cheated their way through school and is putting you at risk for doing so? So, morally, I think we can all agree, lying is not a good thing.

There also lies a pragmatic issue: adcoms are smart. They know that people WILL cheat and lie on their application. I can guarantee you, at the very least, they're running a background check on every student applying. Moreover, it would not surprise me if they investigated, at least on a small number of students, the legitimacy of the activities, especially if the activities seemed so outlandish that it would be very difficult for a high school student to achieve.

So, in sum, you have the moral issue of dealing with your own conscience after putting all ethics out the window to get into your dream school, in addition to the pragmatic issue of adcoms thinking about it. Don't cheat, and don't lie on your application.

azngamer54 · March 13, 2008, 11:32pm

Anything that can actually make a difference on your application can usually be verified, so it is a pretty risky idea. If you lie about being in a club for an extra semester that you weren't im sure you can get away with it, but it probably wont make a difference.

Try lying about being a part hispanic , black, and native american that is low income, and that is a different story...

Lockyer · March 14, 2008, 7:30am

I think the consensus is that if you have no personal qualms, nothing prevents you from lying.

However, I think this is comparable to riding a train with no ticket- you can probably get away with it, but if they happen to come through and check, you're landed with a fine equal to the price of the longest possible journey (could be $300).

So it is possible to get away with it (people do), but if they do check, not only are you immediately rejected (even if you might have gotten in without the lie), but most likely your school will be forced to notify your other colleges who will reject you too (this happened at my school recently), and it will put future applicants from your school to the same colleges at a disadvantage.

For most people, the risk outweighs the possible advantages. For those of us with a conscience, the fact that you have cheated another applicant out of their rightful place is enough.

tetrisfan · March 14, 2008, 7:57am

It's called a conscience. It's a pretty darn good thing to have, if you ask me.

boysx3 · March 14, 2008, 9:18am

Lying about things importrant enough to matter for admissions doesn't work--such things are easily verifiable. For example, one of my sons held an important office in a national organization--interviewers at two schools mentioned it in such a way that it was obvious they had done some quick research.

Lying about unimportant stuff doesn't amount to a hill of beans. Admissions people don't care if you were the president of the French club or belonged to the drama club 4 semesters instead of 3. If you did anything in these organizations that would matter, a quick check of Google is all it would take.

A better approach is to actually DO something worthwhile that will matter to the world (and to the admissions people). With all the thought kids put in to how to game the system, if that effort were put in to actual achievements, the conniving wouldn't be necessary.

boysx3 · March 14, 2008, 9:20am

By the way--don't forget that admissions and matriculation, or even a degree, can be rescinded if the university discovers lies in the application at a later date.

coureur · March 14, 2008, 10:39am

^^In fact Harvard even promises you in writing that they wil rescind your degree if they later discover that you lied on your application.

Lie to get into college and you will spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder. Tell the truth and you've got nothing to worry about and plenty to be proud of.

fhimas88888888 · March 14, 2008, 10:56am

Honestly?

...just to name a few. Being lazy and unscrupulous I don't imagine will get anyone very far.

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