<p>I have outstanding extra curriculars, and my friend said that none of it matters because anyone can just put in anything and never get caught. Did I just waste 800-1000 hours of my life for nothing, when I could have devoted all that to studying and got better grades instead? Is this fair at all? Will there be no verification of any sort?
I feel bad because my friend has better grades than me, and I have more extra curricular activities. He's going to write down the same things I am. I'm really angry at this and do not know what to do. Several of the colleges I'm going to apply to are also on his list. What should I do?
I'm an international student, by the way. My friend says that colleges do call some schools in the US to verify, but they don't have time to call international students' guidance couselors.
(My guidance counselor has an excellent opinion of me, and will never say anything bad about me ever)
This just seems so unfair. What should I do? Should I exaggerate on my extra curriculars so I look better than him? I'm so worried. I do not want to do anything dishonest, exaggeration seems kind of like a white lie, and the only possible solution I see to create an application better than that guy's.
My application essay is entirely based on my extra-curricular activities.</p>
<p>I’m not completely sure but I don’t think that schools call to verify. However, your experiences will come in handy during interviews and writing personal statements and essays during your application. Also, your recommendations from the ECs (like a coordinator or your counselor) serves as evidence and they can brag about how awesome you are.</p>
<p>Unless your friend can write a convincing essay on his “experiences” and find someone to lie in a recommendation about his “superb ECs,” I don’t see how simply putting that he did x y and z would serve him any purpose. </p>
<p>I mean, I did a lot of ECs in high school but I was really only invested in a few. The only ones I could really talk about with great passion were the ones I invested my high school career in. For the rest, it was kind of like a typical “I helped lower income students and it made me realize…” Kind of answer. Boring and expected.
I imagine your friend would sound very black-and-white if he tried to explain his time with the so-called ECs he participated in.</p>
<p>International applications are in many ways a different ball game from US applications. Additional verification is not at all uncommon.</p>
<p>i basically didn’t do any, but i marked down the ones i started and quit my first year, plus i count things i do on my own, like independent research</p>
<p>Definitely do not exaggerate on your application. Don’t worry about whether or not your friend lies. That is your friend’s problem.</p>
<p>Your involvement in extracurriculars will be noted in many ways. Believe me, colleges can tell if you were committed to these activities or not. They can tell if you’ve been passionately participating through essays, interviews, and letters of recommendation. Often, if a student is being strongly considered a college may call the guidance counselor to “chat” about you.</p>
<p>While most colleges don’t have the time to call your high school and verify what activities you were involved in, never put it past any college to do it if they don’t think that things are adding up. One of the worst errors that you could ever commit is falsifying an application and then getting caught for it later on. Some schools will not only rescind your admission, but if you have been admitted to the school, they can expel you, and even go so far as to nullify any degrees that you ever obtained from the school.</p>
<p>I am pretty familiar with this issue. :(</p>
<p>If your friend lies or anyone, well, it will show. because there are teacher recommendation, essays, most importantly, counselor recommendation letter. and don’t worry about that (too bad I guess. as I am worrying about this too. I have seen kids get accepted as freshman although they were bound to apply as transfer)</p>
<p>As Provost of admission and enrollment at Vanderbilt University, Douglas L. Christiansen says, </p>
<p>if you are representing another human through your application and we admit you, then your experience won’t be so good.</p>
<p>These dudes will get accepted and later in their college education, well they will regret to go to college. because karma always bites back. sooner or later. but it does. when it does that, well, life becomes a living hell.</p>
<p>It’s important to be honest and straightforward. You don’t want to hide accomplishments, but being overly boastful or making things seem more important than they are is also very inappropriate.</p>
<p>If an EC is impressive enough to help you in the college admissions process (e.g., a national award), it will be easy to verify. If it’s not easy to verify (VP of the French Club, founder of the Enviro Club, 200 hours community service, etc.), it’s probably not something that will have an impact on your application. </p>
<p>The problem is that if you get caught in a lie your application will immediately go into the “reject” pile. Is it really worth it? Some colleges audit a percentage of applications.</p>
<p>[Stanford</a> begins random application audits - Washington DC College admissions | Examiner.com](<a href=“http://www.examiner.com/article/stanford-begins-random-application-audits]Stanford”>http://www.examiner.com/article/stanford-begins-random-application-audits)</p>
<p>TenAcidT-
That’s fine. As long as you’re telling the truth don’t be afraid to brag a bit!</p>
<p>My son has an unusual EC/accomplishment that I once figured out placed him as one in a couple of million. It was extremely unusual for a kid his age but he was able to talk about it in a way that was both knowledgeable and convincing and his recs backed up his claims. Many of the colleges with whom he interviewed seemed to find it a big plus.</p>
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<p>It’s simply not true. Like I said, it is the place where LORs come into play.</p>
<p>If someone take a look at every years accepted or rejected stats, i am sure that s/he will see a lot of people with great stats and ECA get rejected. It’s about making the environment of a certain school better and it shows through letters. if a letter doesn’t talk about anything about ECA, it’ll be a generic letter. it’s not easy to get national awards. But there are some people with national even international awards get rejected. I don’t know why.</p>
<p>Only put down what you actually participated in. Your friend is going to get found out eventually. </p>
<p>Someone from my school lied on her application and got admitted to Stanford. Before the year started, they found out somehow that she had lied. She had said she was president of clubs that didnt exist at our schools and stuff like that.</p>
<p>Needless to say, her admittance was rescinded.</p>
<p>How would teachers know about your extracurricular activities when writing LORs if they’re not the teacher supervisors of those activities?</p>
<p>Also, I’m from Canada, so there aren’t that many extracurricular opportunities, but for how many there are, I have quite a few impressive ones on my application. Would American universities verify my activities on the Common App? And how do they, since my teachers and guidance counselor are not aware of them? Also, I am not describing any of my ECs in my essays, as I find that this type of essay is generic and overdone. But no where on the Common App does it say that it’s required to write about them.</p>
<p>One should provide a student profile and/or resume to the recommender if you want a really good LOR. This would allow the teacher to write a more in depth letter about you which the school would value more. Superficial LORs are not helpful at all. You should also provide a brag sheet to the counselor so she/he can write a recommendation and compare you with other students in the same school. If you boast something while no one else know about it, it may raise a red flag.</p>
<p>@billcsho: But is providing a student profile or resume expected of an applicant - especially an international one? In Canada, recommendations aren’t even part of the admissions process, so my teachers and guidance counselors aren’t well-versed in writing such letters. Also, isn’t it superficial if the teacher or guidance counselor writes about things that they haven’t personally witnessed? In-depth or not, the reference wouldn’t truly reflect who you are as an applicant in the eyes of the recommender if he or she has no context behind the profile/resume. Isn’t it supposed to be that the recommenders write only what they’ve seen the applicant do?</p>
<p>Also, your point about the red flag leads to my next question: Would American universities verify my activities on the Common App - or rather, I guess, do they usually verify activities? I am a Canadian applicant. And how do they, since my teachers and guidance counselor are not aware of them?</p>
<p>It is typical to have superficial recommendations from overseas. Here, the counselor suppose to know you although they do not really. That’s why they rely on your brag sheet or resume to provide information. Otherwise, the letters would be lack of content. Even something they witness, they would not remember by the time they are writing hundreds of recommendations.</p>