EC activities and awards

[Anonymous]

DS working on finalizing top 10 EC/activities it in the (50/100/150 characters format) and then top 5 awards….

DS hearing his friends (private school) talking about a LOT of embellishment…with the EC (unique non-school) and one off awards.

How common is this? Isn’t someone checking?

[Anonymous]

Don’t lie

[Anonymous]

What are you looking for?
Help deciding to embellish?

[Anonymous]

Yes - it’s lots of talking up roles/titles.

I know some kids from smaller schools who have have fabricated things. Nothing big.

And yes your child should complete ALL 10 activities spots. Do not Leave anything empty.

[Anonymous]

Some schools check. They Google awards. The UCs randomly audit them. They also look at hours and will notice of the hours are out of whack.

[Anonymous]

How could they check unless it’s some huge national well known award? In over twenty years of teaching I’ve sponsored many clubs. No one had ever contacted me to verify anything. I don’t submit anything to anyone with the names of club officers. This is part of the reason I think most of this on college applications is a joke. They could put they founded any club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some schools check. They Google awards. The UCs randomly audit them. They also look at hours and will notice of the hours are out of whack.

Thanks for the chuckle. No. This doesn't happen. Ever. They simply do not have the time and / or manpower. Nice try though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes - it’s lots of talking up roles/titles.

I know some kids from smaller schools who have have fabricated things. Nothing big.

And yes your child should complete ALL 10 activities spots. Do not Leave anything empty.

This is the opposite of what I've read and heard. I thought the focus should be on quality over quantity, deep commitment to one activity is better that 10 random ones, no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS working on finalizing top 10 EC/activities it in the (50/100/150 characters format) and then top 5 awards….

DS hearing his friends (private school) talking about a LOT of embellishment…with the EC (unique non-school) and one off awards.

How common is this? Isn’t someone checking?

No offense, but probably 99% of all adult resumes are embellished. Your capitalizing LOT seems to imply that you think they are outright lying.

[Anonymous]

Years ago I was applying for a promotion at a federal agency and they had us grading ourselves on the needed skills on a 0-5 range, a senior manager told me to put all 5s because that is what everyone else is doing. Giving an honest assessment would be just asking to get dropped out of contention. A crappy system. But this is the same thing, if everyone is embellishing and the colleges are expecting everyone to embellish, might as well go with the flow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes - it’s lots of talking up roles/titles.

I know some kids from smaller schools who have have fabricated things. Nothing big.

And yes your child should complete ALL 10 activities spots. Do not Leave anything empty.

On average people fill in 7 slots I believe. I’d focus on having about that many high quality ones. If you have more, fine. But I wouldn’t bother with filler.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes - it’s lots of talking up roles/titles.

I know some kids from smaller schools who have have fabricated things. Nothing big.

And yes your child should complete ALL 10 activities spots. Do not Leave anything empty.

This is the opposite of what I've read and heard. I thought the focus should be on quality over quantity, deep commitment to one activity is better that 10 random ones, no?

I’m not sure. Ive been told each sport us it’s own entry. Each School EC us it’s own. Job is sep. comm service sep.

It’s a lot more than 10 so think kids have to prioritize??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How could they check unless it’s some huge national well known award? In over twenty years of teaching I’ve sponsored many clubs. No one had ever contacted me to verify anything. I don’t submit anything to anyone with the names of club officers. This is part of the reason I think most of this on college applications is a joke. They could put they founded any club.

Exactly. This is what we’ve heard.
And outright listing yourself as VP of a school club when it’s not true, but there are several diff vice presidents so it doesn’t really matter….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS working on finalizing top 10 EC/activities it in the (50/100/150 characters format) and then top 5 awards….

DS hearing his friends (private school) talking about a LOT of embellishment…with the EC (unique non-school) and one off awards.

How common is this? Isn’t someone checking?

Unique ECs and awards are not embellishment.They are just unique. "Embellishment" is usually a way people like to gloss over lying. Don't lie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How could they check unless it’s some huge national well known award? In over twenty years of teaching I’ve sponsored many clubs. No one had ever contacted me to verify anything. I don’t submit anything to anyone with the names of club officers. This is part of the reason I think most of this on college applications is a joke. They could put they founded any club.

Exactly. This is what we’ve heard.
And outright listing yourself as VP of a school club when it’s not true, but there are several diff vice presidents so it doesn’t really matter….

It does if you are lying and didn't serve in this position. My kid actually was VP, so don't claim her work when you didn't do it.