Making up things in common app activities and awards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS, senior, told us several people in his class have made up titles and awards on their common app; examples below. I’m pissed. He said it’s super common sadly.

- varsity tennis (co-captain); in reality just a member

- Model UN; delegate award

- environmental club; vice president

- food drive; organizer

It’s crazy right? I mean it’s not huge or the end of the world but….

What is crazy is your assuming this is true.

Why wouldnt it be true? Heard from my kid who I trust.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS, senior, told us several people in his class have made up titles and awards on their common app; examples below. I’m pissed. He said it’s super common sadly.

- varsity tennis (co-captain); in reality just a member

- Model UN; delegate award

- environmental club; vice president

- food drive; organizer

It’s crazy right? I mean it’s not huge or the end of the world but….

What is crazy is your assuming this is true.

Why wouldnt it be true? Heard from my kid who I trust.

Because schools go through your common ap and being on a sport is something that can be googled. Focus on your own kid because it is so strange that you are so invested in this that you are posting. This reminds me of the crazy Sidwell parents who were calling school to turn kids in for college applications

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the thing about this that makes me mad is when college AOs say, "We have people call our school to complain than X kid got in when Y kid did not. But the thing is, they don't know why they were admitted, they didn't see their application or read their essay. We know what we're doing. We dont make mistakes." (The Dartmouth dean says this a lot).

I'd never call a school to rat a kid out, but .. no, Dartmouth, you don't know a kid better than his/her classmates do. Some of these kids have known each other for 12 years .. and you spent 12 minutes reading their app. There are certainly things on the application that their classmates don't know, of course. But they also know that little Larla was not the lead author on that journal, did not start a NFP, didn't play varsity tennis, and did not organize the clothing drive that was the essay topic. There was no clothing drive.

THat's the part that bugs me.

💯

Some of these admissions people are awful at sussing out character. They want leaders leaders leaders, we’ll guess what? Many “leaders” have sharp elbows and competitively race everyone to the top, pushing people to the side as they go. They’re not exactly the “kind” sort of students Dartmouth claims they want.

My kid’s longtime classmate is a leader, she lies and cheats at every turn. Dartmouth would not know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the thing about this that makes me mad is when college AOs say, "We have people call our school to complain than X kid got in when Y kid did not. But the thing is, they don't know why they were admitted, they didn't see their application or read their essay. We know what we're doing. We dont make mistakes." (The Dartmouth dean says this a lot).

I'd never call a school to rat a kid out, but .. no, Dartmouth, you don't know a kid better than his/her classmates do. Some of these kids have known each other for 12 years .. and you spent 12 minutes reading their app. There are certainly things on the application that their classmates don't know, of course. But they also know that little Larla was not the lead author on that journal, did not start a NFP, didn't play varsity tennis, and did not organize the clothing drive that was the essay topic. There was no clothing drive.

THat's the part that bugs me.

💯

Some of these admissions people are awful at sussing out character. They want leaders leaders leaders, we’ll guess what? Many “leaders” have sharp elbows and competitively race everyone to the top, pushing people to the side as they go. They’re not exactly the “kind” sort of students Dartmouth claims they want.

My kid’s longtime classmate is a leader, she lies and cheats at every turn. Dartmouth would not know.

You sound horrible.

[Anonymous]

none of those things really matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS, senior, told us several people in his class have made up titles and awards on their common app; examples below. I’m pissed. He said it’s super common sadly.

- varsity tennis (co-captain); in reality just a member

- Model UN; delegate award

- environmental club; vice president

- food drive; organizer

It’s crazy right? I mean it’s not huge or the end of the world but….

What is crazy is your assuming this is true.

Why wouldnt it be true? Heard from my kid who I trust.

By the time we're reading it, that's a lot of layers of unverified information.

Regardless, what's with all these examples of "hey, I'm number two!" Terrible way to lie, resume writing means convincing someone you stand out, not driving home that there are better people even in your senior class, and you can't find one stand out thing about yourself. Obviously this should be possible without the lies, but these examples are pathetic.

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised at so many people dismissing this is minor. Or somehow suggesting that the system created this. This is a case of someone trying to claim a status that isn't theirs. My kid didn't get an office in her club/team. She presented herself as best she good, listing as Sr. + her function on the team. There is no need to invent because you lost a popularity vote. And, making up awards in lieu of earning them just betrays a Trumplike or Santosy justification for whatever it takes to get ahead. Grr.

[Anonymous]

We know so many kids who have done really impressive stuff. I am happy for them. They don’t need to lie. Schools are looking for involvement and unless you really have done nothing, your activities do not move the needle. If a kid has poor grades and writes that they did some kind of complicated research project, it will stick out. OP needs to focus on their own kid. I feel bad for these kids because you have parents like OP who is focused on everyone else’ kid. I would be more concerned about schools that play games pushing donor kids (private school) and ignoring the non hooked kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the thing about this that makes me mad is when college AOs say, "We have people call our school to complain than X kid got in when Y kid did not. But the thing is, they don't know why they were admitted, they didn't see their application or read their essay. We know what we're doing. We dont make mistakes." (The Dartmouth dean says this a lot).

I'd never call a school to rat a kid out, but .. no, Dartmouth, you don't know a kid better than his/her classmates do. Some of these kids have known each other for 12 years .. and you spent 12 minutes reading their app. There are certainly things on the application that their classmates don't know, of course. But they also know that little Larla was not the lead author on that journal, did not start a NFP, didn't play varsity tennis, and did not organize the clothing drive that was the essay topic. There was no clothing drive.

THat's the part that bugs me.

💯

Some of these admissions people are awful at sussing out character. They want leaders leaders leaders, we’ll guess what? Many “leaders” have sharp elbows and competitively race everyone to the top, pushing people to the side as they go. They’re not exactly the “kind” sort of students Dartmouth claims they want.

My kid’s longtime classmate is a leader, she lies and cheats at every turn. Dartmouth would not know.

You sound horrible.

Sure I do. Calling out the kids who cheat is just terrible! 🙄

[Anonymous]

Is this different from people who do this in essays?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At my DC’s local private school you have to make an appointment to go over the common app line by line with your counselor before you can submit. They look closely at all awards, activities, etc. to make sure there is no lying. The counselors know the kids pretty well and will question them if they think an entry is false or exaggerated. The counselor also helped my DC rank and re-write the activity descriptions which was helpful.

That’s nice but the kids can change the list after the meeting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At my DC’s local private school you have to make an appointment to go over the common app line by line with your counselor before you can submit. They look closely at all awards, activities, etc. to make sure there is no lying. The counselors know the kids pretty well and will question them if they think an entry is false or exaggerated. The counselor also helped my DC rank and re-write the activity descriptions which was helpful.

our giant public school does none of this. that "podcast"? that kazoo champion? they dont even bother to check.

[Anonymous]

Our school checks but for the millionth time-no one is getting in on activities. The schools want your transcript and recommendations.

[Anonymous]

For the schools that aren't selective, they weren't really scrutinizing this anyway, so it was a stupid and unnecessary thing to do.

For the selective schools, it takes so much more than this to get in, but any whiff of dishonesty could knock you out, so it was a stupid move.

[Anonymous]

We didn't make up any activities or leadership roles, but when it came to entering the number of hours the real numbers seemed so low...