Making up things in common app activities and awards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Varsity team member and varsity captain aren’t going to be distinguishing for AOs.

On so many of my kids Club and HS teams they don’t have a strict captain—a different kid wears the armband does the coin toss based on performance and character traits throughout the season. So pretty much 75% of team could say “co-captain”.

Is it really that different from saying you were Valedictorian when there were 200 other Valedictorians in your public HS class of 600 students.

Very true. I have a varsity athlete and five out of twenty of the seniors are considered captains. Anyone who qualifies for championships is a captain.

That’s different from claiming to be president of a club that the student doesn’t belong to, which is lying.

[Anonymous]

They definitely check. Maybe not during initial review but at some point they do. My daughter listed an award she won with not a whole lot of detail and during her interview, she was asked a question that would not have been asked if the interviewer didn’t investigate. They asked some other probing questions on her ECs but they seemed natural to ask since my DD wasn’t lying or embellishing. Maybe not all schools but Duke does.

[Anonymous]

The cool thing about Iowa and Iowa State is that not only do they not waste their time verifying application claims that don't really matter, but they publish a GPA/SAT/ACT matrix that you can use to calculate with 100% certainty whether you'll get in. It's all based on numbers, as it should be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way my kid is going to have 10 activities. Very few at school beyond the sport they play and one school club. He has one regular service commitment and a regular teenager type summer job. Can you list hobbies or does this just make you look self-centered? Do all your activities have to be for a greater good or to make an impact in your community? Outside of schoolwork, my son spends his free time at the river fishing or playing golf for hours on the weekend. Do colleges want to know about time consuming hobbies like that? He isn’t playing video games, but he certainly isn’t changing the world either. Honestly, I sort of get the temptation to exaggerate activities because colleges don’t seem to want a kid like mine.

What type of schools does he want to apply to? Prob not necessary for anything other than selective/competitive schools (T75??) Is your kid interested in Enviro Science or Ecology or anything like that?

For advice on EC language, take a look at how this guy describes his ECs from the link below:

ECs:

Ultimate Frisbee fanatic, played all 4 years for my high school and played for my state's YCC team in 2022, at which we placed 6th. They don't really do JV/Varsity but I am on the travel team.

JV cross country runner

Captain of the alpine ski team, scored in the upper quarter in Slalom at state in 2022.

Lots and lots of volunteerism at local arboretum, volunteer about 30 hours a month doing restoration projects.

Jazz Band president, bass player. (I also play the accordion and I put that down as part of the band EC in case colleges are looking for the quirky factor lmaoo)

Math Circle member at local university, guided discussions from professors about advanced math like topology and abstract algebra.

Created a huge tabletop-RPG style geopolitical simulator game over quarantine to play online with my friends. I know this is kinda silly but it was a massive time commitment so i wanna put it down.

Designed and built 2 meter aperture radio telescope to read emissions from the hydrogen line in the milky way. Not doing research or anything, just wanted to do a passion project while the world was frozen from COVID.

Was a volunteer instructor for 5 outdoor camps over the summers, taught kids whitewater kayaking skills, how to fish, and be good stewards of nature.

Paid lifeguarding job for 1 summer after sophomore year.

https://www.reddit.com/r/chanceme/comments/zpwoqa/chance_me_swarthmore_wesleyan_colgate_carleton/

Thank you to you and PP for the great ideas! I will get him to brainstorm some ideas like this now that school is wrapping up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost all private colleges do audits and spot checks of a random sample of students.

Not sure about public universities.

Yes, my kid's T10 definitely does this. I saw a reddit post by a kid that was audited and was having trouble verifying club participation.

+1 For every parent that is concerned about where their frenemy's kid is attending, there are probably at least a few people being checked up upon by the school. It is a thing.

They have 5 min to read the app, when are they verifying/checking? I know an AO at a T10, this is not a thing there. They use the LOR to provide support/verification….

AO's are not doing any checking. This is a separate process where a random set of students are picked and then a sample subset of the activities on each of the students are verified. Yes, it is a small sample but there are checks in place.

One of my colleague's from a while back had done work on this and he used to share some really funny stories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost all private colleges do audits and spot checks of a random sample of students.

Not sure about public universities.

Yes, my kid's T10 definitely does this. I saw a reddit post by a kid that was audited and was having trouble verifying club participation.

+1 For every parent that is concerned about where their frenemy's kid is attending, there are probably at least a few people being checked up upon by the school. It is a thing.

They have 5 min to read the app, when are they verifying/checking? I know an AO at a T10, this is not a thing there. They use the LOR to provide support/verification….

AO's are not doing any checking. This is a separate process where a random set of students are picked and then a sample subset of the activities on each of the students are verified. Yes, it is a small sample but there are checks in place.

One of my colleague's from a while back had done work on this and he used to share some really funny stories.

I am a college counselor. A highly selective absolutely verified one of my student's achievements this year during their review process. Possibly unrelated (or possibly related in that they only take the time to verify for some students?), but this student was admitted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost all private colleges do audits and spot checks of a random sample of students.

Not sure about public universities.

Yes, my kid's T10 definitely does this. I saw a reddit post by a kid that was audited and was having trouble verifying club participation.

+1 For every parent that is concerned about where their frenemy's kid is attending, there are probably at least a few people being checked up upon by the school. It is a thing.

They have 5 min to read the app, when are they verifying/checking? I know an AO at a T10, this is not a thing there. They use the LOR to provide support/verification….

AO's are not doing any checking. This is a separate process where a random set of students are picked and then a sample subset of the activities on each of the students are verified. Yes, it is a small sample but there are checks in place.

One of my colleague's from a while back had done work on this and he used to share some really funny stories.

I am a college counselor. A highly selective absolutely verified one of my student's achievements this year during their review process. Possibly unrelated (or possibly related in that they only take the time to verify for some students?), but this student was admitted.

How exactly was this done? You’re saying an AO reached out to you in an unsolicited manner, to verify a student’s statements.

[Anonymous]

I’m not going to read a 13-page thread, but don’t make things up, kids. You only get one soul.

[Anonymous]

well, they only audit from the admitted pile.

but they also audit about 1/500 apps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost all private colleges do audits and spot checks of a random sample of students.

Not sure about public universities.

Yes, my kid's T10 definitely does this. I saw a reddit post by a kid that was audited and was having trouble verifying club participation.

+1 For every parent that is concerned about where their frenemy's kid is attending, there are probably at least a few people being checked up upon by the school. It is a thing.

They have 5 min to read the app, when are they verifying/checking? I know an AO at a T10, this is not a thing there. They use the LOR to provide support/verification….

AO's are not doing any checking. This is a separate process where a random set of students are picked and then a sample subset of the activities on each of the students are verified. Yes, it is a small sample but there are checks in place.

One of my colleague's from a while back had done work on this and he used to share some really funny stories.

I am a college counselor. A highly selective absolutely verified one of my student's achievements this year during their review process. Possibly unrelated (or possibly related in that they only take the time to verify for some students?), but this student was admitted.

How exactly was this done? You’re saying an AO reached out to you in an unsolicited manner, to verify a student’s statements.

No, I am an independent counselor so the university did not call me. I can't give details but my student (the applicant) told me how they learned that the university had fact checked an important achievement within their application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost all private colleges do audits and spot checks of a random sample of students.

Not sure about public universities.

Yes, my kid's T10 definitely does this. I saw a reddit post by a kid that was audited and was having trouble verifying club participation.

+1 For every parent that is concerned about where their frenemy's kid is attending, there are probably at least a few people being checked up upon by the school. It is a thing.

They have 5 min to read the app, when are they verifying/checking? I know an AO at a T10, this is not a thing there. They use the LOR to provide support/verification….

AO's are not doing any checking. This is a separate process where a random set of students are picked and then a sample subset of the activities on each of the students are verified. Yes, it is a small sample but there are checks in place.

One of my colleague's from a while back had done work on this and he used to share some really funny stories.

I am a college counselor. A highly selective absolutely verified one of my student's achievements this year during their review process. Possibly unrelated (or possibly related in that they only take the time to verify for some students?), but this student was admitted.

How exactly was this done? You’re saying an AO reached out to you in an unsolicited manner, to verify a student’s statements.

No, I am an independent counselor so the university did not call me. I can't give details but my student (the applicant) told me how they learned that the university had fact checked an important achievement within their application.

How- checked how? Seems like as an independent counselor you’d get the specifics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost all private colleges do audits and spot checks of a random sample of students.

Not sure about public universities.

Yes, my kid's T10 definitely does this. I saw a reddit post by a kid that was audited and was having trouble verifying club participation.

+1 For every parent that is concerned about where their frenemy's kid is attending, there are probably at least a few people being checked up upon by the school. It is a thing.

They have 5 min to read the app, when are they verifying/checking? I know an AO at a T10, this is not a thing there. They use the LOR to provide support/verification….

AO's are not doing any checking. This is a separate process where a random set of students are picked and then a sample subset of the activities on each of the students are verified. Yes, it is a small sample but there are checks in place.

One of my colleague's from a while back had done work on this and he used to share some really funny stories.

I am a college counselor. A highly selective absolutely verified one of my student's achievements this year during their review process. Possibly unrelated (or possibly related in that they only take the time to verify for some students?), but this student was admitted.

How exactly was this done? You’re saying an AO reached out to you in an unsolicited manner, to verify a student’s statements.

No, I am an independent counselor so the university did not call me. I can't give details but my student (the applicant) told me how they learned that the university had fact checked an important achievement within their application.

How- checked how? Seems like as an independent counselor you’d get the specifics.

DP: Go on Reddit and do a search-- you will find students posted about their experience with admissions fact-checking their applications. It really picked up after Varsity Blues.

I am friends with an AO at an Ivy who confirmed they randomly pick a representative sample of admitted applicants to fact-check. (I can't find any statement on their website).

However, here is Brown's policy:

In the spirit of this statement, and as part of our ongoing effort to deter application fraud, the Office of College Admission verifies a small number of credentials each year for a randomly selected sample of admitted students who have chosen to matriculate at Brown. The verification process is straightforward, with school counselors being asked to confirm a few selected factors as reported on the application for each student included in the sample group. Requests are sent to counselors in May with a response deadline no later than July 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost all private colleges do audits and spot checks of a random sample of students.

Not sure about public universities.

Yes, my kid's T10 definitely does this. I saw a reddit post by a kid that was audited and was having trouble verifying club participation.

+1 For every parent that is concerned about where their frenemy's kid is attending, there are probably at least a few people being checked up upon by the school. It is a thing.

They have 5 min to read the app, when are they verifying/checking? I know an AO at a T10, this is not a thing there. They use the LOR to provide support/verification….

AO's are not doing any checking. This is a separate process where a random set of students are picked and then a sample subset of the activities on each of the students are verified. Yes, it is a small sample but there are checks in place.

One of my colleague's from a while back had done work on this and he used to share some really funny stories.

I am a college counselor. A highly selective absolutely verified one of my student's achievements this year during their review process. Possibly unrelated (or possibly related in that they only take the time to verify for some students?), but this student was admitted.

How exactly was this done? You’re saying an AO reached out to you in an unsolicited manner, to verify a student’s statements.

No, I am an independent counselor so the university did not call me. I can't give details but my student (the applicant) told me how they learned that the university had fact checked an important achievement within their application.

How- checked how? Seems like as an independent counselor you’d get the specifics.

Yes, I know the specifics. I am not sharing my client's specifics here.

[Anonymous]

^^ odd bc many (most) HS counselors won’t have knowledge of most of the stuff listed: jobs, awards, activities, etc.

[Anonymous]

I used to be an alum interviewer. At times, I have reported suspected lies. One kid told me he had a business creating websites. I expressed interest and asked for an example. I didn't say "I'm trying to verify your claim." I just acted as if I thought looking at a couple would help and I might link to some examples in my report. He told me he could only remember the name of one "off the top of his head." A simple google search showed it was for his uncle's business. The kid had copyrighted the site. I searched and couldn't find any other websites he'd copyrighted or listing his name. So in my report I just said I'd been unable to find any other sites and if this business was considered a plus by admissions, I thought he should be asked for some substantiation--a tax return for the more than $10,000 a year his business was allegedly generating, a list of other websites, etc. He didn't get in. He did get into an equally selective college. This business was his most important EC and I think it was totally phony.

I have also plugged honest kids--the kid who said she was one of 10 kids in their large class selected for an academic bowl when 2 other kids I'd interviewed claimed to be the only one selected.

Most colleges have an AO who reads all the apps from any given high school. Over time,they get to know more about a school than you might suspect. So,if a kid claims to be the president of a club,it's entirely possible that a teacher or counselor will write a rec for the real president,e.g., "as faculty advisor to the Key Club, I've worked closely with X who has served as the president for the past 2 years."

I know some lies aren't caught. I think, however,that more are detected than you might think.