Making up things in common app activities and awards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious about wording for newfound interests:

If you say you are a birder and joined a group at a few state parks junior year, worked in an arboretum for the summer, is it a stretch to add in some seasonal volunteering with senior citizens (if only done for a few weeks)?

Thinking kid writes EC essay about this….

Check Reddit. So many birding stories in college apps. It might be the new beekeeping so perhaps overdone?

Cicada carcass collecting is a really timely thing this summer.

Birding is definitely the new hot EC. Will not work another cycle.
My kids are at ivy/ivy+ and they did not have these trendy ECS. They both had non-school big ECs they had been doing since elementary schools and continued into high school. They also had school ECs that mattered to them , and community volunteering that mattered to them. One had extensive outside of HS intellectual pursuits, other had a small amount of that but had more musical pursuits outside of school. These were all opportunities pursued by them. And they are excellent writers and had top stats/rigor/got selective school awards from teachers, etc. They did not exaggerate any activity or EC. One cannot fabricate or plan ECs. Students who follow their genuine interests will have plenty to write about and be able to show impact. Students who have that plus true intellectual vitality as evidenced by LOR and coursework/stats will get in top places.

I keep reading about "birding" as the IT EC....is it overplayed at this point?

Overplayed or not, honesty is the best policy. My kid loves looking at boobies and tits, and is applying to colleges where they can pursue their hobby further.

[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.

+1 ^ this

[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.

Nobody is telling your kid if they are lying like that. And you have zero idea whether they did or not. People come up with crazy ideas in their head when one kid gets in over their own child and start nasty untrue gossip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious about wording for newfound interests:

If you say you are a birder and joined a group at a few state parks junior year, worked in an arboretum for the summer, is it a stretch to add in some seasonal volunteering with senior citizens (if only done for a few weeks)?

Thinking kid writes EC essay about this….

Check Reddit. So many birding stories in college apps. It might be the new beekeeping so perhaps overdone?

Cicada carcass collecting is a really timely thing this summer.

Birding is definitely the new hot EC. Will not work another cycle.
My kids are at ivy/ivy+ and they did not have these trendy ECS. They both had non-school big ECs they had been doing since elementary schools and continued into high school. They also had school ECs that mattered to them , and community volunteering that mattered to them. One had extensive outside of HS intellectual pursuits, other had a small amount of that but had more musical pursuits outside of school. These were all opportunities pursued by them. And they are excellent writers and had top stats/rigor/got selective school awards from teachers, etc. They did not exaggerate any activity or EC. One cannot fabricate or plan ECs. Students who follow their genuine interests will have plenty to write about and be able to show impact. Students who have that plus true intellectual vitality as evidenced by LOR and coursework/stats will get in top places.

Did birding work anyone this past cycle? Cornell (and Yale?) have large birding clubs....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People shouldn't lie, obviously. But I don't think this is helping them.

Our kids' high school does a college 101 session every year. It brings in a college admission counselor and the message is always the same re: ECs. Minus some exceptions - recruited athlete, etc., whether the kid does one or ten extra circulars, ECs count as one factor in admissions, and nowhere near as important as rigor, grades, SATs/ACT, essays, etc

ECs are more important than essays - they're the bones and muscles, the essay is just the skin. And all competitive applicants have the rigor/grades/scores, they ECs are the distinguisher.

[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.

I agree. I understand that colleges make holistic decisions that are primarily based on verifiable achievements, but come on. Don't lie to yourself and us, and pretend that less measurable achievements, which might or might not be fabricated, don't tip the scales, even unconsciously, in the minds of the application readers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I interview for Princeton. Twice caught highly qualified applicants in what I believe were falsehoods — explained in detail why in my report. One asserted something about their EC that was off (I happened to know something about the recognition described); the other asserted something about their enthusiasm for the school that did not add up. My spouse interviews for another highly selective school and came home one day grey, for he suspected the candidate had made up an entire financial and family situation. In all three cases we carefully explained our reasoning in our reports. The candidates were not admitted. Perhaps they would not have been admitted regardless, but the suspicion they generated didn’t help their cause.

Well, you suck if you had no absolute proof. You reported someone bc his enthusiasm for the school didn’t add up? This goes for the idiot interviewer who thought an applicant should have been forced to disclose his tax return.

If you want to see how the alumni interview can absolutely determine admissions outcome at Ivy (even when they outwardly May say it’s not determinative), read this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/s/EFQhffUjhR

post is deleted

[Anonymous]

oh god with these ECs. I scroll through dozens of resumes for college interns every week. Everyone was the president of like a dozen different things all at the same time. AOs must be testing the theoretical c with how fast their eyes must be rolling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school also changed our schools profile that they submit with college apps. Why? Too get a kid into MIT. What did she do in exchange? Rig a club election for the teacher. This teacher also got other teachers to get this kid awards in her junior year. The kids had never got an academic award in her life! (Her mom had cancer at the time, so that was probably the reason used.) The kid is at MIT. Not making a name for herself at all. Internships only got due to family connections. Very unimpressive so far.

how did the school profile change and how did that help the student? Why would a teacher care about a club election?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious about wording for newfound interests:

If you say you are a birder and joined a group at a few state parks junior year, worked in an arboretum for the summer, is it a stretch to add in some seasonal volunteering with senior citizens (if only done for a few weeks)?

Thinking kid writes EC essay about this….

Check Reddit. So many birding stories in college apps. It might be the new beekeeping so perhaps overdone?

Cicada carcass collecting is a really timely thing this summer.

Birding is definitely the new hot EC. Will not work another cycle.
My kids are at ivy/ivy+ and they did not have these trendy ECS. They both had non-school big ECs they had been doing since elementary schools and continued into high school. They also had school ECs that mattered to them , and community volunteering that mattered to them. One had extensive outside of HS intellectual pursuits, other had a small amount of that but had more musical pursuits outside of school. These were all opportunities pursued by them. And they are excellent writers and had top stats/rigor/got selective school awards from teachers, etc. They did not exaggerate any activity or EC. One cannot fabricate or plan ECs. Students who follow their genuine interests will have plenty to write about and be able to show impact. Students who have that plus true intellectual vitality as evidenced by LOR and coursework/stats will get in top places.

I keep reading about "birding" as the IT EC....is it overplayed at this point?

Overplayed or not, honesty is the best policy. My kid loves looking at boobies and tits, and is applying to colleges where they can pursue their hobby further.

I see what you did there. Good luck with the birding

[Anonymous]

I should probably stay away from this thread, but for highly selective colleges, we have had multiple AOs tell us that they spot check the activities list. Do they do it for every kid? Nope, but for the ones they may accept - absolutely. Most of the things people here seem convinced kids are lying about (even though you have not read their applications!!!) are easily verifiable, usually by a google search. They will also reach out to the HS college office if something looks strange. As for whether captain or co-captain of a varsity team means anything - that is dependent on the school - the AOs know the schools well - and most captains at our school, for example, would have a letter from their coach as an additional LOR.

[Anonymous]

It is bizarre that so many bitter posters think they know so much more about how to read applications than professionals with decades of experience. The college admissions process has made parents crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is bizarre that so many bitter posters think they know so much more about how to read applications than professionals with decades of experience. The college admissions process has made parents crazy.

Now, go and look at 30-40 AO profiles at T20. 50% of them have less than 3 years experience. The main readers are all temp or inexperienced. That does not mean they do not get training, but it is not "decades of experience" by a long shot.

It is a starter job for college graduates and then they move on to something else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I interview for Princeton. Twice caught highly qualified applicants in what I believe were falsehoods — explained in detail why in my report. One asserted something about their EC that was off (I happened to know something about the recognition described); the other asserted something about their enthusiasm for the school that did not add up. My spouse interviews for another highly selective school and came home one day grey, for he suspected the candidate had made up an entire financial and family situation. In all three cases we carefully explained our reasoning in our reports. The candidates were not admitted. Perhaps they would not have been admitted regardless, but the suspicion they generated didn’t help their cause.

Well, you suck if you had no absolute proof. You reported someone bc his enthusiasm for the school didn’t add up? This goes for the idiot interviewer who thought an applicant should have been forced to disclose his tax return.

If you want to see how the alumni interview can absolutely determine admissions outcome at Ivy (even when they outwardly May say it’s not determinative), read this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/s/EFQhffUjhR

post is deleted

Thread is from 2023.