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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes. I like those rules, OP! I’ll add:

For application, these 2 questions:
-did you use ChatGPT for your application?
-did you hire an independent college counselor?
-did you SAT/ACT test prep services
-remove letter of recommendations

Plus:
-remove activities from 10 to 6 in CommonApp
[b]-increase auditing of Applications due to rampant lying & cheating 
[/b]

[/quote]

I'd like to see some of this.  Colleges will audit parents financial statements, but not this.

What I would propose to colleges: once you'd made your final admit list, audit 10-15% of them. Dartmouth admitted 578 kids. This wouldn't be hard. Audit 100 of them. Dartmouth has a staff that's over 10 people, so what I'm proposing is to spend 1-2 days on this. An hour per app.  Just google.  Maybe make a couple calls. And if you're finding a lot of information like (example from Who Gets in and Why): "Oh, that young woman we were impressed by who was a certified elephant whisperer [I forget the lingo], that was just something she got on a 6k tour of Thailand. [I know because I recently got an email promoting that teen tour]. Are we still impressed?"

And if what you find is you are throwing half these applications back into the WL pile, you need to rethink your process. At this point, I'd email the counselor that there was one application from their school that was initially passed and then failed upon review. Build the reputation of checking this stuff.

If you want to be bad ass - and I do - I would admit the 578 pending authorization of data and THEN email 10-15% that their app has been chosen at random for verification. And then rescind when appropriate.  I think after a year or two you'd get much more honest data from the students.

I dont see this as such a big problem for big state schools, but .. maybe verify 2% after admissions to keep things honest. [/quote]

The High School verifies the grades and graduation status.

The College Board verifies the SAT score.

The College Board verifies the AP scores.

The reference letters verify at least some of the claimed activities.

Things like Eagle Scout are verified by issuing organizations.

You mean like someone whole cloth creates a team sport and photoshops the students picture onto a water polo player?

[b]Yeah the schools caught that and people went to prison.[/b]

How does the audit work anyway because the number the student provides for the reference is for Vandelay Industries, their friend answers the phone.

“Just audit 100 people” is definitely a statement from someone who has never run an audit or regulatory validation process.[/quote]

I totally disagree with everything you are saying, but I adore the fact that you think Varsity Blues solved this problem. Like - clap, clap - solved!  High five!

Also I work in HR and we vet apps all the time. If I had a team of 10 I could vet 100 apps in a day. [/quote]

Yes vetting a 17 year old (many of whom don’t even have Photo ID or any employment record whatsoever) is simple.

Just call up their friends and family members, none of whom have incentive to lie.

Can I see your Credit Report? Don’t have one. I can’t legally sign contracts.

Can I talk to your former Boss? Don’t have one.

Can I talk to someone who knows you well? Sure here’s my Mom.

Someone who knows you well not in your family? Sure here’s my girlfriend.

Can I talk to your coach? Sure! (Puts 23 year old cousin on phone)

Can I talk to your landlord? Sure here’s my Mom again.

Remind me what databases you are finding these CHILDREN in to validate their data.

Half the time it’s not even legal to collect any data on them because again they are minors.

Can I talk to someone who supervised your charity trip? Yeah; he’s in Pakistan though and only speaks Urdu.

[/quote]

You are coming up with pretty extreme examples.

You list a HS varsity sport, AO goes to the school website, finds the coach and calls.  That’s easy.

You list school extracurricular activities, again you go the school website and see if they list the teacher / advisor…or you call the main office and ask for the faculty advisor.

You say you volunteered at this charity…again simple google search for a contact.  Most kids won’t claim a Pakistani charity.

If colleges decided to do this, they would put an efficient process in place.[/quote]

Also, I have a DC who is nationally ranked in a couple of things (think areas like chess and debate) and it’s dead easy to find them online. My other DC has won a lot of performing  arts competitions and every one can be found online, including the first place notation. Volunteer work and anything they really do is pretty easy to find online. It’s the ECs you’d want to confirm, anyway, since you can’t fake grades and test scores. [/quote]

Well I googled it and there it is on the web page, investigation is done!!!!

I mean nobody can fake a web page. [/quote]

You can't easily fake a web page from national organizations. These have results for all students across the country, and in some cases are adult leagues where students can also compete. My point was lots of credentials are easily certified with a google search and I don't think kids are hacking into sites to add their own names. Do you?[/quote]

People are fooled everyday by phishing texts and emails where they log in to a completely fake site using their real credentials, setting up a fake site that looks real is trivial. Hey click here and go to the site, sincerely The Student or even better a spoofed email from a counselor.

Now multiply 100 kids per school for say 200 schools and AOs at each need to look through every single site for dozens of activities and verify it’s the real deal and search for the relevant info etc etc

There’s a reason actual background searches don’t stop at “yeah I googled it.”

Anyways the issue with Varsity Blues was that the coaches were in on the scam because they were being bribed.

The AO would normally say “hey I admitted Jimmy, is he actually going to be playing on the team there Coach?”

In this case the coach says “yeah sure he’s the best” when normally the coach says “who????” and admission is rescinded.

Absolutely nobody is going to be fooled by this again.[/quote]

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