SimpleLife

My son and I were both disturbed by another kid we met on a college visit. He intends to lie his way through college apps. He told us that he lied in his admissions interview that day!

At first I was drawn to him, as we overheard that he flew in from our area several states away and was clearly there all alone, and he seemed a little shy at first. But as we got to know him better throughout the day, it was clear that he was not "our type!" Several times throughout the day, he unabashedly told us of his plans to lie on his applications. "You can tell them you're the class president, or debate team president, or whatever you want. They're never gonna check." When we asked about his extracurriculars, he said he didn't really have any, but he's gonna tell them he did ... (I can't remember his details, but there was a list -- like editor for the school newspaper, debate team, band member, etc.). He kept mentioning that there's no way for schools to know what he's really been doing with his time.

He said he was #6 in his large high school class. I know his high school -- it's about 25 minutes away from my son's. It's probably a class of about 800 kids. He also said he has to retake the SAT because his scores were really low the first time. Furthermore, as #6 in the class, he was not selected for NHS, which we thought was odd, though we know that the schools in our area are pretty selective about NHS -- must have extracurriculars, or outside work, AND community service PRIOR to selection. I can't believe it didn't dawn on me at the time, but it occurred to me later that he has probably cheated to get ahead in high school too. He probably doesn't deserve his #6 rank. Or maybe he's not #6 at all!

Yuk! We were so turned off by this kid's attitude and intentions. He made me sad and mad at the same time. The school we were visiting is very selective. My son has great stats and extracurriculars, and doesn't expect that he'll necessarily get in. This kid said a few times, "Yep. This is where I'm going." He's a URM, and he knows it, and he seems to feel pretty confident that all he has to do is name his school. I'm not so sure. At least, in his case, I sure hope not.

Well, that's all. This experience keeps weighing on me. I guess it never occurred to me that kids go lying willy nilly, even at our nation's most selective schools, to try to get what they want but surely don't deserve. Have you ever had a similar experience?

Schmoomcgoo

No, thankfully. Karma...he will reap what he has sown...I hope!

shay_888

No! That is ridiculous though. Hopefully he will be caught in his scheme of lies because there are people out there that actually involve themselves in multiple activities.

mom2collegekids

A family in our neighborhood never believed that ECs were important, so their kids don't have any.

Well, when their 3rd child decided that he wanted to apply ivy, they learned on their college visit that ECs are important. So, now they are "making up" ECs for his application!!!

It's disgusting!

rom828

What comes around...goes around...

SimpleLife

Ugh. It IS disgusting! How hard that must be for you to keep your mouth shut when your neighbor talks about it!

broetchen

Maybe he was lying about his intent to lie.

ttparent

Selective schools do check the student credentials by calling the counselors, teachers and coaches that supervise the activities. Maybe not checking 100% of everything on the application but they do spot check especially on the ones that are significant in stature. He may get away with it but then again he may be in for a rude awakening in April.

drusba

A fine example of the old saying that God must love idiots since He made so many of them. I am trying to figure out what makes him look dumber, lying on his apps or telling people he is lying on his apps.

ttparent

I remember this from a few years back and found it after googling.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/education/10yale.html

R124687

The elite colleges/universities will require a rec from Guidance, and of course teacher recs. My Ds teachers require that the student provide them with a form and/or resume. If this teacher or counselor does not know the student well enough to know if he participated in the activies he lists, they should not be writing his recommendation. Even in a large school (my D's school also has 800 per class, and her teachers DO know who does what...at least in the upper tiers of rank/and officerships).

Maybe this was just a midguided child who is looking for YOUR attention. If not, then we hope he doesn't succeed. But if he does, it will show in his failure to succeed at that college. They've been reading applications a LONG LONG time. They know which stats show a successful applicant. I like to think they can read between a lot of lines.

But...we all know that some do slip through the cracks. Maybe our "good" kids lose their spot to someone who lies. This will NOT be the last time in their lives that it happens. It is TOUGH, but will teach a good lesson. I feel your pain, but know that it's true of every college. We just don't always get to hear kids planning their distasteful actions.

mom2collegekids

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Ugh. It IS disgusting! How hard that must be for you to keep your mouth shut when your neighbor talks about it!
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It's very hard - not only because I've wanted to say "I told you so," (about EC importance at some schools), but because of the terrible example they are setting for their kids.

They're being sneaky and putting down ECs that would be difficult to "check."

elizabethh

How about claiming to be African American when your great-great grandmother was? Kind of irritating.

sanguinity

He isn't going to much of a problem. It is very unlikely his counselor and teacher recs will indicate that he is spectacular or involved at all. Not to mention anything he lies about that isn't going to be checked won't matter much anyway.

shay_888

People are completely ridiculous. The things they do to try to get into an ivy school.