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<p>The apps that the admission office only spends ten minutes on are going to the rejection pile anyway, so it doesn’t matter. Admitted students’ applications generally go through multiple rounds of scrutiny, first by the regional adcom then in the committee as a whole. I’m sure in the effort to come to a consensus on who to admit/reject, they look at each applicant has done very closely.</p>
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<p>International admission is much trickier because other countries’ educational systems are different, often with a lot of loopholes. If you’re concerned about your friend faking his extracurricular activity, then you’re way off, worrying about completely the wrong thing. </p>
<p>I’ve been told by an international student who stayed with us briefly over the summer that in his home country, if you have the money, you can easily pay to go to a high school that specializes in getting kids into colleges overseas. What happens is, the school will gladly make up a whole transcript for you with all A grades, so you don’t have to worry about school grades and can focus on prepping for standardized tests. Almost all of his extracurriculars were faked. His awards? They didn’t exist until his father’s company created the positions for him. Now isn’t that even more worrying 
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<p>Because top schools in the U.S. take so few international kids from each country (10? 20 at the most?), they can afford to be selective and pass over anyone they have doubts about. It’s not unusual for international admits to top schools to have international level recognitions, which can easily be verified.</p>