<p>CalvinTBOD, it’s hard to imagine how an applicant’s true nature can bleed through to the surface, but way more often than not it does. </p>
<p>It may not be that a student gets caught for adding a year of participation onto a high school club. It will instead be noteworthy that this student didn’t demonstrate enough leadership to stand out in an application pool, probably for the same reason that he didn’t achieve a leadership position among his peers in his school (he was a member, not the president, for example). And the reason this student didn’t stand out among his peers is probably related to the same kind of personality glitch (always temporary in a young person - I have hope) which would incline a person to fib on a college application. See how that works?</p>
<p>Another scenario…The lie is never discovered, yet the recommendations are meh. They seem great to the student, who is very preoccupied with other things and living in a land of ego rather than humility. He has no idea that in that applicant pool are glowing recommendations which are distinctly different than in his own in a way that he could not imagine. The reason for the disparity is related to the same quirk that caused him to tell the undiscovered lie. It wasn’t the lie that got him, it was the lack of personal development behind it.</p>
<p>The main reason why a lie like this will go undetected is that the type of student who would fib about being a member of a club for three years versus two is probably not applying to the type of schools who care about being a “member” for any number of years. This is not to say that the future won’t hold great things for such a person, just that he has not yet hit his stride in getting there.</p>
<p>None of this should cause a person to worry too much, however. Relatively few human beings are true stand-outs in high school. Most of us take longer to develop. Those who never fully develop their character end up like Bernie Madoff and other adults who only think that everyone else is lying as well. As they sit in their jail cells, they seethe over getting caught, never realizing that respectable business people are supposed to be just that: respectable. Beyond the barred windows is the rest of society, happily enjoying the freedom that comes with a commitment to character and following the rules.</p>