I’d like to know how colleges will check my EC’s. I understand for school related activities such as clubs and sports, they can simply call the school. But how do they verify EC’s outside of school?
The reason I ask this is that I plan to volunteer at a local hospital (probably during the summer). Do I need the hospital to print something for me? Is there anything I need to do, like send some papers to the college I’m applying to? I’m asking this because I want to make sure that colleges will fully recognize that I actually did volunteer. I don’t want to leave them with any doubt.
What do I need to do? Or will they just “take my word for it”?
<p>If you worked under a supervisor, put his or her name down. If you were in a specific program, put the name of the coordinator who schedules and trains volunteers as a reference.</p>
<p>There’s a saying about things like this: “if you gotta ask if you have a problem, then you do have a problem”. </p>
<p>Schools may or may not check. If they do check, you may never know they did so.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about it, and don’t do what midwesterner suggested, unless the school asked you to do that. Just do exactly what the application asks for. If they ask for a list, list them. If they want to know how many hours, say that, but only if they ask.</p>
<p>But, whatever you do, BE HONEST. You’ll sleep better.</p>
<p>i worked at this library during freshman year summer. are they going to contact the library and see if i volunteered there. there have been some new supervisors there over the years, and i doubt they keep records… so if they find out that the supervisors say no, are they going to call me and ask if i am lying?</p>
No, they will never call and accuse you of lying. BTW this is the surest way to spot a fake post on this board, where someone claims “they said they’re going to reject me because they say I lied on my app” or something to that effect.</p>
<p>If a college thinks you are lying, they might contact you to “verify” your ECs. They sometimes even do this randomly, like the UC schools. But they will never accuse you of lying. Why? It just invites a lawsuit. If they distrust you, they will simply reject you.</p>
<p>newmassdad: I’m not trying to falsify everything. I just want to make sure I provide enough information with my application. I don’t want to leave them with any doubt about what I’ve done.</p>
<p>Should I ask the hospital for some papers to attach to my application? Or do colleges usually not want extra papers? Should I provide extra information like phone numbers?</p>
<p>Volunteering at a hospital is a pretty normal thing–I doubt any college would look at that and be suspicious. If they want you to verify, they’ll tell you, but my guess is they’ll just take your word for it.</p>
<p>The hospital I volunteer at during the summers gives you a certificate at the end of the summer, with the number of hours worked printed on it. I just keep them filed with my college stuff just in case.</p>