Are you really willing to risk your reputation based on one lousy placement? As others have said it will most likely not make a difference in whether or not you are accepted and if you are accepted you will not know whether it had any impact. You will be however, wondering for a long time if someone will find out about your character flaw. Lying is never worth it and lying about minutiae is stupid.
How on earth do people get away with forged transcripts? All our transcripts come directly from the guidance department. I wouldn’t even begin to know how to go about forging documents.
An interesting thought: The woman (from post 18) who forged her GPA to transfer into Cornell was able to graduate with a Neuroscience degree. Apparently, her abysmal grades were not a good predictor of her ability to do well there.
Perhaps she continued to cheat at Cornell.
Why would you even ask a question like that? I’ll take the high road and assume you’re concerned for a friend. Let your friend know things have a way of following you around in this world.
I work in the securities world. We are heavily regulated, thorough background checks, etc. Can cite many examples of people losing their registration with the SEC and FINRA (or their firm) several years after the fact when it was clear they had lied on applications (even for stupid things - Have you EVER been …). Careers and reputations get ruined. Tell your friend not to go down that path.
Ok but SEC and FINRA are not organizations you want to mislead or lie for sure, adcoms while well meaning are not exactly going to be as shrewd as a SEC or FINRA compliance/lawyers. Those people are the best in the business, you’re not going to pull the wool over the eyes lie you can an adcom.