How do colleges know that I'm not lying about my extracurricular activities?

<p>Often they don’t check. Basically b/c most ECs are not going to make a difference. The ones that do (won some major competition, etc.) are easy to verify. The ones that are difficult to verify (which are open to exaggeration) – don’t do much for you – like the vaunted community service hours. 5 or 500 – it’s “meh” to colleges.</p>