<p>Like are they really going to call the soup kitchen to verify that I was there in 2011? I don’t even think the soup kitchen keeps records of that.</p>
<p>And what about sports–are they really going to check if I was on JV in 10th grade or can I just say varcity for 3 years?</p>
<p>By and large, they don’t. Because it really doesn’t matter very much.</p>
<p>If you’ve done something truly extraordinary–say, you were on the Olympic equestrian team, or you appeared on Broadway in Billy Elliot–they could confirm that easily by Googling. But if you have done regular-high-school-kid stuff, like volunteering in a soup kitchen or running track, that’s neither easy to verify nor worth verifying.</p>
<p>Don’t lie and say you did 3 years Varsity when you did 1 JV and 2 V. You might be caught out by what is reported by your GC. It just isn’t worth it. You still did 3 years sports and you showed that your progressed and made it to the JV team, so the lie will have no advantage.</p>
<p>That is certainly true. If you’re caught in a lie, you won’t be admitted. If you’re admitted, and it’s subsequently revealed that you falsified information on your application, you can be expelled from the college or university.</p>
<p>The penalty for falsifying information on your application is enormous compared to the benefit you could get by doing it (at least, in the case of stretching the truth about the soup kitchen, or varsity-vs.-JV). When you sign your Common Application, you check a box where you affirm: “I certify that all information presented in the application process…is…factually true and honestly presented. I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree, should the information that I have certified be false” (<a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2013/2013AppFY_download.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2013/2013AppFY_download.pdf</a>, page 5).</p>
<p>When it comes to extracurricular activities, if your lie isn’t worth checking up on, then it isn’t worth telling because it isn’t going to do you any good to tell it. And if your lie is worth checking up on, then the cost of being caught in the lie it too great to make it worth taking the chance.</p>
<p>Admissions will check if they feel that something is off. I would assume that if you end up in the gut-instinct-something-is-fishy pile, you are 3/4 of the way to being denied.</p>
<p>OP, if you claim, for example, that you were in your HS’s varsity swim team, it is easy for admissions to look at your school swim team’s web site and check if you are indeed part of the Varsity team.</p>
<p>It is easy to check that, I agree, but I don’t really know whether any admissions officer facing a mountain of applications to process would take the time to check it.</p>
<p>If an applicant is a good enough swimmer to compete for the college, that’s worth knowing about. If not, what matters is that the applicant was swimming. Whether it was varsity or JV is of virtually no consequence for this purpose. JMO.</p>
<p>This doesn’t mean I think it would be OK or wise to lie in this situation. Quite the contrary, I think it would be not only wrong, but also spectacularly stupid to compromise your integrity and expose yourself to whatever small risk there is of being found out, all for a lie that gets you nothing of value.</p>
<p>OP, look in the mirror and ask yourself why you were not at the soup kitchen in 2011? did they just suddenly need you when you needed to pad your college application?</p>
<p>At any event, most schools don’t even look at the EC list other than to ascertain that you do have some kind of life or interests. ECs don’t count unless you accomplish something with them, and then they can count for a lot.</p>
<p>Every school in the country has kids on sports teams, in the orchestra, marching in band, acting in plays, writing for the paper etc. There are tens of thousands of you.</p>
<p>But what did you do with your opportunity?</p>
<p>Did you lead your Environmental Club to create a community garden using compost that goes to supply a local food pantry–or did you just go to the meeting every month to hear the total of glass bottles collected in the lunchroom? </p>
<p>Did you just go to band, or did your band have a drive to collect old instruments, arrange for them to be repaired and donated to a homeless shelter/recovery center, where you and band mates went every week to conduct music lessons for the children there?</p>
<p>The sports one is the dumb one. If they check on anything - that would be it. If they’re considering you for the college team anyway. The other stuff, they really don’t care about.</p>
<p>And though you’re correct that a soup kitchen wouldn’t “keep records”; if you volunteered there much at all… they’d remember you.</p>
<p>If you’re going to lie about what you do, at least be smart about it. Pick something where you have no authority figure you’re reporting to. You evangelize for the Church of the SubGenius. You drive around in a van giving candy to children. Etc, etc.</p>
<p>If a university is considering you for its team…it’s not going to be from a line on the EC section of your application. You will have filled out a separate recruitment form, and the coach will have been aware of you from other sources. The admissions office does not send the coach a list of all applicants who have played tennis or basketball.</p>
<p>So listing a sport on your application, whether jv or varsity, really doesn’t matter to admissions other than the fact that you did something positive with your time outside of the classroom.</p>