<p>Alright, so I recently applied to some very prestigious schools and believe that I have pretty strong credentials (top 3% of class, 11 APs, Captain of two sports, active volunteer, etc.). As part of my application, I sent in a comprehensive resume of all my activities. At the time I was writing this resume, I felt the need to embellish a little, you know, give the stuff a little fluff. And now, quite frankly, I feel terrible about it. The focal point of my guilt occured on my main common app essay. I wrote about a truly heartbreaking experience of mine and how I overcame it, which has made me the person I am today. However, during this essay, I fabricated the truth and made up some parts to give a more accurate representation of the hardships that ive had to go through growing up in a broken home. I simply feel terrible now because I embellished and said a few things that never happened. On my resume, I made a few dumb mistakes such as putting that I was in the “National History Honors Society” for the past two years, when in reality, I just found out, that it wasnt a “National Society” but rather a School wide honors society that hasn’t had any meetings this year (I put this on it because I was under the belief that we would be more active the second semester…stupid me I know). Because of the overwhelming guilt that I felt after putting this on my resume, I went to the teacher that sponsored it last year and told her that I have a few ideas and wanted to get the club back up again, like she said we were doing at the beginning of the year. She still hasn’t gotten back to me…Lastly, one of the main strengths of my application was my involvement in the cross coutnry and track teams. I was nominated as captain for both my junior and senior years in cross country by our coach. Our track coach, however, never nominated captains for track my junior year, and i assumed that i was, so i put in on my application. It turns out that the coach moved out of state following the season and we have a new coach this year, who has already nominated me as captain. Anyway, was i right to assume my being a captain? I in essence was, but it was never “official”…
Anyway, am I worrying over nothing here? Is the fact that I seemingly made up a few parts of my essay to give a more accurate representation of my childhood a sin I should really feel guilty about? Also, what should I do about the part where I put my an acclaimed membership in a club that hasn’t been active all year (which will hopefully change within a week) ? I honestly feel that even if I get accepted at these universities, I truly didn’t get in honestly. Should I feel this, or am I making way too much of this situation?</p>
<p>You have a biting conscience, my friend.</p>
<p>Let it go. However, I certainly respect your strong morals.</p>
<p>And Lastly, I put that I helped “mentor a middle school cross country team” for the past three years, when in actualality, all i did was help set up the race and help them afterwards, and it was on one occassion for two years, not three…</p>
<p>“picture of u diggin urself deeper” let it go dude, i think everyone stretches to some extent. dont worry about what u did, run more, from a fellow xc runner.
peace</p>
<p>i know im probably being way too conscientious about it, but i cant help that feel if i get in to any of the schools i applied to, i wouldnt of done it honestly and wont truly belong there. may sound corny, but its true</p>
<p>I know how you feel… I went over a bit on the hours ECs/week because I was in a rush to get the app in, not thinking straight, etc… and I thought a few extra hours might help (I mean it’s still within the range that sponsors can verify)… but now looking back I feel really guilty… and it probably actually hurt me. </p>
<p>… I’ll join your biting conscience club…</p>
<p>Don’t worry - you didn’t completely lie, which is good. Lots of ppl lie outright and fully, and those are the people who really don’t deserve it their acceptance in that form</p>
<p>Yeah, some of my friends lied about everything. Said they did a sport they didn’t do, etc.</p>
<p>For me, I put that I did track in grade 12 because I was planning on it but broke my leg, so now I kind of feel bad.</p>
<p>‘Embellishing’ a little isn’t going to help your application enough to go from the reject pile to the accept pile. Adding extra activities, etc, is more punishable- and you didn’t do that. A few extra hours isn’t going to make much of a difference at all.</p>
<p>So, even though you should have just avoided the whole moral dilemna, if you get into your schools, it’s not because of your embellishment. It will still be because of the things you actually did.</p>
<p>Hopefully you’ll forget about it in due time. It’s good either way that you’re not some soulless laundry-lister, though, and you do care about telling the truth. I just typed out my first NHS application, and I’ve been trying to be as accurate as possible. It is a little difficult, especially if nothing’s really been written in stone.</p>
<p>so what do i need to do? contact the colleges or just forget about it all</p>
<p>the only thing i would contact schools about is being in the “national honors society”.</p>
<p>Its kind of a big thing if you say you’re in a society based around integrity and honesty if you’re not.</p>
<p>So the deal here is to remember how you feel now and be transparently honest going forward. You have plenty of amazing accomplishments w/o stretching!</p>
<p>After your acceptances you’ll see that those small bits of exaggeration had zero impact on your chances but they made you feel less than clean. Additionally, there are situations where such behavior could cost you a job, your dignity or friends.</p>
<p>how would I go up about updating them on the whole history honors society part? is it such a small difference that i shouldnt even bother?</p>
<p>just write them a letter or email or whatever explaining that you made an error and said national instead of history and apologize for any inconvenience it may cause them. It should be very brief and professional.</p>
<p>I wish that a guidance counselor who deals with college apps could give you some advice. You could actually call an admissions office and tell them that you reviewed your application and realized that you had been confused about the name of the honor society and ask their advice… I know that may not feel right. I think it would be viewed as a simple error and they would realize that you want to set the record straight. It’s the only flaw in your transcript that could ever be picked up, although I seriously doubt that it would be.
I am a parent and so my ideas may not be workable but I tend to think that at least offering a correction might be in your best interest.
In reality those honor societies are not very weighty in terms of admissions but truth is.</p>
<p>no problem lying in your essay lol theyll never find out. hell many people just pay others to <em>write</em> their essays, you’re fine.</p>
<p>the rest wont make or break your admission so it doesnt really matter</p>
<p>wow this sucks…</p>
<p>You are really OK— this moment will pass. I just like that you woke up to what was happening.</p>