Recently I was fortunate enough to be admitted to a good school in the U.S… The summer before 12th Grade I started my own research project (with an advisor from a research lab near me) and it was going great! I was working about 8 hours per week on the project until around I submitted my college applications, which is also when my project advisor fell ill. She was unable to assist or direct me for the next two months and my average hours fell to 2-4 hrs/wk.
Then, I was admitted Early Decision. Now, I’m really worried: Is my school going to look into this hour drop? I even wrote about this activity in one of my essays and I think it’s really important to me but the drop in hours makes me feel like I’ve lied or something.
Should I just get back to work and try and go back up to 10hrs/wk? Will my school think I’m misrepresenting myself if I tell them what happened?
It’s been stressing me out so much. I’m really afraid my application will get rescinded or something because of this situation.
Did you mention an expected publication or a specific end product for this research? If not, you don’t need to worry about this. If yes, you should continue your work to reach that end goal. You don’t need to tell the school anything either way.
I just said “I did research” but didn’t say I published anything or produced any work product. It was still a significant time commitment and considered a volunteering activity, which is why I’m worried that if they audit my ECs they’ll think it’s weird that I can’t produce evidence of the hour count. 8hrs/week feels like a lot and I really don’t want to feel like a liar or a cheater.
Nobody is going to audit your EC’s - they will have hundreds (or thousands) of admitted students. You were truthful about the hours until your app submission - that’s all that matters.
Take a deep breath - you are fine. From how you explain the situation, you did not falsify your application.
The hour commitment changed - that happens for a lot of activities. It is great that you can still continue in any capacity and hopefully you are getting value/enjoying this project.
Thank you so much for responding agh!!! This literally kept me up all last night. I think I’m gonna continue to work on the project and get up to a significant number of hours to make 100% super sure that I have receipts of all the work that I do and just focus on the project. I have a part-time job and this worry was even making me consider quitting lol.
The rest of my app is completely accurate and this was the only semi-mistake I made so as long as it doesn’t seem to be an issue I think it’s ok. The research was mentioned in my LoRs too so I have backup there.
I guess I’m just an anxious student at the end of the day
things happen - how about the applicant that lists babysitting for the neighbors as an activity and now the neighbors moved, or the high school soccer player (not a recruited athlete) that has an injury and now sits on the sideline and so on and so on.
They do not need to update the schools - what you wrote was the truth and your intention at the time.
Your entire application is what got you accepted - maybe your research, or your part time job, or your essay resonated with the admissions rep - but it is the entire app and not just one thing - be proud of yourself !
If you continue to lose sleep over this change, just call/contact/email the ED school with the updated information. Circumstances beyond your control should not affect your ED decision.
You are already admitted. You could literally stop doing all the EC activities that were on your application and it will be fine. The college won’t know or care. The only thing that might be relevant is if you start failing classes. And, even then, if you have a reasonable explanation (family circumstances, illness) that probably wouldn’t matter either. You are in the school once they admit you and you pay your deposit. Congratulations.
