You may have seen seniors stalk around the lounge, groaning over how they are going to fit their high school life into some essays and a list that restricts them to ten activities, 150 characters each. Somehow, though, some seniors manage to fit more than what they actually have done.
“There is a case that I’ve heard about where the person asked me if they could lie about being in an honor society,” senior Meher Arora said, “They were lying about being inducted when they were just a member. I think it’s really unfair toward people who have actually been inducted and put in work in the society, because someone else is just taking all the credit without doing anything.”
Anyone can become a member in an honor society just by signing up, but in order to be inducted, one needs to apply with a certain amount of hours on record. Dishonesty on the activities list may not be limited to honor societies. In an email, the 2015-16 Executive Council stated that there are more than a hundred clubs in the high school. One cannot help but wonder how many of them are active versus how many of them are only bragged about on activities lists. The latter is likely larger in number than the former.
“I think it’s more common for exaggerating, not actually being, ‘Oh I’m a part of a club I’m not actually a part of,’” senior Michael Tian said. “I think it’s just ’cause it’s easy, because nobody checks. You don’t have to go into detail, so you can just write.”
Students are responsible for filling out the Common Application and submitting it themselves. Counselors often look over their students’ activities lists, but they are mostly just looking at how you’re presenting yourself.
“I do that with most students, and most counselors give feedback if students ask for it, but it’s not a requirement that we’re going to check the activities before you submit it,” counselor Ms. Hillary Hewins said. “I think maybe in some schools they might do that, but it’s not so common.”
Seniors Michelle Mo, Michael Tian, and Meher Arora all agree that the majority of students exaggerate a bit when reporting their activities while a small portion of students blatantly lie about involvement in an activity. However, that doesn’t mean stretching the truth is justified or that it would even help you.
If you’ve ever looked into the college admission process, especially for US colleges, then you’ve probably heard the word “holistic” countless times (maybe even in memes). Ms. Hewins explains that colleges piece together your capabilities not only from your activities list and essays, but also from counselor and teacher recommendation letters.
“It’s like checks and balances,” Ms. Hewins said. “If a student truly makes a difference in a club or activity, it would usually be talked about in the letter from counselors or teachers. Just saying that they’re president even though the club doesn’t do anything is not going to be impressive unless there’s a story, unless it’s explained somewhere.”
If lying does not do you good, does it do you harm? Let’s be real. How likely is it for colleges to find out? So what if they do?
“It might be hard to realize as a student, but when you do thousands of applications, things that are stretched truth or perhaps not true, you have a radar that can detect them,” Ms. Hewins said. “We spend a lot of time getting to know university reps. They might reach out to us. If they see something and they’re like, ‘Wow, this kid seems really interesting, but there’s something that’s just standing out as seeming inauthentic.’ And we can say, ‘No, actually, I don’t think that student did that.’”
Immediately, you’re pretty much guaranteed to be rejected. If you faked something major, counselors also have to inform the other schools you applied to. But that’s if you straight out lie about something major, which should not be happening in the first place. It should be clear that lying is morally problematic, but how justified is it to exaggerate?
“I think [for] exaggeration, there’s a fine line, but I don’t know how to determine when it is not okay,” Michelle Mo said. “I know I exaggerated just a little bit. I think it’s justified when there is truth in it because you’re promoting yourself.”
“[Students] build their entire four years of extracurricular activities based on the common app having to look good,” Meher Arora added. “When it actually comes time to fill it out, there isn’t much talk about how to do it well. I think our counselors should address this issue.”
For example, the activities list option for sports simply says “JV/Varsity.” As many athletes know, students work extremely hard to get into varsity, but the Common Application makes no distinction. Perhaps counselors should encourage students to state the group they belonged to in the position description, but as of now, it’s easy to ignore it and “lie” that you were in varsity when you were in JV.
There is more counselors can do to address inauthenticity on college applications, such as discussing the activities list and explaining the risks, as Ms. Hewins did in her interview with The Echo, but at the end of the day, the problem stems from students’ mentality. You may be able to lie through this, but if (somehow) you get in a college that’s out of your league, the consequences will find you through your own incompetence.
“When it comes to college, people join clubs, not because it’s going to be on anything, but because they’re interested in pursuing their passions and making a difference,” Meher Arora said. “If in high school it was just for the resume, then in your real life, you’re not going to be much of a person if you don’t do things for yourself.”
As a senior who just turned in her early decision application, I encourage you to indulge in more self-reflection and do more things for yourself. These two things will make your college application process so much easier. They might end up on your application or they might not. Either way, you would not have wasted your youth.
My parting advice is, as Michelle Mo beautifully put it, “Just don’t f**king lie.”
Emma Li
 |
| Rainbow wheel of death? Not quite. Taken by Emma Li. |
Anyone can become a member in an honor society just by signing up, but in order to be inducted, one needs to apply with a certain amount of hours on record. Dishonesty on the activities list may not be limited to honor societies. In an email, the 2015-16 Executive Council stated that there are more than a hundred clubs in the high school. One cannot help but wonder how many of them are active versus how many of them are only bragged about on activities lists. The latter is likely larger in number than the former.
 |
| Taken by Emma Li. |
Students are responsible for filling out the Common Application and submitting it themselves. Counselors often look over their students’ activities lists, but they are mostly just looking at how you’re presenting yourself.
“I do that with most students, and most counselors give feedback if students ask for it, but it’s not a requirement that we’re going to check the activities before you submit it,” counselor Ms. Hillary Hewins said. “I think maybe in some schools they might do that, but it’s not so common.”
 |
| Ready or not, here it comes. The Common Application. |
If you’ve ever looked into the college admission process, especially for US colleges, then you’ve probably heard the word “holistic” countless times (maybe even in memes). Ms. Hewins explains that colleges piece together your capabilities not only from your activities list and essays, but also from counselor and teacher recommendation letters.
“It’s like checks and balances,” Ms. Hewins said. “If a student truly makes a difference in a club or activity, it would usually be talked about in the letter from counselors or teachers. Just saying that they’re president even though the club doesn’t do anything is not going to be impressive unless there’s a story, unless it’s explained somewhere.”
If lying does not do you good, does it do you harm? Let’s be real. How likely is it for colleges to find out? So what if they do?
“It might be hard to realize as a student, but when you do thousands of applications, things that are stretched truth or perhaps not true, you have a radar that can detect them,” Ms. Hewins said. “We spend a lot of time getting to know university reps. They might reach out to us. If they see something and they’re like, ‘Wow, this kid seems really interesting, but there’s something that’s just standing out as seeming inauthentic.’ And we can say, ‘No, actually, I don’t think that student did that.’”
Immediately, you’re pretty much guaranteed to be rejected. If you faked something major, counselors also have to inform the other schools you applied to. But that’s if you straight out lie about something major, which should not be happening in the first place. It should be clear that lying is morally problematic, but how justified is it to exaggerate?
“I think [for] exaggeration, there’s a fine line, but I don’t know how to determine when it is not okay,” Michelle Mo said. “I know I exaggerated just a little bit. I think it’s justified when there is truth in it because you’re promoting yourself.”
“[Students] build their entire four years of extracurricular activities based on the common app having to look good,” Meher Arora added. “When it actually comes time to fill it out, there isn’t much talk about how to do it well. I think our counselors should address this issue.”
For example, the activities list option for sports simply says “JV/Varsity.” As many athletes know, students work extremely hard to get into varsity, but the Common Application makes no distinction. Perhaps counselors should encourage students to state the group they belonged to in the position description, but as of now, it’s easy to ignore it and “lie” that you were in varsity when you were in JV.
There is more counselors can do to address inauthenticity on college applications, such as discussing the activities list and explaining the risks, as Ms. Hewins did in her interview with The Echo, but at the end of the day, the problem stems from students’ mentality. You may be able to lie through this, but if (somehow) you get in a college that’s out of your league, the consequences will find you through your own incompetence.
“When it comes to college, people join clubs, not because it’s going to be on anything, but because they’re interested in pursuing their passions and making a difference,” Meher Arora said. “If in high school it was just for the resume, then in your real life, you’re not going to be much of a person if you don’t do things for yourself.”
As a senior who just turned in her early decision application, I encourage you to indulge in more self-reflection and do more things for yourself. These two things will make your college application process so much easier. They might end up on your application or they might not. Either way, you would not have wasted your youth.
My parting advice is, as Michelle Mo beautifully put it, “Just don’t f**king lie.”
Emma Li
