lying about extracurriculars

[mamacitadude]

This dude who lives down the hall from me said he lied about doing a lot of volunteer work in Ghana (he was from Ghana so he knew the place well) on his application to med school. But he hasn't even been to this country in some ten years. Do u think schools can find out that kind of stuff? Legally speaking Im guessing schools don't have the right to look thru ur passport info (for example, there was a whole controversy about how Obama's passport info got out when it shouldn't have).

Wat r ur thoughts about this? Know any one who got caught doing stuff like this?

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[ZagDoc]

He'll probably get away with it. Everyone has a tendency to embellish their ECs on their AMCAS, not as a deliberate attempt to be dishonest but in order to make it sound like the things they spent their time doing were important. Of course, ADCOMs know the game that pre-meds play and the way that medical schools "screen" extracurriculars is by asking applicants about them at the interviews. It becomes clear right away which ones the applicant was actually seriously invested in, both by their enthusiasm and their knowledge of the EC.

Since he's from Ghana and can talk knowledably on the country, if he makes up some convincing BS and stories surrounding his "volunteer work" schools will be non the wiser. Such is the nature of the game, unfortunately.

 

[175961]

whats with all these dumb questions??? you think we are going to commend the dude for what he did??

 

[Law2Doc]

This dude who lives down the hall from me said he lied about doing a lot of volunteer work in Ghana (he was from Ghana so he knew the place well) on his application to med school. But he hasn't even been to this country in some ten years. Do u think schools can find out that kind of stuff? Legally speaking Im guessing schools don't have the right to look thru ur passport info (for example, there was a whole controversy about how Obama's passport info got out when it shouldn't have).

Wat r ur thoughts about this? Know any one who got caught doing stuff like this?

They sometimes ask for contact people on ECs and have been known to call. But odds are this dude won't get caught. Honestly though, if you have to lie to create more ECs, you won't have done enough to be a convincing applicant and probably won't fare well in the interview process, where they will ask about this kind of stuff. Scammers are rarely as convincing as they'd like to think, and a skeptical interviewer will get rubbed the wrong way pretty quickly with this kind of thing. Having worked with a few less than truthful clients in my day, I promise you the ones who lie aren't ever all that good at it (and never as good as they think), and the younger they are, the worse they lie (it's apparently something that improves with years of experience). So a college age person trying to lie about something the interviewer will specifically ask about isn't going to come off very well. They won't get "caught" per se, they just won't get an endorsement from the interviewer, which will equal a rejection at that school.

 

[mamacitadude]

Kinda unfair how people can get away with it though. I actually volunteered close to five hours per week at a local hospital and this guy will get away scratch free lying about something that will look way more impressive than what i have.

 

[Bacchus]

It will more than likely come out during his interviews.

 

[HoboCommander]

it is very sad that there are people who cheat their way through life. but yeah, he'll probably get away with it.

personally, i don't embellish my apps at all, and it is never a problem. i help my friends with their applications and have helped them get into schools like Caltech and Harvard using very down to earth applications.

 

[mamacitadude]

I wish I met him before I submitted my applications. May be that would have given me courage to "embellish" my app a little . 😉

 

[Law2Doc]

I wish I met him before I submitted my applications. May be that would have given me courage to "embellish" my app a little . 😉

Not getting caught and getting into med school are very different things. It's safe to say his odds are better on the former than the latter.

 

[175961]

I wish I met him before I submitted my applications. May be that would have given me courage to "embellish" my app a little . 😉

Adding a few more volunteer hours to the list might be a little.....making up a trip to Ghana might be considered more than a little

 

[vectorman]

I actually know of some one who got caught..they got him in the background search phase after he got accepted for lying about going to China on a volunteer mission 🙁

 

[LikeClockWork]

It's probably easier to get away with than people think, but I'm sure not brave enough to risk it!

 

[Law2Doc]

It's probably easier to get away with than people think, but I'm sure not brave enough to risk it!

I'm telling you, having dealt with clients/witnesses who tried to lie under oath in my prior career, it's much much harder than people think. The true pathologics can do it (but they won't get into med school for other reasons). Everybody else tends to be a lot worse than they think. And again, a 20 year old who thinks he can lie well is almost always going to be far less convincing than a 50 year old who thinks he can lie well.

 

[iduwanna]

I actually know of some one who got caught..they got him in the background search phase after he got accepted for lying about going to China on a volunteer mission 🙁

Did they call his contact?

 

[vectorman]

i dunno i think they might have some how gotten his records.

 

[Maxwell Edison]

If you think it is really a problem, you don't have to let him get away with it.

 

[ZagDoc]

If you think it is really a problem, you don't have to let him get away with it.

What would the OP do? Stalk the person and find out what schools they are applying to, buy a voice scrambler, then call the admissions departments? The unfortunate truth is that there are many people that lie on their applications. The only real course of action is to have a little faith that the process exposes the majority of these people (which it can) and to realize that no amount of personal vigilante justice is going to make any real difference in the OP's chances of being accepted somewhere. Just do the best on your applications as possible, have all your ducks in a row, and realize that yes, in the real world, there are cheating a$$holes. But that that doesn't mean you have to be one.

 

[calnation]

I think there's a growing number of premeds that have embellished, yet unverifiable stories about what they did in various 3rd world countries. Something makes me think adcoms are starting to show a little scrutiny when it comes to these stories. Trust me, they are so used to med school applicants, theyll smell the bs.

 

[Character]

i wrote down Starting QB At U Michigan..not entirely false..i started qb for my intramural teams.

 

[Maxwell Edison]

What would the OP do? Stalk the person and find out what schools they are applying to, buy a voice scrambler, then call the admissions departments? The unfortunate truth is that there are many people that lie on their applications. The only real course of action is to have a little faith that the process exposes the majority of these people (which it can) and to realize that no amount of personal vigilante justice is going to make any real difference in the OP's chances of being accepted somewhere. Just do the best on your applications as possible, have all your ducks in a row, and realize that yes, in the real world, there are cheating a$$holes. But that that doesn't mean you have to be one.

This wasn't a call to arms, just some food for thought.

 

[TexasTriathlete]

I hope he is interviewed by someone from Ghana.

 

[JCN87]

I don't think you guys should even worry about this. Anyone who attempts to embellish their application may slightly increase their chances of getting an interview, but can totally blow off their chances of getting accepted if they get caught with their bs. Some interviewers have years of experience in interviewing people and can easily spot a person who is BSing better than you think. Sometimes you get physicians doing the interviews and these physicians have been trained to assess patients very well and have lots of experience doing it. They can easily tell if a patient is lying to them or hiding something. They are better than you think at detecting lies.

 

[Law2Doc]

I hope he is interviewed by someone from Ghana.

A lot of schools will match interviewers with interviewees based on things on the application. I have certainly heard of schools calling a student's bluff when s/he claims to be fluent in various languages, if they happen to have an interviewer who fits. (If you say you are fluent in Portuguese, it's possible an interview will be conducted in Portuguese).