Post By: COYD Staff
Plagiarism and falsifying facts on your college applications have never been things to take lightly. However, now more than ever, universities are cracking down and dedicating financial resources to preventing this kind of fraud.
As most of you know, Adam Wheeler, a transfer student at Harvard, was admitted into both Stanford and Harvard with a completely fictional application. He fooled the admissions staff with a fake perfect SAT score, fake transcripts and fake letters of recommendation that not only gave him admission to Harvard but also to over $45,000 in financial aid. This was not only an embarassment to these two reputable schools, but it also showed everybody that application fraud is not something to take lightly.
Since then, Harvard announced in September of this year that they will be more closely scrutinizing applications for fraud. The University President Drew Faust said that Harvard plans to implement its own technological measures which they won’t describe because it would be easier to undermine.
Yesterday, Stanford also announced that they will implement random auditing of prospective students’ applications starting this application season. The University of California system has already been auditing applications by asking 10 percent of the applicants to “verify activites, grades, or facts from personal essays.”
As I’ve mentioned before, Turnitin, a “patented, award-winning plagiarism software technology”, is becoming more popular with university admissions offices. Turnitin was originally used to check papers for plagiarism, but in 2009 they added admission essays to the list of documents they would check for plagiarism. Penn State was the first college to reveal that their admissions office purchased the service. I believe more and more colleges will also sign up for the service if they haven’t already.
So obviously, if you have ever been tempted to lie on your application, don’t. Not only is it unethical, but it will also ruin your chances of getting in anywhere if caught. However, due to the extra scrutiny put on college applications this year, below are a few things you shouldn’t do when filling out your application:
1. Don’t write about leadership roles or extracurricular activities that you can’t verify.
2. Don’t embellish.
3. Don’t upgrade nominations to awards.
4. Do not put quotes into your essay without citing it in internal documentation.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Turnitin Admissions, collegeofyourdreams. collegeofyourdreams said: Increased scrutiny on college applications…what it means for the normal college applicant http://bit.ly/bWUyqI via @AddToAny […]
[…] Increased scrutiny on college applications…what it means for the … Tags: chicago sun times, college, Don, George, Japan, Judith, lame duck congress, nbsp Published by admin on Dec 26, 2010 under 1 | Post your comment now Find out more: collegerim.info/?p=3409 here. « college boys […]
[…] Increased scrutiny on college applications…what it means for the … Tags: are, cité sciences, for, free application for federal student aid, New Published by admin on Dec 27, 2010 under 1 | Post your comment now Find out more: collegerim.info/?p=3427 here. « college tuition wiki […]
[…] Increased scrutiny on college applications…what it means for the … Tags: college, Don, financial aid applications, George, Judith, National Park, nbsp, private colleges, Read Published by admin on Dec 27, 2010 under 1 | Post your comment now Find out more: collegerim.info/?p=3441 here. « college community grants […]
[…] Increased scrutiny on college applications…what it means for the … Tags: college, free application for federal student aid, free application for federal student aid fafsa, George, Ivy League, Judith, nbsp Published by admin on Dec 28, 2010 under 1 | Post your comment now Find out more: collegerim.info/?p=3493 here. « city college vancouver […]
[…] Increased scrutiny on college applications…what it means for the … Tags: bcs championship game, college, software, stanford course Published by admin on Jan 13, 2011 under 1 | Post your comment now Find out more: collegerim.info/?p=4063 here. « city college of new york international relations […]
[…] Increased scrutiny on college applications…what it means for the … Tags: -, -, cité sciences, Consultant Helps, Detroit, elite schools, for, Marian, Michael, Michigan, this Published by admin on Jan 13, 2011 under 1 | Post your comment now Find out more: collegerim.info/?p=4065 here. « college applications […]
[…] Increased scrutiny on college applications…what it means for the … Tags: Canada, cd rom guide, college, college applications and essays, credit, Read, U. S. And Published by admin on Jan 13, 2011 under 1 | Post your comment now Find out more: collegerim.info/?p=4089 here. « trinity college admissions quiz college life » […]
[…] Increased scrutiny on college applications…what it means for the … Tags: admission representatives, application, e mail marketing, school Published by admin on Jan 13, 2011 under 1 | Post your comment now Find out more: collegerim.info/?p=4113 here. « college life […]