UC applicants face new test: truthfulness

[Craig]

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/4490822.htm

Posted on Sun, Nov. 10, 2002 story
UC applicants face new test: truthfulness
OFFICIALS TO MAKE STUDENTS VERIFY ADMISSION-FORM CLAIMS
By Becky Bartindale
Mercury News

Starting next year, the University of California system will begin spot-checking students' claims about their accomplishments and personal circumstances, an attempt to discourage them from embellishing or lying on their applications as competition for admission increases.

It's an effort to face concerns that some students may exaggerate their achievements or fabricate hardship stories because getting good grades and test scores is no longer enough to guarantee admission to the most popular UC campuses. The verification program is believed to be the first such formal effort in the nation.

Students applying for admission in fall 2003 will be the first class to have their veracity routinely tested. Currently, individual UC campuses check high school grades after the senior year and any obviously suspicious statements. But beginning in January, an undetermined number of the system's freshman applicants will be asked to provide support for claims about such things as activities outside the classroom, personal achievements and obstacles overcome.

David Barden, 18, a senior at Los Gatos High School who is in the thick of the college-application process, said he welcomes fact-checking. The pressure to get into a ``good'' school is intense, he said, and students might fudge the truth because they think they haven't done enough or think everyone else is doing it.

``It would just make people think twice about lying on their applications,'' he said. ``It makes a more even playing field.''

Random sampling is one of several steps endorsed by a faculty committee that has evaluated the university's year-old ``comprehensive review'' process that individual campuses use in deciding which students to admit. The review will be presented to UC regents Thursday.

Until last fall, campuses selected 50 to 75 percent of their freshman on academic criteria alone.

Now, under comprehensive review, campuses evaluate all students on criteria other than academic achievement, which they say remains the most important consideration. Officials also look at factors such as out-of-the-classroom activities, leadership abilities, educational disadvantage, family income and hardships overcome.

Critics object to the move away from objective evaluations such as grades and test scores to more individualized, subjective reviews.

They say the new approach looks like a backdoor way of reviving affirmative action. The university reports the proportion of black and Latino students remained relatively stable at four of the six selective campuses, and increased slightly at the University of California-San Diego and University of California-Los Angeles.

The faculty committee concluded the comprehensive review process was carried out fairly and enhanced or maintained academic quality. But when UCLA gets 43,000 applications for 10,000 spots, as it did this fall, there is a perception that students may be tempted to lie or cheat.

Although concern about student résumé inflation is an issue nationally, UC may be the first system to take formal steps to root out the problem, said Judy Hingle, director of professional development for the National Association of College Admissions Counselors.

``We recognize in order to maintain the highest level of public confidence, we need to do some verification,'' said Barbara Sawrey, a chemistry professor at UC-San Diego who heads the faculty's Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools, BOARS. At the same time, she said, some pilot screening this year turned up almost no evidence that students were anything but truthful.

But students and high school advisers say they have little doubt that some students embellish their records, so they think random fact-checking is a good idea.

``It may help keep everybody honest,'' said Nancy Elliott, a college adviser at Palo Alto High School. ``But I think the message should be that we expect people to present themselves honestly, and that's what we think they do.''

Although details of the verification program still are being worked out, university officials said enough applications would be checked to provide a statistically valid sample. Randomly selected students would be asked to show proof of certain claims before their applications would be considered.

UC officials did two pilot verification studies this year. UC-San Diego fact-checked claims about family income as well as honors, achievements and community service made by 437 admitted students. The Office of the President checked claims made in the personal statements of 40 students. In only one instance was a student unable to back up a claim.

Still, Tom Key, head counselor at San Jose's Independence High School, said it's naive to think students don't fabricate.

``I firmly believe -- though I don't know what the number is -- that as things become more and more competitive, everybody's looking for that one little thing that will push them into the acceptance pile,'' Key said. ``I think students will take liberties they shouldn't take, including saying they've done things they haven't done.''

Some counselors said that students who tell the truth about what they have done or who have not faced personal hardships worry they cannot compete with those who make up things or come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

``Kids are playing the game that's been set up; they are working the system,'' said David Miller, director of college counseling at the exclusive Stevenson School in Pebble Beach. ``Some parents feel a reverse preference that works against white upper-class prep school kids, so they have to find the way to play the game.''

For campuses like the University of California-Berkeley and UCLA, ``kids are aware that their chances of getting admitted are slim and they are afraid other people are making things up,'' said Nina Robinson, UC's director of policy and external relations for student affairs. ``We want to take that pressure off them, that pressure of exaggeration.''

[AliBabaIncorporated]

hah, can't wait for the first court case where the University claims some guy is lying about his ethnic background, denies him admission, and he sues as a result ...

[lethal]

When I applied to Harvard in 1995, they asked for a music sample tape months after I sent in my application because a lot of my extra-currics and awards were musical.

Perhaps it was a spot check of my resume? If it was, then that aspect of college admissions has been around a long time, just not necessarily at UCs.

[Chris]

I think that is a great idea. I know my sister is busting her ass working and doing extra curricular activities to get into UC Davis and UC Berkeley. To get rid of a few of the liars will be better for my sister to get into these school.

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by AliBabaIncorporated@Dec 3 2002, 12:34 PM
hah, can't wait for the first court case where the University claims some guy is lying about his ethnic background, denies him admission, and he sues as a result ...

Why would they lie about their ethnic background?

I think they're only checking things like.. personal accomplishments and extracurriculars.

[ChinaLama]

"I'm a Native American...well i was BORN in America so that makes me native...ok so I wasn't born in America, but I was raised so long here that I've completely culturally assimilated and feel as if america were my native country, and in the original position behind the veil of ignorance, i would have chosen America as my country of birth if I had that choice."

[angel nympho]

^-- What the hell kind of people would SAY that?!? Hahahaha~

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Dec 4 2002, 05:04 AM
Why would they lie about their ethnic background?

I think they're only checking things like.. personal accomplishments and extracurriculars.

presumably there is a reason cuz I know students who have actually done it. back before HS, I recall plenty of Chinese people who claimed to be ethnically Filipino, Laotian, Cambodian, etc. on the strength of parents' or grandparents' citizenship or residence in those countries.

even though under the law, race-based affirmative action should not exist in Cali ...

[angel nympho]

^-- Whoa, that's nuts. I had no idea people cared enough to lie about that. On all apps I've seen, it always makes sure to state that it's not necessary to say what ethnicity one is, and that whatever they choose will have no bearing on their acceptance.

Most people I know only lied on their community service/extra curriculars/personal achievements.

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Dec 5 2002, 01:20 AM
^-- Whoa, that's nuts. I had no idea people cared enough to lie about that.

with the anti-Chinese quotas in force at Lowell, etc., it was certainly worth it to lie.