The college admissions process is almost as always overwhelming as curating your college application. The months of waiting can be anxiety-inducing. Students work tirelessly on personal statements, supplemental essays, and extracurricular activities every year. The question is, how do colleges verify what you include in your application?
Unsurprisingly, colleges– particularly Ivy Leagues- have a rigorous application process. Based on the class of 2027 admissions cycle, Harvard only admitted 3.41%, Columbia accepted 3.93%, and Yale with a 4.35% acceptance rate. Selective liberal arts colleges in the East like Amherst and Colby only had acceptance rates of 7% during the 2026 admissions cycle.
In this blog, we will find answers to questions such as: How do colleges verify extracurriculars? How do colleges review applications? Who reviews college applications? Read on if you’re interested in the inner workings of the college admissions process, especially with elite institutions in mind.
How Do College Admissions Work?
Although every college is different in its exact process of admission, most colleges first review an application for a student to verify whether they have qualifying grades and test scores. If they don’t meet the basic criteria set by the school, then their application can be disqualified. If the student does have qualifying grades and test scores, however, their application will continue being reviewed. In other words, no student will be admitted to a highly selective school solely based on their great grades and test scores, though they do need to have qualifying grades and test scores to have a chance at being admitted.
Do colleges verify extracurriculars? The short answer is generally speaking extracurricular activities are all self-reported in the application. However, college admissions officers can verify your academic record and extracurricular involvement through your school counselor, teachers, transcript, and a simple Google search.
Some students have had their admissions rescinded for falsifying their extracurricular activities and academic accomplishments in the past, and this is something we do not recommend.
Highly selective institutions particularly Ivy Leagues evaluate an incredible number of applications every year. That’s where holistic college admissions processes enter the picture. Ivy Leagues will evaluate the entire application holistically, including GPA, test scores, extracurriculars, personal qualities, college essays, supplemental essays, extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, and the college interview process.
In fact, according to the Common Data Set for Harvard, for example, they look exactly at these criteria as factors of admission:
Academic
- Rigor of secondary school record
- Academic Grade Point Average
- Recommendations
- Standardized Test Scores
- Application Essay
Non-Academic
- Interview
- Extracurricular Activities
- Talent/ability
- Character/personal qualities
- First Generation
- Alumni/ae relation
- Geographical residence
- Volunteer Work
- Work Experience
Highly selective schools like the Ivy Leagues and top state schools such as UC Berkeley and UCLA, usually have two or three reviewers who go through your application and then give you a score. The score is usually broken down into three buckets. The first bucket will be for applications likely to be admitted. Another bucket would include those that need further reviewing.
The third bucket is for those who are likely to get rejected based on a poor academic record. While there is no official minimum GPA threshold given these schools evaluate applications holistically, you can see the following GPA statistics for an Ivy League such as Harvard:
| GPA Range | Percentile |
| GPA of 4.0 | 74.02% |
| GPA between 3.75 and 3.99 | 19.67% |
| GPA between 3.50 and 3.74 | 4.10% |
| GPA between 3.25 and 3.49 | 1.07% |
| GPA between 3.00 and 3.24 | 0.82% |
| GPA between 2.50 and 2.99 | 0.25% |
| GPA between 2.0 and 2.49 | 0% |
| GPA between 1.0 and 1.99 | 0.07% |
As you can see from the table above, there were 0.7% of the student body had a GPA between 1.0 and 1.99 who were admitted to Harvard. These students may have been wealthy donors, legacies, or recruited athletes who were admitted based on their non-academic standards given above.
Who Reviews College Applications?
Before the college application even hits the “admissions committee” stage for a final determination, each application is put into the hands of an individual college admissions officer. Admissions officers carefully go through each student’s application, analyze it, and put forward a well-thought-out recommendation on whom they feel should get the opportunity to study at the university.
Do colleges verify extracurriculars in this process? In other words, the college admissions officer wants to form the finest incoming class that the school is capable of having. A school’s admission officer oversees a specific region in the country, so with a large number of schools, there are several of them. They, in general, are a varied group who represent the university’s alumni.
In brief, the college admissions officer is an officer majorly tasked with advocating on behalf of their students, assigned to them, why they should be admitted, who they are as a person, and how they believe they could contribute to or benefit from the college. Because of this, the question of “do colleges verify extracurriculars?” is one of the questions an applicant should consider.
Admissions officers will personally read and record on the application they’re assigned all the information within, formulating a written summary of the information of the students’ applications that they will eventually discuss with the review committee. So, do colleges verify extracurriculars? The answer is a resounding yes, especially if a student’s accomplishments are impressive. The admissions officers may call the school counselor or examine the academic record such as a transcript to verify whether these extracurricular or academic accomplishments are indeed real. and other parts of the application are considered in this laborious and long process that results in no one admissions officer making the ultimate decision regarding the student’s acceptance to the college; all decisions on admissions are collaborative and go back to the Director of Admissions, Dean, or Vice President for Enrollment for their approval.
What is the Role of a Regional Admissions Officer?
Upon sending your application, it takes an admissions officer about 15-20 minutes to read your application. Within that small window, the officer must try to understand who you are and what you have accomplished through the Common Application and personal statements. Do colleges verify extracurriculars during this brief review? To that end, the admissions officer will look at your academic records, essays, extracurriculars, awards, third-party recognition, and recommendations. If there is an overarching impactful theme within your application, the admissions officer will see it.
However, if the application does not contain a compelling story, the officer will not remember it. It may be as many as 25% of the applications that get rejected after the first read. After going through your application folder, the admission officer will grade your academic and extra-curricular performances and then return the folder to be further processed. This raises the question: do colleges verify extracurriculars at this stage or later?
If highly impressive, the officer may recommend the application for acceptance by marking it and sending the folder directly to the director of admissions. He may folder-mark the application for rejection if he feels it is definitely going to be rejected and forward it directly to the Associate Director of Admissions. Considering this rigorous process, applicants often wonder, do colleges verify extracurriculars thoroughly before making a final decision? Although most of the activities are self-reported, the answer is yes! Admissions officers may want to fact-check your activities just to ensure they are indeed true.
Second Reader
The second reader is usually another admissions officer, a professor, or sometimes even a third party whom the college knows and can trust to read and score applications. Since the first reader has already done most of the work about filling in the biographical information and doing any kind of record keeping that might be required, the second reader more easily can keep the whole picture in view as they go through the application process. The second reader will then assign a score and send the folder to either a third reader or the admissions committee.
Third Reader
The third reader of an application is either the associate director of admissions or the director of admissions. If the first and second readers recommend that a candidate be denied admission, the folder is then forwarded to the associate director for a final decision. These folders are almost always denied.
Similarly, if both the first and second readers recommend that an applicant should be admitted, the file will be forwarded to the director of admissions, who will then either admit the applicant or forward the folder to the admissions committee. Those applications neither admitted nor rejected at this stage will eventually reach the admissions committee for discussion.
What Does the Admissions Committee Do?
If after the third read, a decision is not reached, then the application is sent to the admissions committee. Not all colleges employ an admissions committee — just the most selective colleges will follow this model. That said, what is an admissions committee and how does a review process work? What do admissions officers look for?
Following the review of your college application by an assigned admissions officer, your application will be presented to most of the other college admissions officers. However, some of the individuals sitting on the admissions committee will include the President and Vice President of Admissions, different academic deans, particular professors, or notable alumni– depending on the college.
Admission committees vary greatly from school to school and can be as small as a few individuals or as large as a full room. No matter who comprises it, their mission is to discuss how you as an applicant can add value to the incoming class and whether you will be a good fit for the school. The details vary from school to school, but the admissions committee does vote on an application, either to accept it, reject it, or send it for further review.
Do Colleges Verify Extracurriculars?
Yes, colleges may verify extracurriculars, but this is on a case-to-case basis. As already emphasized, good grades and test scores are not enough. The most prestigious colleges want students who are passionate and capable, with a proven track record of high achievement. To put together a winning college application, you will need a clear application strategy. In other words, you’ll need to construct a clear narrative concerning the person and student you are. Do colleges verify extracurriculars to ensure this curated application is accurate? Of course!
One of the best ways to do this is by highlighting your engagement in meaningful extracurricular activities. These become the linchpin elements of a college application for the simple reason that they can help convey who you are, what you are passionate about, and what drives and inspires you. Do colleges verify extracurriculars to see if these activities genuinely reflect your passions and achievements? These are the matters that will be dissected during the admissions review process, so make sure you give them a lot to have to say on your behalf.
It is surprising how many students, in an attempt to make themselves stand out, often go a little too far in their accomplishments and end up putting contradictory or incompatible information. Take this case: a student’s resume boasts that they had served as director of a community drama play, while the drama instructor’s recommendation applauds them for the great work they did as a props creator. Needless to say, this raises suspicions.
This is just one of many ways applicants can stretch the truth and risk setting off an admissions counselor’s suspicion. So the question now is, do colleges verify extracurriculars and the information you include in your application? If so, how could you make sure that your admissions process becomes as seamless as possible? Read on to find out.
Be Honest About Your Extracurriculars
Do not exaggerate your level of volunteer, work, or extracurricular experience, nor the number of weekly hours that you spent engaged in such activities. It doesn’t make sense that you somehow volunteered at a community library 20 hours per week—while being a part of the school choir that goes on regional competitions while taking four AP classes on top of being the main player for the football team. Do colleges verify extracurriculars in such cases? They might, and inconsistencies can raise red flags.
There’s no reason to be less than 100% honest about what you did in your free time during high school. Some students, rather short on activities, panic at the sight of so much blank space in their extracurriculars section that they resort to grossly exaggerating or flat-out inventing clubs, sports, and jobs, among others. Be authentic to who you are, because this will come out naturally during the interview. Do colleges verify extracurriculars? Yes, and don’t invent things that you will eventually forget once asked by the admissions panel.
Your Passions and Goals Must Align
To make your application stronger, you have to make sure that you’re not only honest but also logical. For example, some applicants describe academic interests in terms of academics and future careers but are not supported by their extracurriculars. Do colleges verify extracurriculars to see if they align with your stated interests? For example, claiming that you’re interested in pursuing Law but failed to take AP Government and Politics in your senior year and all of the other activities included in your application focus on music and arts… well, this is a tough conundrum and the admissions officer might think that you still don’t have a clear grasp of what you want. Which, to be fair, is normal– but this affects your chances of getting into your dream school.
This is not to say that the above scenario cannot represent a sincere and compelling true story. Maybe you never had any interest in Law until you watched How To Get Away With Murder or Legally Blonde, which then led you to forever change your life course. That’s fine, but just be sure to share and highlight this life-changing experience of yours in the application. Do colleges verify extracurriculars in these cases? Yes, and being transparent about your journey will help your application stand out as real and authentic.
Never Forge and Deceive
There have been many publicized cases in which students have gone to ridiculous extremes to fool admissions committees and, sooner or later, have gotten caught for it. There is the case of Adam Wheeler, who, as a student at Harvard, fabricated SAT scores, transcripts, and recommendations to get acceptance. He went further to forge other documents while attending the school to compete for prestigious prizes. Do colleges verify extracurriculars in such cases? Yes, they often do, as thorough verification can uncover discrepancies.
Next is Akash Maharaj, who forged a Columbia transcript with straight A’s to transfer to Yale. Criminal-level fraud to get into one of America’s Ivy Leagues is a surefire way to taint your name. Do colleges verify extracurriculars and other submitted information? Absolutely, to prevent such fraud.
Needless to say, unless you want to be infamous in a Netflix documentary and possibly end up in prison, you should probably avoid paying someone to take the SATs for you, bribing coaches or admission officers in return for an acceptance promise, or committing forgery when it comes to your grades.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Do colleges know if you lie in extracurriculars?
Yes, they have the means to know. If they notice something that doesn’t add up in your application, they may call your student counselor. They may ask your school counselor what type of extracurricular activities you are engaged in. Do colleges verify extracurriculars by reaching out to the leaders of organizations listed on your application? Yes, they do. They may also scan your social media footprint.
Admissions officers are vigilant now more than ever since the Varsity Blues scandal in 2019.
2. Who reviews college applications?
An Admissions Officer will be the first to review the application. If there is doubt as to whether or not they will accept the applicant, it will then be forwarded to an admissions committee. This usually comprises the President and Vice President of Admissions, different academic deans, particular professors, or notable alumni– depending on the college.
3. Can the usage of AI tools like ChatGPT assure rejection?
Yes. Institutions have softwares that can detect AI-generated outputs. Admissions officers want to read authentic, human writing and experiences. This cannot be provided by AI-generated content.
Honesty and integrity are important in the college application process. This will keep you out of trouble and preserve the admissions process at large. It allows colleges to make an informed decision on whether the applicant is appropriate for their institution and allows you to show your commitment to ethics and accountability by being upfront about your extracurriculars and related experiences. Do colleges verify extracurriculars to ensure honesty? Absolutely.
Now that you know how colleges verify extracurriculars, filling in your college application is easier. If you are feeling queasy about the application process, AdmissionSight is here to help. Avail the services of AdmissionSight’s top experts who have more than 10 years of experience in the college admissions world. Contact us today to get started!
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