Did you lie?

Did you lie about anything on your OAF or CAF, or personal statement, when applying to Oxford or Cambridge?

I recently found out that one of my recently graducated teachers (who shall remain anonymous) from Cam had written such a blatent (and hilarious!) lie on his/her application but was never asked about it at interview (luckily).

Reply 1

CamSPSer

I wrote on CAF form books I hadn't read in anticipation of reading them, sent the form off and forgot which books I had listed

Reply 2

Nutter

16

I think many people stretch the truth or don't tell the whole truth, but may not necessarily lie.

Especially applies for CVs, but I'm sure it applies to such applications as well.

Reply 3

CamSPSer

I agree, lieing isn't a good option, in order to get away with it you can't tell massive lies as you will obviously be found out. Ie I got 13As when you didn't. So you can only tell small lies, which will not really benefit your application hugely
The potential costs (getting chucked out UCAS if found out) when weighed against the minor benefits mean its not worth it.

Reply 4

HannahZ

4

I think it would be extremely risky to lie when applying to Oxbridge as you could always be interrogated about it at interview.

Reply 5

visesh

17

HannahZ

I think it would be extremely risky to lie when applying to Oxbridge as you could always be interrogated about it at interview.

hmm, I wonder if they'll shine a bright light at you and inject you with sodium penthanol (sp) and shout "DID YOU REALLY HELP THOSE ****ING ORPHANS IN YEAR 12????" at you. And if you don't comply, strategically placed electrodes might do the trick. If not, they can alway remove your finger nails with a pair of pliers*-)... Ohhh the possibilities are endless.

Now THAT would be an interesting oxbridge interview.

Reply 6

sebbie

15

nah i reckon most people lie about what sports they play as long as you don't do something stupid you'll be fine.... I reckon almost everyone lies about how involved they are in the school community......

as long as you know what you've wrote it's easy to back up the odd false claim as long as its not something absurd like saying you've played national sport or are familiar with a certain topic you've never read about....

Reply 7

groovy_moose

1

nah i reckon most people lie about what sports they play as long as you don't do something stupid you'll be fine.... I reckon almost everyone lies about how involved they are in the school community......

do you not think that perhaps it would lead to a more interesting life if you actually did do some things and then put them on your form, rather than lying about them just to look good. I've always done just about everything open to me, so i really don't know how i fitted school in, and i could have written reams on my PS/CAF. I just don't see the point in lying, it's only gonna make you more nervous and you'd have much more fun if you actually did do stuff...

Reply 8

sebbie

15

well i haven't written my personal statement yet, i won't need to lie but i'd imagine many people say they belong to the odd club that they don't etc

it's all right for many of the private schools as you have loads of EC stuff but at my school we have nothing, i'll still think of things to say though....

Reply 9

Bingo Jesus

visesh

hmm, I wonder if they'll shine a bright light at you and inject you with sodium penthanol (sp) and shout "DID YOU REALLY HELP THOSE ****ING ORPHANS IN YEAR 12????" at you. And if you don't comply, strategically placed electrodes might do the trick. If not, they can alway remove your finger nails with a pair of pliers*-)... Ohhh the possibilities are endless.

Now THAT would be an interesting oxbridge interview.

Now THAT would be a tasteless interview!

Reply 10

groovy_moose

1

it's all right for many of the private schools as you have loads of EC stuff but at my school we have nothing, i'll still think of things to say though....
Reply With Quote

you don't have to limit your world to school though, i'd say the stuff i did was about 50/50 school and out of school (a so-so comp...)

Reply 11

Popa Dom

2

To be honest most of my creative distortions of the truth came out in interview rather than on my PS. On my ps I exaggerated the volunteer work I did (well I did go to a homeless shelter once in year 11.. :p:

), and said I'd read a book that I hadnt yet (though was fully planning on reading before the interviews, I just never quite got round to it). Got asked about them both in interview though, which was stressful to say the least, so my advice would be to stick to the truth as much as possible in the personal statement.

Reply 12

EmChem

I wouldnt suggest lying in anything for university applications. The biggest problem will arise during interviews when you are nervous and particularly prone to blurting stuff out to fill those long awkward silences. In my interview I was asked about my DofE volunteer work even though i had only written one line about it in my personal statement so i think they sometimes hope to catch you out.
Also if you are successful you wld then have to spend four years with them as your tutor remembering what you lied about!!!!! :eek:

Reply 13

bob_54321

call me weird but i didnt even consider lying. several reasons, you could be found out and lose all chances of getting to uni, if i had got in knowingly lied on my forms then i wouldnt feel like i deserved the place and i did enough stuff (simply becaused i enjoyed doing it, not just to put it on the forms) that i didnt feel i needed to lie . . .

Reply 14

Teebs

16

I didn't lie, although I have to admit I finished reading one of the books on my personal statement on the train up to the interview. I even chose to talk about that book in the politics interview (we had to choose a book to discuss).

Reply 15

chan_marshall

i lied about some favourite authors because i didn't think mine were particularly academically viable and i didn't expect to get an interview, then i did and frantically tried to read lots of angela carter beforehand... which they didn't even ask me about. gah. also, i had NO extra-curricular activities & i said i attended choir for seven years (other applicants had reams of stuff & i thought i'd better have at least something).

Reply 16

musicbloke

17

I did. I said that I was a thirty-six year old nuclear physicist named pedro.

MB

Reply 17

WokSz

17

Well, it's a good idea to just stick to the truth. If you get asked about it at interview, you're in trouble.

Reply 18

confuddled101

Im intrigued...to the OP - what was the blatant/hilarious lie?!!

Reply 19

AisAis

13

I think my sister wrote she'd 'worked towards a bronze DoE award'. She did the hike and no service or anything, so didn't get any award. But she didn't actually say she had!

Did you lie?

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