UNC uses 3 steps to stop admission scams

UNC doesn’t want to be like Harvard.

In mid-May, an application hoax by a Harvard student was exposed, showing that even the most selective college undergraduate admissions officials can be scammed — and UNC admissions says that it works to avoid that.

In order to prevent this, UNC admissions officials say they rely heavily on the Honor Code, a signature from a school counselor and a national database to help them filter through about 23,000 applications a year.

“Generally, there’s not a problem,” said Ashley Memory, senior assistant director at the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. “But we have revoked admission before.”

The first step to preventing falsified applications, according to Memory, is UNC’s Honor Code.

When applying to UNC as a first-year for the fall of 2010, before providing any academic information, all applicants were asked to agree to uphold the Honor Code by checking “yes” or “no.”

The application blurbs that the Honor Code “specifically prohibits lying, cheating or stealing and any conduct that impairs significantly the welfare or the education opportunities of others in the University community.” 

To read the full Honor Code, applicants must visit a separate website — but some students say they didn’t do that.

“I don’t think anybody really read into (the Honor Code) in detail,” said Mark Carroll, a junior history major.

“It’s just such a long application, that’s one of the smaller things that you wouldn’t ever think about,” Carroll said about signing the Honor Code on the application.

Shortly after checking the Honor Code, on the same page, students are asked for their signature to certify that the information on their application is “complete and accurate.” According to the application, without this signature, the University cannot accept the application.

The second step UNC takes to prevent Harvard-like mishaps is a counselor statement.

High school applicants’ guidance counselors or other school administration officials are asked to verify students’ application information.

Transfer students’ applications are verified through their own college officials.

“We require a school or college official to verify to the best of their knowledge that (the application) is correct,” Memory said.

Finally, UNC admissions officials run all applicant names through a national database.

The database ensures that applicants are not enrolled elsewhere, and it also shows records of attendance at other institutions.

Memory says that admissions officials have found that students are enrolled in other places, but typically nothing worse. 

“We have occasionally learned of enrollment at other institutions, like cosmetology institutions,” Memory said.

If needed, admissions officials use one final preventative measure.

“If there is any doubt at all about an applicant, we reserve the right to run a background check,” Memory said.

Many transgressions seem to be applicants’ oversight, Memory said, but even if admissions finds out about it later, students can face the consequences.

“Out of 23,000 it’s no guarantee that we’ll catch a bad application,” Memory said. “But we try to prevent that the best we can.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.