Making a fake acceptance letter with Photoshop seemed like a good idea at the time…

Can our elder help a student navigate his way out of his great big lie?

Dear EWC

I lied to everyone about something big. So last month just passed which means college acceptances from all the Ivy League schools, but for me it was a time of rejection from all of my dream colleges. Being Indian, it’s a big deal getting accepted into Ivy Leagues considering how much importance is given to education amongst Indian communities. When my rejection letters came in the mail, I didn’t know what to do. I cried in front of my parents, filed decision appeals, and refused to go on the internet for days. I knew I would be so embarrassed in front of all those Indians that knew I had already applied to these Ivy Leagues. So I came up with this brilliant plan where I Photoshopped a picture of an acceptance letter to Yale university with my name. I figured I would talk to my parents before I exploited the idea and they agreed shrugging it off. So I sent a Snapchat of my acceptance letter to another Indian friend that goes to a different school and she made a big deal about it and even posted a pic of me with the captions “very proud of your Yale acceptance” on Instagram. All the Indians soon found out about my acceptance outside of school. Everything was going great until someone from school found out about it. Someone that none of the Indians had a connection with and by the time I went back to my friend’s Instagram post, it was no longer there. So that girl from school had asked one of my guy friends if I had it accepted and in the moment I panicked and even showed him my acceptance letter. He promised he hasn’t told anyone and a week later, people started talking about it at school saying how I was highly unqualified to apply to Yale. One of my friends at school asked me in person and I lied to her saying I got into Kale not Yale. I don’t know how to fix this without exposing my lie and making it worse. It’s also the second to last week of school.

Sense replies

I can understand why you lied but, as you are discovering, lying usually backfires when people suspect you and find out the truth. I hope you have learned a good lesson from this experiment and will not lie again! The best thing you can do now, in my opinion, is to admit you lied in a casual way, by posting something like “I dreamt I was accepted by Yale, but I know dreams are not always reality! Sorry I gave a false impression. The end-of-term pressures must be getting to me!”

There are no doubt schools where you will be accepted. The Ivy Leagues are very hard to get into. I know quite a few people who tried and failed to get into them, so you are certainly not alone. You can probably still apply at other state schools or community colleges for next year. Consider talking with your school counselor or a teacher you trust to discuss realistic options for your future. You made a mistake, but will have many new chances to prove yourself, and to make your family and community proud. It is painful to be humiliated by being discovered in a lie, but if you learn from this, you will become more confident and won’t need to make up stories to try to get others’ admiration and respect.

Best Regards,

Elder Sense

Reference: #401148