Since a new survey from Kaplan Test Prep appeared that said that more college admissions officers (31%) are checking applicants’ digital trails, there has been a whole slew of articles on the subject. Most students seem rather unperturbed by the whole idea (50%) probably because they already understand that everything they post is public. Since colleges have no uniform or posted policies about checking online sites, it is also hard to tell what really goes on behind closed doors, which could lead to unequal treatment among applications.
One college consulting group advises students to review their postings with a “critical eye.” Some questions they advise asking include: “Do comments make you sound like a misogynist? A bully? Do hundreds and hundreds of ‘selfies’ convey narcissism?” Some parents are even hiring sites like Reputation.com, an online reputation management firm, to check out their child’s postings or data that tends to be findable on a child — pictures, threads, things that they’ve liked on Facebook.”
On a positive side, since today’s applicants have incredibly rich resumes, a college being able to go online and check a student out could be to their advantage. “If an applicant has built schools in Ecuador or created environmental programs in their own home towns,” one expert says, “If they’ve started a new club or they are a member of a board, it feels very human and natural for an admissions officer to want to read more about those experiences online or to Google something in a student’s essay.” This is just something else to think about.
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