The ‘Most Beautiful’ Business Schools

Survey: More College Admissions Officers Checking Applicants’ Digital Trails

 

Remember that night when you slammed 12 jell-o shots, stole a horse, and ended up vomiting…on the ceiling.

Of course, you don’t…by your admissions rep sure does!

Ah, Facebook. I can only imagine how many marriages, job offers, and extortion plots that site has ruined. And Twitter? Well, 140 characters provide just enough rope to hang yourself when you lose your temper. And nothing good ever comes from mixing an angry ex, a video camera, and a YouTube account. Question is, do prospective colleges weigh our lowest – and often most public – moments?

To quote noted historian Sarah Palin: “You bet’cha.”

According to a recent Kaplan Test Prep survey, 29 percent of college admissions officers surveyed admitted to Googling an applicant, while another 31 percent visited an applicant’s social networking site.  That’s a 300 percent increase over 2008, when 10 percent of admissions officers checking a candidate’s Facebook page. And it is an uptick from 2012 numbers, when 27 percent and 26 percent had used Google or Facebook respectively to evaluate a candidate.

Of course, these numbers were derived from 381 undergraduate and graduate admissions officers. So are MBA programs any different?

Not really.

According to US News and World Report, a 2012 Kaplan study of business school admissions officers showed that 32 percent used Google and another 27 percent visited social networking sites to learn more about applicants. Why would admissions dig into candidates’ personal lives? For one, applications often represent candidates at their best, with narratives, goals, and accomplishments smoothed and primed over various revisions, often with input from everyone from friends to consultants. On the other hand, social media often reflects the “real” candidate, warts and all.

Still accessing student social media is considered taboo in some corners of the admissions world. According to Jeff Olson, Vice President of Data Science for Kaplan Prep, “Schools are philosophically divided on whether an applicant’s digital trail is fair game, and the majority of admissions officers do not look beyond the submitted application. But our advice to students is to think first, Tweet later.”

And students are apparently taking this advice to heart. Kaplan also reports in its release of results that “22 percent (of students) had changed their searchable names on social media, 26% had untagged themselves from photos, and 12% had deleted their social media profiles altogether.”

In short, students are showing greater restraint on social media as the number of admissions officers reviewing their sites steadily creeps higher. Still, it only takes a weak moment (or bad taste) to potentially get tossed into the rejected pile. Applicants would be wise to heed the warning of Seppy Basili, Vice President of Kaplan Test Prep:

“Our advice to college applicants is to run themselves through online search engines on a regular basis to be aware of what information is available about them online, and know that what’s online is open to discovery and can impact them. Sometimes that impact is beneficial, if online searches turn up postings of sports scores, awards, public performances or news of something interesting they’ve undertaken. But digital footprints aren’t always clean, so students should maintain a healthy dose of caution, and definitely think before posting.”

Sources: Kaplan Test Prep , US News and World Report