<p>Honestly, 90+% of kids would not be found by google anyway. It only make sense to search for them if there is a reason.</p>
<p>Billcsho, I just tried googling former students who have very common names. By entering the name a and home town or school I found every student. Your 90% seems like an overestimate.</p>
<p>A student with achievements is easily Googled, just like anyone else. Most high school papers are Googleable. </p>
<p>@parent15 It probably depends on how big is your town. Some schools post the whole list of graduates on their website, many don’t. Finding a name on google does not mean you can find anything about that person. Perhaps I should restate it as 90+% of kids has no useful information on google. I have been search for some names of my friends’ kids in the past couple years and I only found a couple that are either top scholars or winning prizes in music or sport. Most of the kids I could not find them at all. In my town, around the top 5% in the class have full 4.0 GPA and will have their names published on newspaper.</p>
<p>Enough that I would not want major negative info out there or make any claims easily verified with a little Googling.</p>
<p>Think it is sort of a tradition at some high schools for the kids to change their FB name to something silly during their senior year. It is usually some sort of pun on their real name. Instagram and twitter handles are often not their real names. Hopefully if they do in fact google those kids that have taken precautions, then all that would come up would be good things that they have gotten some press on - sports results, school honors, community service………</p>
<p>What most don’t realize is this. When you sign up for new social networking accounts, they ask about importing your email contacts during the initial setup. So if you have emailed any college adcoms, if you dont click no, they may have some sort of access to your new page, be it IG, Tumble, etc. That social networking site then sends emails to all of your email contacts and asks if they would like to join. </p>
<p>Is it a stretch to think that if you unknowingly import your contacts,that they might have an easier time of locating your page and have a front stage seat to your antics? </p>
<p>That’s why being careful is so important.</p>
<p>I spoke to an adcom at a north east medschool during DDs freshman year. She did confirm that they do in fact check each accepted students social network accounts before sending out letters. If there is anything unbecoming. They deny that applicant. </p>
<p>I will agree with Oldfort and add that we have a friend who is an admissions director for a university that enjoys a nice ranking. He stated that he will check social media on a number of his student applicants. Specifically ones who are looking for funding- merit or aid. He has told us stories of kids who write about the community they have served and enhanced- to only look at their Facebook, Instagram, etc to find pictures of drinking and drug use. He response is- if you’re foolish enough to post these pictures and messages (while allowing your profile to be public) then you are too foolish to attend _____ University. </p>
<p>Sure, you can find someone you already know by searching their name and hometown. But if you don’t know them? College apps don’t have pictures anymore. I just tried it on a few kids I know and there were other kids mixed in there on the first few pages. It boggles my mind that a university that accepts 3,000 kids would have the time and money to do an internet search on more than a few hundred of them!</p>
<p>It’s really not so hard to pinpoint people if you know any of the organizations they are associated with. You might get pages of unrelated links if you just put in a common name but if you google the name along with a school, an activity, a location… anything on a college app… not so hard to pinpoint and often come up with a picture if a kid has any sort of social media/media presence. </p>
<p>Like I said before, I really don’t think it’s an issue for most kids. In fact, many kids would probably be thrilled if an adcom googled them if their internet presence is impressive. They just have to be smart… don’t post pictures of you partying… don’t let your friends post those pictures either. Don’t go on a college tour and spend it twittering about how awful the school is (and then later apply.) Don’t say you won some national competition when you didn’t. Don’t make up a charity you worked for. Being cautious of online presence is something all kids should be taught anyway. Good practice for life.</p>
<p><a href=“They Loved Your G.P.A. Then They Saw Your Tweets. - The New York Times”>They Loved Your G.P.A. Then They Saw Your Tweets. - The New York Times;
<p>Google spiders Facebook and LinkedIn – so anyone who has a profile on those sites can also be found with a Google search. </p>
<p>I believe it depends on the school. When you are admitting over 10K students, I don’t believe they would Google every student. However, the same school would probably Google each student they are offering a full ride scholarship. </p>
<p>We know that at least one college googled Spygirl. It was for admission to their honors college. </p>
<p>I don’t get the idea that they don’t have time to Google the applicants. If they have time to read essays, transcripts, and letters of recommendation, they have time to Google. It takes seconds once you are good at it. It’s probably true that it you don’t make it to the pile where they are going to read your essays, they probably won’t Google you either.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That is a privacy setting you can change, at least on Facebook.</p>
<p>NPR story mentions adcoms looking into online media for an applicant (near end if story).</p>
<p><a href=“With Teens And Social Media, Lack Of Context Is Everything : NPR”>With Teens And Social Media, Lack Of Context Is Everything : NPR;
<p>Not routinely, no, but every applicant should assume that it’s a possibility.</p>
<p>“If they have time to read essays, transcripts, and letters of recommendation, they have time to Google. It takes seconds once you are good at it.”</p>
<p>Right, but the essays and transcripts are attached to your Common App, which has your SS# on it. They don’t have to wade through all the Allie Chens and David Feldmans on the internet to be certain which one is you. That’s the hard (sometimes impossible) part. If your name is Belladonna Kapowski, then I agree it wouldn’t take much time.</p>
<p>^^^Yes, but David Feldman who attends the Friends School in Wynnewood and lives in Bryn Mawr, PA is going to limit that search significantly. Particularly if he is claiming in depth extracurriculars. </p>
<p>If all those things are on the profile, sure. But they aren’t always.</p>