<p>The most you would ever find out about my kids from googling them would be that they were on the honor roll for X number of semesters. You would never find Word One about their significant (out of school) extracurriculars, nor would you find my D’s math team accomplishments. And, of course, you wouldn’t find out about the more unusual EC’s that don’t lend themselves to competitions (I’m thinking stamp collecting, writing songs, things of that nature).</p>
<p>You underestimate the powers of a true googlemaster. Such a person (modesty prevents me from identifying any particular person) can find stuff you didn’t even know was there about yourself.</p>
<p>Oh, I’m a pretty good googlemaster too 
I hear you! </p>
<p>I little bit of info here and there on the web can add up to more than some people realize. </p>
<p>If any of these are directed to me, I have no doubt that people here are able to figure out who I am. I’ve never really hidden my identity on here. </p>
<p>I’m talking about from just my name and a list of things I’ve done. </p>
<p>No, but I did tell a student that his father posted way too much info about his life on this site.</p>
<p>I’m a googlemaster, too- used to joke: Queen. </p>
<p>But to this comment: You google them, and you will find articles about them, their names will appear on awards lists, there will be stuff from their school, etc, not sure confirming that is important. All kids have a little something or other. So she got on All State for sports or is honor roll- those are just pieces of the picture. When you don’t have this time, you don’t stop to go check the small stuff. </p>
<p>Call it 12 minutes. But realize (as shown in the Stanford link,) that your’e doing this day in and day out, for 6-8 weeks, with a target number to get through. And after the read (and going back to confirm some line within the app,) you still have to think the ratings and write the comments. </p>
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<p>This surprises me. It seems to me a lot of forces would have to be in alignment. The school would have to post no congratulatory notes on its website, the local newspaper would have to not cover any of the events, corporate sponsors would have to have taken no team pictures, your kids would have to have put none of their songs on youtube, etc. Or, perhaps you were very specific in refusing permission to organizations to use your children’s information? </p>
<p>When I googled my kids, I found mentions and sometimes pictures of them on their schools’ websites, in local papers, in our local library’s online newsletters, in archived church bulletins, on local charity and fundraising websites, on their sports teams’ websites, and in youtube videos where they’re doing their sports, and there are probably a few other places I’m not remembering right now. I don’t think I ever gave permission for them to be on youtube, in church bulletins, or in the library newsletter, though I did sign the waiver for school and sports. </p>
<p>When I googled their friends, I found all the mathletes mentioned on the school websites and sometimes in the local papers. I also found several original songs being performed or reference to them and/or mentions when other people performed them. I don’t know if my kids have any stamp collecting friends, but I would think if a kid was enough into stamps to mention it on a college app, he’d belong to some sort of stamp collecting group or society and would have his name out on the web somewhere. For instance, maybe he would have brought his stamps to some historical society, school, or nursing home that would have earned him a mention in somebody’s newsletter. </p>
<p>@Lookingforward makes a good point - even though the stuff is out there, it might not be so interesting to an admissions person. But some kids might be and you never know what will spark a person’s interest to look for more. And for that reason I can’t understand how people are pooh poohing the idea that it happens. SJU even told the kids they do it. I’d put it up there with reading the recommendations.</p>
<p>“This surprises me. It seems to me a lot of forces would have to be in alignment. The school would have to post no congratulatory notes on its website, the local newspaper would have to not cover any of the events, corporate sponsors would have to have taken no team pictures, your kids would have to have put none of their songs on youtube, etc. Or, perhaps you were very specific in refusing permission to organizations to use your children’s information?”</p>
<p>Nope. No refusal. There’s just very little from high school.</p>
<p>Now, you could google my S and his college and find some references to him - but you could also confuse him with kids with the same name who are a bit older. </p>
<p>Found myself in the obits of our city paper this week (same name, same spelling). Wonder if any of my friends did a double take–before noticing that the “other me” was about 20 years older . . . Sort of creepy–by coincidence I happened to have several unusual things in common with the deceased, and happened to read the obits (which I don’t read very often.)</p>
<p>What’s the competitiveness for SJU? </p>
<p>So, D2 and I googled her and her sister. (And I have done it in the past, over the years.) Zip of interest to admissions. Nothing about their roles with a local service effort for 6 ms/hs years or their group leadership (nope, no congrats, LF1 and LF2, for doing this.) Nothing about the super youth orchestra D2 was in since 3rd grade, her plays, and on and on. Some things about their college years- but from the college PR folks. </p>
<p>After reading this thread, I (a recently graduated high school senior who was accepted to the honors program of my choice) did a quick google of myself (first and last name) and turned up nothing. I included my middle initial and got someone else’s Twitter profile. I included my location and high school and got pages for three competitions I’d entered and placed in.
While obviously it didn’t do anything catastrophic to me, I wonder if the fact that I didn’t have any results could have put up any red flags. How were the colleges I applied to to know that my school rarely posts awards on its website? Or that I don’t have any social media and that that girl on Twitter with a bong is NOT me? If people took all the info they found after searching me as gospel truth, they’d think that I was a weed-smoking, sky-diving, real-estate-hawking gynecologist with homes in California, New Jersey and Hawaii. (None of those are accurate. Though skydiving sounds AMAZING.)</p>
<p>OP here–and THAT’s what I’m talking about, Hannahbanna. It’s not no or bad info about the applicant–it’s just the signal-to-noise ratio. Too much irrelevant data to sort through to make it worth while for the admissions people.</p>
<p>However, I must admit I am a little bummed. I had hoped to have a resounding “NO” (thanks thumper1 and romanigypsyeyes) so I could declare to husband that I was the winner of the argument. :-)</p>
<p>Here ya go: NO
;)</p>
<p>Very rarely in life is any question a simple yes or no. It depends is usually the correct answer.</p>
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Each year Kaplan does a survey asking college admissions officers at hundreds of colleges a variety of questions, including if they have Googled applicants. In the 2013 survey at <a href=“http://www.kaptest.com/assets/pdfs/College_Admissions_Officers_Survey_2013.pdf”>http://www.kaptest.com/assets/pdfs/College_Admissions_Officers_Survey_2013.pdf</a> , 71% said they have never Googled an applicant. Not just do not routinely Google applicants – most have never Googled an applicant. If you are looking for a statement saying all colleges admissions do not routinely Google applicants, you aren’t going to find one. Persons claiming admissions policies at all colleges share nearly any common element are usually incorrect.</p>
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<p>At least you at the college figured it out correctly. Credit reporting companies seem to merge by default if the name is superficially similar, even if other information (like address, social security number, date of birth, etc.) differ.</p>
<p>Yes, Erin’s Dad, instead of a yes or no, I got thoughtful commentary. Should’ve posted it in the Chances thread instead! :D</p>
<p>Data10, in that same survey, 30% of respondents said that they have found information online that negatively impacted an applicant. It suggests that those who do check online–about 30% of admissions officers–sometimes find negative information.</p>
<p>And it’s possible that some of those who don’t ever Google applicants are admissions officers at schools that don’t use holistic admissions in the first place.</p>
<p>I think our issue with that question on that survey has always been that it covers a wide range of colleges and it asks “Have you ever,” rather than, “Do you routinely?” But yes, if you want college, watch your hs back. As they say, forewarned is forearmed.</p>