More colleges checking online footprints, but most students not too concerned


While it’s not standard practice now for Utah colleges to look at an applicant’s Web presence, admissions officers at schools across the country and potential employers are checking online footprints more and more, the Desert News reports.

Kaplan Test Prep recently reported that a higher percentage of college admissions officers are searching applicants’ social media and online presence than last year. Yet most college applicants don’t seem too concerned about it.

The phone survey of 381 admissions officers found that 29 percent of college admissions officers have Googled applicants and 31 percent have looked at applicants’ social networking pages.

As far as admissions officers finding something negatively impacting an applicant’s chances, the number has gone from 35 percent in 2012 to 30 percent.

“I’ve heard about (the practice) but I wasn’t that worried because I don’t post anything I wouldn’t want my mother to see,” said Hannah Bishop, 18, who applied to colleges last fall.

Bishop’s now studying at Southern Utah University and said she sees people posting things that she thinks could hurt their chances at opportunities. She said one of her friends told her she didn’t get a job because the company discovered online photographs of her at a party with alcohol and decided to hire another candidate.

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