Admissions Deans Use Google, Too
Imagine that your admissions interview goes something like this:
Student: Thanks for granting me an interview. I'm very excited about the possibility of attending your school.
College Rep: Sure, thanks for coming in. Now, your essay mentioned how much you enjoy community service. Yet when I Googled your blog, one of your postings said, and here I'll quote: "Those kids who do after-school community service are losers; wasting their time with an activity just so they can put it on their résumés."
Student: Ummm ... I never thought you'd be reading that.
Admittedly, it is unclear how often college admissions counselors gather information about a student through search engines, though it is likely increasing in frequency. Some counselors say they simply don't have the time to run everyone's name through Ask, Google, or Yahoo.
That said, your Internet profile--broadly defined as things posted about you on the Web--should be important to students. Take, for example, Reputationdefender, a new online company that helps clients clean up their Web presence. Or Naymz, a Web service that you can pay ($4.95 per month) so that when people Google your name, they also get a link to a profile you've approved. Both businesses point to an increasing concern about keeping track of what is published about you on the Net.
How does this impact your chances of getting in? No one really knows. Some college admissions deans admit they will occasionally run a student's name through a search engine, often to verify that said student actually won a certain award. Others say they'll search for more information about prizes students have won or charity groups they've worked for--a potential asset to students with résumés that don't speak for themselves.
But the Internet is bad at keeping secrets and, if a college counselor does go searching, there's no telling what she'll find. "Students applying to graduate school, for example, have asked us to help get pictures or postings removed from websites," says Michael Fertik, founder and CEO of Reputationdefender. "Your online reputation is becoming very important and will only continue to grow in importance. It's important to check it, just like you would check a credit score." He says the company has helped students and former students remove pictures on fraternity Web pages and embarrassing posts in discussion groups, which have--or might--come back to haunt them. The company charges a one-time destroy fee per item of $59.95 or a subscription service: a 6-month membership includes a monthly search report for $15.95, plus a destroy fee of $29.95 per item.
Now, most students don't need a team of Web sleuths hunting down their every appearance on the Net. A few searches of your own name are a good way to prepare yourself for an interview or application. If there is something on the Net that you'd like removed or changed, there are some things you can do. Try contacting the webmaster of the page in question and ask about changing the content. (Note: News organizations, government, or court sites will rarely, if ever, remove or alter their content.). And as always, the preventive approach is often the easiest: Consider everything that you post on the Internet to be permanently and universally viewable.
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