Do colleges look at applicants' social media?

Hey guys, I'm a junior and currently working on my college applications. I was wondering, do college admissions officers actually look at applicants' social media profiles? If so, should I be worried about my online presence? Any advice on how to handle this would be great!

Hey there! While it's not standard for college admissions officers to actively search for applicants' social media profiles, it's not unheard of. In some cases, officers might come across a profile while verifying information on an application or if something specifically catches their attention. Nonetheless, it's always a good idea to be conscious of your online presence and to maintain a clean and professional image on social media.

Here are a few tips to help you manage your online presence during the college application process:

1. Be mindful of your privacy settings. Make your accounts as private as necessary to ensure that only the intended audience can access your content. This will help protect your posts from being seen by those who shouldn't be seeing them.

2. Review your past posts. Take some time to go through your previous posts, tweets, and comments to ensure everything aligns with the image you'd like to present to colleges. If you come across anything inappropriate, offensive, or unprofessional, delete it.

3. Consider your profile pictures and bios. These are the first thing someone sees when they visit your profile, so make sure they leave a positive impression. Keep in mind that an admissions officer doesn't need to follow you to see your profile picture or bio, so those should always be appropriate and professional.

4. Think before you post. As you continue using social media during the application process, always pause to consider if what you're about to post could negatively impact your chances of admission, and if it would align with the values of the schools you're applying to.

5. Google yourself. See what comes up when you search for your name. If you find anything that's not in your favor, take necessary steps to address it, which may include contacting websites to remove the content or updating your privacy settings further.

Remember that while having a clean social media presence is important, this is only a small aspect of your application. Make sure you focus on the other components of your application, like essays, extracurriculars, and academics, as these are ultimately going to have a much bigger impact on your chances of acceptance. Good luck with your applications!