You guys are grossly naive if you don't believe colleges track online interactions. They track what emails you have opened up from the school on down the line.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools do track the applicant's online interactions...how and when they visited, how long they stayed on a webpage, webinars attended, etc.

Just keep that in mind for those schools who like to see demonstrated interest.

Which schools do this? This would be a somewhat manual process for the AO and outside of attending some webinars, not an accurate or good use of time since they’d have to determine each applicants IP address.

It is hired out, pervasive and run by companies aligned by private equity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools do track the applicant's online interactions...how and when they visited, how long they stayed on a webpage, webinars attended, etc.

Just keep that in mind for those schools who like to see demonstrated interest.

Which schools do this? This would be a somewhat manual process for the AO and outside of attending some webinars, not an accurate or good use of time since they’d have to determine each applicants IP address.

Ridiculous. Most schools don’t have time or resources for this. I applaud your daughter. She hasn’t been a sheep following the herd.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools do track the applicant's online interactions...how and when they visited, how long they stayed on a webpage, webinars attended, etc.

Just keep that in mind for those schools who like to see demonstrated interest.

Which schools do this? This would be a somewhat manual process for the AO and outside of attending some webinars, not an accurate or good use of time since they’d have to determine each applicants IP address.

There are programs that do this.

Anonymous wrote:Schools do track the applicant's online interactions...how and when they visited, how long they stayed on a webpage, webinars attended, etc.

Just keep that in mind for those schools who like to see demonstrated interest.

Which schools do this? This would be a somewhat manual process for the AO and outside of attending some webinars, not an accurate or good use of time since they’d have to determine each applicants IP address.

Ours (class of 2025) was not on Instagram; it was fine.

Schools do track the applicant's online interactions...how and when they visited, how long they stayed on a webpage, webinars attended, etc.

Just keep that in mind for those schools who like to see demonstrated interest.

Not needed and if she wants to see what is on Instagram she can still see all the public info online without an account or a phone app.

My rising senior isn’t on social media. For schools that track demonstrated interest, it could maybe help marginally, but I don’t think it hurts not to have it. Any school where it’s that important would not be the one for my kid.

Certainly possible that they will miss events, announcements, opportunities for connection, opportunities to stay in touch with people, etc. but social media is not necessary to function day to day in a university environment, no.

I actually think there’s some good content in the Instagram accounts of the admissions offices. You might be able to pull some good stuff for supplemental essays when they do spotlights.

I would say she should follow.

There are plenty of other ways to connect with schools and demonstrate interest.

My oldest is a sophomore in college and my youngest is a high school junior. Neither has instagram and they are fine.

Not necessary.

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, I'm from the 1900s...

My rising junior doesn't have any social media accounts. She's plenty social, but this was a decision she made back in 8th grade when she saw other girls attached to their phones, and now she's kind of hung onto the choice out of principle. But her older sibling who just went through the college search is telling her that she *needs* an Instagram account so that she can follow other university pages and that Admissions Offices keep track of that kind of thing. I can't tell if big sister is just fearmongering or does her warning have some merit?