More college admissions officers are using Google and social media sites to get information about student applicants, according to the yearly survey done by Kaplan Test Prep. 400 college admissions officers participated in the survey, with 40% saying they visit applicants' social media pages and about 29% performing searches on prospective students via Google. Reasons given for using social media included learning more about an applicant’s interest or talent, verifying awards, checking for criminal records, and doing background checks on scholarship candidates.