(I’m talking to YOU online paper peddlers!) college admissions boards are considering–and some are utilizing–the services of turnitin.com and other organizations.

The fact is, and I suggest you consider this EXTREMELY carefully, cheating is endemic enough WITHIN universities and high schools. College admissions boards don’t want to admit a caliber of individual who not only participates in cheating, plagarism, and other forms of academic dishonesty, but then defends themselves to profs, the academic review board, or to the Dean of Students/Provost. Academic integrety starts and ends with students desire to prevent it in their own communities.

Your friend is really in for a heck of a time getting admitted in my view; having WORKED in admissions of a college personally, I can easily see the admissions board raising eye brows and saying “I think we need to pass on this one.”

In very competitive schools, or highly competitive programs within schools, it could be a negative because yes, transcripts will be carefully examined. For most schools, it probably wouldn’t hurt him if it only happened once. Maybe he should consider himself warned that honesty does matter and doing something stupid or trying to take shortcuts always comes back to haunt you.

I know for some community colleges they look at some of that.

Occasionally some colleges do.

But otherwise most colleges don’t care.