This is the result of my dissertation work (which is finally done!). I interviewed college admissions officers to understand how they receive and use information about learning outside of school when making admissions decisions (at both selective and access-driven schools). The goal was to understand how digital badges might help with this process to make informal learning more influential / impactful. I will present insight into this sense-making process and share design and usability recommendations for designing digital badge systems to connect/network informal learning providers with college admissions offices. Overall, I discuss the viability of such a system.