[quote]
Many college students submerged in the information age can't resist the urge to post personal information online. But some aren't aware that important people might be using Web sites to check up on them. </p>
<p>A recent survey shows that one out of 10 college admissions officers has visited an applicant's social networking site as part of the decision-making process leading to acceptance or non-acceptance to schools and programs. </p>
<p>"The social networking frontier is a bit like the Wild West for colleges and universities everyone is trying to navigate it," said Jeff Olson, executive director of research for Kaplan, Inc., which conducted the survey of about 500 top colleges and universities. Kaplan provides educational and career services for individuals, schools and businesses.
<p>IF the person has set his Facebook, etc, to "private," how are these admissions officers accessing them????</p>
<p>Frankly, I really doubt this stat. Only the most exclusive schools have the time or money to be "surfing the net" trying to uncover unsavory info about prospective students.</p>
<p>further reading can be found at post 62 & beyond on the thread below....referencing & discussing articles from last year on this topic. Bottom line...several sources claim that admissions officers are checking out applicant's web sites. I personally don't know if setting to "private" adequately protects....certainly seems like it should.....just don't set the profile page picture, presumably viewable to all, with a 30-pack in your hands.</p>
<p>Ok, so I googled my child's name; interesting that while the name is somewhat unusual, there are 3 other people with the same name on facebook or myspace. . .</p>
<p>Strikes me as an obvious thing to do - I certainly google job applicants before I interview them - and if they have a facebook page I do check it out. Seems to me that college apps in many ways are like applying for a job.</p>
<p>Yeah, you should be OK, unless like Madison85 said, there is more than one person with the same name. Only one of my D's applications asked for a picture of the applicant.</p>
<p>scualum:: >>> Strikes me as an obvious thing to do - I certainly google job applicants before I interview them - and if they have a facebook page I do check it out. Seems to me that college apps in many ways are like applying for a job. <<<<</p>
<p>Are you able to access the info if the facebook page is set to "private"????</p>
<p>We really don't have time to check up on every student. </p>
<p>I remember a colleague googling an achievement that seemed too good to be true, but our case loads are so large that we simply can't search for all applicants online.</p>
<p>This isn't the same as trolling the internet like some sort of child predator, but I do know that the admissions people at my wife's school opened a facebook group for applicants to their school. This is innocuous in nature and very different than an admissions advisor "friending" an applicant. The facebook group does not give the advisor entry to the applicants profiles, just a means for disseminating information and providing a place for potential classmates to meet one another. Perhaps many of the 10% of admissions advisors utilizing facebook are using this arrangement.</p>
<p>Dean J: I understand that you "really don't have time to check up on every student." Does that mean that you do check up on SOME students? If even one member of an admissions committee at one college checks out Facebook, then all college applicants had better beware, because they don't know who is looking.</p>
<p>I have never been on Facebook. How does it work? Do you have to have an account under your real name in order to look around?</p>
<p>Also, what information is available to all even when set to private? Just the name and that picture, if provided? or is there more?</p>
<p>When your profile is set to private you can see the person's name, location, and a small picture of them (all of these things they have to fill out themselves, so they could always be fake). The only way an admissions officer would be able to see your full profile is if they issues a friend request and you accept it (which, seeing as how so many people have hundreds of "friends" it seems quite likely they could make a fake name and get you to friend it).</p>
<p>No I can't get into private pages - nor would I want to. I am not doing the google search to see the facebook page anyway - more to look for citations in professional journals, quotes in trade magazines, pending patent applications - basically professional achievements. Facebook and myspace just seem to pop up now and then and so I click through.</p>