<p>I think that's really weird. I wouldn't want a college rep to add me or visit my facebook. I don't have obscene pictures or anything of that nature, but I'm sure friends of mine have posted inappropriate things on my wall.</p>
<p>It's just too risky to be friends on facebook like that. This whole process should be professional.</p>
<p>I seriously doubt a college rep would abuse Facebook to judge applicants or pass incriminating evidence along to the admissions committees. Think of this person's job: to go around the country and talk to hundreds of kids a week. This session may have been small with a lot of "face-time," but that doesn't mean he/she remembers any one student in detail. The friending bit is:</p>
<p>a) Probably not much more than a ploy to make the university look like it has a hip, friendly atmosphere that's in tune with its students' wavelength</p>
<p>b) Arisen, I'm sure, only from a long list of names on a registration paper typed into the search field, with little personal connection to back it up</p>
<p>c) Almost entirely pointless. What is the rep going to do, shift through hundreds of potential applicants' pages every day? They have other work to do...traveling...making appointments...writing propaganda....I'm sure there are one or two who comment on photos of kids with the free t-shirt, but that kind of image just pops up on his/her Newsfeed on the home page as "Sarah was tagged in an album!" with the photo underneath, and it's a one-click deal to comment on it.</p>
<p>I have hundreds of Facebook friends, and I have no idea what they're up to. I just use it like email...or as a shortcut so I don't have to send my parents updates every week on what I'm up to (yes, my parents are Facebook friends...they say I tell the public more than I tell them >.>) I wouldn't worry too much about this.</p>
<p>dont do it...its risky</p>
<p>side question: is it a person from northwestern?</p>
<p>This is so lame.</p>
<p>Facebook has killed normal social interaction. Nobody bothers to get to know someone anymore in person.</p>
<p>it is totally inappropriate for the adcom to ask to "friend" a prospective applicant.It puts the applicant in a terrible situation. It should be reported but hopefully when adcoms read cc they will know better (something they should have known all along)</p>
<p>Not from Northwestern.</p>
<p>My gut instinct would be that this is dodgey and the kid should rebuff the invite. Maybe he should even send an email to the director of the admissions department letting them know about this practice. I am not naive or stupid enough to believe that simply because admissions counselors are recent college grads, that they would do this merely to make friends. The poster who suggested this possibility has obviously been away from this world for so long that they cannot remember the profound difference between 24 year old professionals and 17 year old high school students. This is definitely a way for the admissions counselor to have access to information not provided willingly by the applicant and should be prevented.</p>
<p>i say no. but if he does add the college rep, he should put him on limited profile and restrict the privacy settings so he doesnt see things like photos, wall, etc</p>