No, not only can you not count on it, you can count on the fact that with the right security settings, they can’t find your Facebook, let alone look at it. Unless you’ve friended people you don’t know (who turn out to work for the admissions office), or actually friended an admissions counselor, dean, intern, etc. </p>
<p>I think it’s conceivable that if you’re applying to smaller schools and/or schools with mandatory interviews, there’s a good chance you’ve been googled. But unless your Facebook page is completely unsecured, and you’ve left the general Facebook security settings at such an open level that anybody searching for you can find you, then you can’t “count on” anybody seeing your Facebook when they google you.</p>
<p>Finding you by means of captions in photos you’ve de-tagged is remotely possible but awfully unlikely - how many people refer to each other by full names in captions?</p>
<p>As for admissions people and interviewers visiting your publicly referenced blog or web page, that’s different. If it’s easily found, they may well visit it. </p>
<p>If you’re worried about this, google yourself (use quotation marks around your full name; try it again with quotation marks around any nickname or abbreviation you use often plus your last name). If you’re really paranoid, run those two searches again with your hometown or college name. Meantime, go fix your privacy settings.</p>
<p>“Colleges don’t tell applicants why they were rejected.”</p>
<p>I understand that colleges don’t tell applicants why they were rejected. Employers don’t tell applicants why they were rejected either. That doesn’t make either institution exempt from discrimination or other laws. Once colleges start moving outside objective information to subjective information (e.g. random, anonymous, and unsubstantiated comments, pictures) they start to put themselves on a slippery slope. It is now so easy for anyone to anonymously defame anyone on various forums, bulletin boards, discussion groups, etc. Knowing the competition within high schools for limited and coveted college spots, you could see how this could be turned into a vindictive and malicious game for unscrupulous parents and students. You have seen what some mothers have done to get their daughters on the cheerleading squad and can imagine the free-for-all that can occur if colleges start ■■■■■■■■ the internet for dirt on students. The colleges have enough real data from GPA’s, SAT’s, interviews, and recommendations that I would hope that they would not stoop to the level of anonymous and unsubstantiated gossip. My sense and hope is that any self-respecting admissions director would not bring college admissions down to this level. The internet is now full of so much garbage and to use it for the purpose of making life changing decisons is just wrong. Just go on to some of the Yahoo business forums and you can see what anonymous, disgruntled employees say about their boss or CEO. For colleges to actually start using this information only fosters more shameful behavior. If such practice exists in college admissions it needs to stop.</p>
<p>Some final thoughts: Anyone can easily create a facebook page in someone else’s name. There are people that share the same name. A lot of what is posted on Facebook is jokes and pranks. Are the colleges in a position to sort out the real from the unreal, the truth from the fiction? What type of liability do they face if they rely upon unsubstantiated information from unverified sources? I’m sure the attorneys would be lining up if it could be proven that such an internet review was standard practice at a college. All it takes is one admissions officer to leave and blow the whistle.</p>
<p>Personally, I am highly disturbed that anyone could be affected in such an important outcome as college admissions. The stuff that exists on the internet is 10 levels below the National Enquirer.</p>
<p>Colleges need to rise above the trash and be exposed for utilizing trash in such an important decision.</p>
<p>Just a follow-up to my comment above about mothers doing things to get their daughters on the cheerleading squad. This comment was meant to be serve as an illustration, not a broad categorization of mothers and daughters. Undoubtedly. fathers have done crazy things to get their daughters on the cheerleading squad as well as sons on the football team. The point is that once parents realize they can improve their son or daughter’s admissions chances by trashing the competition on the internet, let the games begin.</p>
<p>Colleges can put an end to this foolishness by sticking to the facts and not the gossip pages. If they don’t police themselves, I’m sure the attorneys will make it financially imprudent.</p>
<p>Finally, what does it say about admissions offices that they actually have time to start cruising thousands of Facebook pages every year? That will be the end on my alumni donations once I learn of such a practice. Clearly, they don’t need my money as they have excess staff with too much time on their hands.</p>
<p>I’m not quite sure what kind of legal claim you’re contemplating. By and large, colleges, especially private colleges, are under no obligation to accept anyone. Used to be the same for employers, but now they’re governed by laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, and in some places, sexual orientation. But these laws say nothing about a trashy reputation. I’m no expert in employment law, but I believe an employer can refuse to hire you because the employer believe you have a trashy reputation, whether the stories circulating about you are true or not. It’s “defamation” for someone to spread false and malicious stories about you; it’s not defamation for an employer to decide that, on the basis of the mere fact that such stories are being circulated (whether true or not), your presence may taint the employer’s own reputation. And generally speaking, private colleges are under fewer constraints with respect to admissions decisions than employers are with respect to hiring decisions. Oh, I suppose to the extent the colleges get federal funds there may be Title VI protections. But I’m pretty sure “trashy reputation” isn’t considered a “protected class.” In short, they can decide not to admit you for pretty much any reason, or no reason at all—except for the categories specifically protected by statutes and regulations, and I don’t think those apply here.</p>
<p>While professional liability or malpractice actions are typically brought against lawyers, doctors, accountants, and engineeers, they are not limited to such professions. Let’s say they deny you because of information on a Facebook page and that person is not even you, e.g someone else by the same name. To me, that would be actionable.</p>
<p>All professionals are legally held to reasonable standards of care. To me, making an admissions decision on unverified information from unverified sources is a violation of that standard and subject to a professional liability action.</p>
<p>My main point was not to turn this into a legal debate. I think we we all agree that a doctor should not go into surgery under the influence of alcohol and a pilot should not fly a plane on cocaine. The legalities aside, such actions are wrong and potentially hurtful.</p>
<p>While certainly not of the same magnitude, I feel the same way about admissions officers ■■■■■■■■ Facebook pages and other social networking pages to assist in making life changing decisions. I think it is wrong and hurtful and they really should have better things to do with their time.</p>
<p>It takes the admissions process into the gutter and fosters an environment where students and parents can trash others for their own personal gain.</p>
<p>Python: If an adcom added me, I don’t think I would know who he was and I would ignore him logically. The same would happen if I did recognize him.</p>
<p>hellojan: I dont get your point. So what if my friends tag me in photos? Some random person still cant see them, only if they were a facebook friend of my friend. Besides you can manage your settings so that noone on fb can see your tagged pictures of you if you like…</p>
<p>haha i totally believe that! All of the seniors at my school who party and post picures of themselves partying and drinking on facebook changed their names on facebook from december to late march, they just scrambled all of the letters in their name… im guessing so colleges couldnt find them</p>
<p>Nobody in my household uses social networking sites. Too many risks.</p>
<p>You may be able to guarantee that you control the friends that you give access to but can you guarantee that:</p>
<ul>
<li>Facebook doesn’t have security bugs</li>
<li>Your friends’ computers aren’t compromised or will never be compromised</li>
<li>Data traveling on public and private networks won’t be intercepted</li>
</ul>
<p>I know the Director of Engineering at Facebook. He has his work cut out for him.</p>
<p>haha i just googled myself for the first time, and apparently i have the same name as a highly accomplished lawyer with many published opinions. maybe that will work in my favor.</p>
<p>One of my favorite games to play is to, at high traffic times, go around to different computers at school and refresh facebook.com.</p>
<p>Occasionally, the last user will not have properly logged out. This means that I suddenly have access to their page. If it’s a girl, I change the status to something like “XXXX has the worst diarrhea. My butt burns so bad and I shouldn’t have eaten those hot wings! Stinky!” If it’s a guy, it becomes something like, “XXXX wishes that the doctor hadn’t botched the circumcision all those years ago.” etc etc</p>