“College Applicants, Beware: Your Facebook Page Is Showing” (WSJ)

Colleges & Universities A-Z Princeton University
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<p>College</a> Applicants, Beware: Your Facebook Page Is Showing - WSJ.com</p>

<p>“High-school seniors already fretting about grades and test scores now have another worry: Will their Facebook or MySpace pages count against them in college admissions?</p>

<p>“A new survey of 500 top colleges found that 10% of admissions officers acknowledged looking at social-networking sites to evaluate applicants. Of those colleges making use of the online information, 38% said that what they saw "negatively affected" their views of the applicant. Only a quarter of the schools checking the sites said their views were improved, according to the survey by education company Kaplan, a unit of Washington Post Co.</p>

<p>“Janet Lavin Rapelye, dean of admission at Princeton University, says the school hasn't rejected any applicant because of information posted on the Internet. Princeton doesn't have time to look at all applicants' online information, but if an offensive Facebook post came to the college's attention, the school would examine it, Ms. Rapelye says. "All of us would consider anything that would cause us to doubt a student's character," she says.</p>

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<p>This may become an important consideration for applicants to all colleges just as it has become one for job applicants in this age of ‘overexposure’.</p>

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<p>This is a growing issue and students and others need to be careful what they post. Also, the system is not as secure as they think. Anything you post has the potential of going world wide, despite assurances of security. If you would regret if someone saw a post, picture, or whatever, then don’t post it. It is not secure no matter what.</p>