<p>^That's an article in the Wall Street Journal about how colleges can check your Facebook to see what kind of persn you are, if you're truthful about certain things on your application, etc.</p>
<p>One student got denied from a college after he "gushed" about it on-campus but then "trashed" it on Facebook.</p>
<p>...So do admissions officers seriously go online and look at your Facebook page? Is that really a part of the admissions process? I have a hard time believing it, but if it's true, I'd like to know.</p>
<p>^Haha, well I’m not saying I put anything on my page that is offensive or vulgar, my info is a pretty accurate reflection of myself and my interests.</p>
<p>But if a friend(s) posts something on your wall that contains profanity, or you got tagged in a picture where people around you were drinking, would it have an impact on the college’s decision? If they check your page, then it probably would.</p>
<p>Do all universities check all applicants? I think not. Do top tier universities, as those that offer interviews, that may have a question about a student and want a different perspective? You better believe there is a chance they are going to use everything at their disposal. It takes minutes, possibly less time than contacting your GC. What about universities that are about to offer very generous scholarships? I wouldn’t take the chance that someone isn’t going to check you out.</p>
<p>This is why we constantly remind our students that facebook is a PUBLIC forum. They are responsible for what they put out there, AND what others put on their wall as well so be careful of randomly ‘friending’ people. You do not know 700 people THAT well!</p>
<p>Don’t say anything in a public forum, email, or text that you wouldn’t say in someone’s living room. If you irritate a person who has access to that it can be copied and pasted very easily to any number of public places. Lock down your security settings, however don’t let it give you a false idea of who can get into your account.</p>
<p>Prospective employers are doing this as well. WSJ ran an article several months ago that gave the statistic that 40% of employers are now checking social networking sites of potential employees.</p>
<p>I don’t do drugs and would never drink at high school parties so that’s not a worry of mine. But some of my (immature to say the least lol) friends may sometimes put a post with a certain four-letter word…</p>
<p>But my statuses/info are all clean, and pretty indicative of me and my personality. I guess I’ll just have to be careful when it comes time to send in apps.</p>
<p>^^ Actually, there are things I’d say in someone’s living room, but NEVER say online. I’m a little paranoid, but I don’t text/leave voicemails/email/facebook anything that I wouldn’t be willing to share with everyone. Whenever I’m questioning whether or not to post something, I think “would I be comfortable with my pastor and parents seeing this?” It’s usually an excellent gauge of whether something is a-okay or not. But like I said, I’m a little paranoid.</p>
<p>30,000 applicants? I doubt they check every fb. Regardless, if your privacy settings are fine, I don’t think a college could see anything incriminating.</p>
<p>^Actually, schools have the ability to crack into private accounts and view information. Just because you think it’s impossible to see someone’s account since it’s on private, doesn’t mean it really is. Schools do have teams that can access the generic codes and programs and open them up, opening up your FB profile.</p>
<p>^ are you serious??! wow…wouldn’t that be like violating fb’s TOS??!</p>
<p>Oh yeah, they could friend you too on fb but that would be a more obvious approach.</p>
<p>Do you think employers hack into your accounts as well?</p>
<p>I’m going to be more careful now…since my friends curse on my facebook…including myself but i dont post anything that i wouldnt anyone to be seeing though…</p>
<p>^ I can’t tell you of all the legalities, because I don’t know them all, but in essence, they have the ability to do that because you become a part of their “property” once you are accepted or file an application. It’s like a background check. In accordance to employers, I am not sure. I only know about schools doing it because I talked to a tech major at the university I’ll be attending. Scary, haha, I know.</p>
<p>Facebook hasn’t exactly had a sterling track record when it comes to privacy. Selling photographs, ‘accidentally’ opening up everyone’s accounts to public, etc.</p>
<p>I was friends with Elihu Yale on facebook, which I guess pretty much meant they could see anything I put on there. I don’t do anything illegal, but I do enjoy my profanity. I also talk about college stuff on there. I decided to defriend Eli just to be safe. I wish it was a fanpage instead of an actual FB profile.</p>
<p>ill add my experience here from hat Ive seen…</p>
<p>My friend was a senior this year, got accepted OOS for UC Berkeley.</p>
<p>She got it revoked recently because of her FRIENDS posted.</p>
<p>You are who you are with you get me?
They care about that stuff because they know that were not stupid enough to post pictures of us drinking or anything else, but if your friends dont care then your held accountable especially if your in the picture even if your doing anything wrong.</p>
<p>Honestly after I heard what happened to Andrea(the UC Berkeley girl) I went right ahead and deleted my Facebook, because there is no way in hell im getting my application revoked because of other people</p>
<p>Wow. Thanks for all the feedback guys.
I’m worried now… I’m pretty much one of the only kids in my grade who doesn’t do anything illegal lol (I attend a poor public HS). So this could be a problem. I really don’t want to delete my account though :(. I can’t believe they can breach privacy settings, that’s insane!</p>
<p>Can they access your friends’ profiles too? That would be kind of ridiculous. Rejected for a college because you have a Facebook friend who had something profound in their last status update? That just seems too far out there.</p>
<p>In rhetrospect, I almost WANT colleges to look at my Facebook page. It shows what I really care about and the positive aspects of who I am, I have nothing negative on there :)</p>
The intent is the same.</p>
but i dont post anything that i wouldnt anyone to be seeing though…</p>