<p>"She got it revoked recently because of her FRIENDS posted.:</p>
<p>Sounds like she was revoked because she did something illegal and her friends posted pictures displaying that.</p>
<p>I have my dream school on my Facebook (as a group thing, yeah know?) So even if I did talk crap about that school they’d probably see… lol. I never would, though! Who would be that stupid?</p>
<p>I am taking down my fb from the time EA starts til after the first few weeks of college. lol</p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t understand why this is such a big deal. Adjust your privacy settings accordingly, and don’t put up (or untag yourself from pictures where) you’re doing anything illegal or stupid. And don’t trash talk a school you applied to (or, for that matter, any school; seriously, those conversations are best reserved for texting) or a job you have. It’s common sense.</p>
<p>As a future college athlete, I’ve been warned to put EVERYTHING on private and defriend people who I don’t actually know, even if they “go” to the same high school or college- police will actually create false profiles and join networks to friend students, and then pursue them for illegal activity- i.e. underage drinking, drug use, and so on. True story.</p>
<p>I don’t participate in drinking or anything else illegal for my age group/illegal in general, and I untag questionable pictures (i.e. where there’s a multitude of red cups, which are actually innocent, but can be misinterpreted). ALL of my settings are set to friends only- it can be difficult to do this, but it’s worth the time and effort to mark every photo album as private, and so on.</p>
<p>I also don’t post things I wouldn’t want people I’m not as friendly with to view- for example, I have some friends who I do know, but am not close with, nor do I see them often. I don’t want them to judge me/get the wrong impression without actively knowing me in person and seeing me frequently, so I just don’t post questionable material. </p>
<p>If you really want to fling about vulgar language and inappropriate material, I suggest you severely limit your friends to those who you know closely and see regularly and trust- and encourage them to also set severe limits regarding who can see uploaded material.</p>
<p>You guys do know there is such a thing called privacy settings, right?</p>
<p>And why would you friend people you don’t know… why would you friend someone who you will never talk to?</p>
<p>" So even if I did talk crap about that school they’d probably see… lol. I never would, though! Who would be that stupid?"</p>
<p>People do all sorts of stupid things on Facebook. When I see stupid posts, I wonder if the person posted while drunk or high.</p>
<p>^lol, Northstarmom speaks the truth.</p>
<p>glassesarechic - It wouldn’t be matter much to me because my prof. is set to private, but an earlier poster said they can breach privacy settings and look at it anyway…? Not sure if this is true.</p>
<p>Let’s be honest here - Does a school with thousands of applicants have the time and money to look for applicant’s Facebook/Myspace pages? No</p>
<p>Are they going to check every single applicant? No. </p>
<p>Which applicants are they going to check, if they even check any?</p>
<p>“In a recent case, the university researched a student who disclosed on his application that he had been disciplined for fighting. The school found a Facebook page with a picture of the applicant holding a gun. “We have to use this information to make the best decision for the university,” Mr. Griffin says.”</p>
<p>Applicants that appear to cause harm to other students. Who wouldn’t do a background check on an applicant who had been “disciplined for fighting”? This background check could even be a call to guidance counselor, not even a facebook check. If one were “disciplined for fighting”, one is easily a threat to other students on campus and therefore a college has a right not to accept that student</p>
<p>“… 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.” (Princeton Dean of Admissions)</p>
<p>Where does offensive Facebook post cross the line and what would one cause us to doubt a student’s character?</p>
<p>-A friend writing the f word on your facebook? Colleges don’t except you to be perfect. Everyone is human and everyone curses. A college that is going to deny you admissions because you posted the f word on your facebook is not one worth attending. Does one saying a “curse” word doubt a student’s character? Not in a long shot. </p>
<ul>
<li>A picture of you holding a beer? A picture of you holding a beer or even drinking one isn’t going to send an alarm to colleges. Really now, colleges know who they are dealing with - teenagers. They don’t expect you to be perfect, as mentioned above. Those on the admissions committees were once teens and most likely have done the same thing during their teenage years. Will a college deny you acceptance when it sees a picture of you with a beer when it passes a blind eye to drinking on its campus and in its doors? What schools, maybe besides Chicago (even though Chicago has recently lots of alcohol incidents), don’t have alcohol on campus with parties and underage drinking? A lot of you are going to cringe and try to fight me on this one, but the college experience in the majority of these places revolves around drinking. The college experience has and always will be around alcohol. You can give me little examples of how you and you friends stay sober but look at the campus as a whole - Look at Dartmouth; The majority of students there drink, no question about that at all, and Dartmouth is a top institution. Colleges aren’t looking for students who study the entire time. They are looking for those who can work hard and play hard, students who can contribute something more to the campus rather then just taken up space in a dorm room.
This also brings up the question- does a picture of one drinking cause a doubt in one’s character? The answer to this one is obviously a no. I would of course answer yes if it were dealing with drinking and driving, but just drinking? CollegeConfidential has become a place where even mentioning alcohol is considered blasphemous. Colleges know students drink, and they will NOT deny you because they see a picture of you with a beer.</li>
</ul>
<p>Examples of what I think cross the line are blatant drug use (not cigarettes) and vandalism to personal property. Smoking a cigarette is not crossing the line and definitely does not doubt one’s character. Making racist, homophobic, or threatening remarks does cross the line, as does blatantly dissing a school as the example of one person getting admissions rescinded posted above. </p>
<p>What it comes down to – No, a college will more then likely not check your facebook unless your record deems it appropriate. If you are still afraid because a buddy of yours wrote the f word on your page or because you were at a party with alcohol and there were pictures taken, you can easily change your facebook/myspace name. For boys, I recommend adding the last name ‘Swift’ or ‘Alba’. For ladies, I recommend adding the last name ‘Lautner’ or ‘Bieber’</p>
<p>^Hahaha, I like the final remark.</p>
<p>elaslawek - Thanks. I think that pretty much puts this to rest… I have no disciplinary problems, nothing that would make a school suspicious. And if the f-word and being at a drinking party are meaningless, then I have nothing to worry about. 
haha thanks for the super-long (yet very helpful) post.</p>
<p>Well, I can tell you they obviously haven’t checked the profiles of hundreds of kids from my school who have gotten into top colleges the last couple of years, because 85% of those kids have pictures tagged of them drinking. Or they don’t really care about that so much (as they frankly shouldn’t, unless an applicant has demonstrated an utter lack of responsibility with alcohol). Both are likely. As for other things:</p>
<p>
Would smoking marijuana qualify as crossing the line? Whose judgment call is that, to accept drinking and not weed smoking? Can something interpreted as being horribly offensive actually be a misunderstood inside joke, which is partially what Facebook is partially about? There are serious errs to be made if an adcom checks an applicant’s Facebook.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say smoking marijuana qualify as crossing the line, but putting pictures up of yourself smoking marijuana does. The difference between marijuana and alcohol is that at a certain age. the alcohol becomes legal. The marijuana only becomes legal when its medical (although soon enough in California the bill may pass). I view alcohol as something which needs maturity to be used, as is the reason why there are laws which give ages to do it at. No matter your age, you cannot legally smoke marijuana without medical purposes.
As for your last statement, anything can be misinterpreted, even the smallest of acts. I wouldn’t worry about an inside joke being misunderstood by the admissions committee unless it has serious racial slurs or threats or something of that sort.</p>
<p>Just keep your profile innocuous and untag yourself from albums that may contain suspect material. Better yet, remove the option for people to view your photos on your profile. </p>
<p>It’s not that hard, guys.</p>
<p>I have the best privacy settings possible. They will never find out what I’m doing.</p>
<p>However I have thought of changing my profile completely to make it look really good to colleges hahaa, idk if it would work tho…</p>
<p>^Oh look, it’s the Native American with the 36 ACT score! Lol</p>
<p>elaslawek - Yeah, if they saw a picture of you smoking pot, I’m pretty sure you’d be getting a rejection letter :P</p>
<p>
Keep in mind that the only reason for their difference in legality is that prohibition failed as a political and economic experiment. It has nothing to do with it being less detrimental to health than marijuana; on the flip-side, if you read into it you’ll see that marijuana was actually made illegal in part for racial reasons, certainly not because it was wreaking havoc on society like alcohol legitimately was. I think most people would agree that alcohol is by far the bigger havoc-wreaker of the two. </p>
<p>Maturity, at least at a certain point, can control abuse of most substances (including alcohol and cannabis) except the hardest of the hard, which someone mature enough would recognize as verboten anyways and never try. To suggest that alcohol can be handled with maturity and that marijuana, regardless of degree of maturity, cannot be handled with certain restrictions in place suggests that 1) maturity means utter complacency with the law, 2) cannabis is more dangerous, and 3) the law is there to look after and maximize our health, with all of which I cannot agree.</p>
<p>Adcom’s spend 15 minutes reading a file, which consists of Transcripts, Background Information, 2 teacher recommendations, 2 personal essays, a Guidance Counselor recommendation letter, and short essay answers. Now is it me or does adding “check facebook” to that list seems impossible in 15 minutes?..</p>
<p>Guys… just set your privacy setting to private only. Adcom’s do not have the time, energy, or motivation to crack FB’s security measures.</p>