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[quote]
The number of college admissions officials using Facebook to learn more about an applicant has quadrupled in the past year, underscoring the effect social media has on U.S. culture and academic life, a survey shows. Googling is nearly as prevalent...</p>
<p>Nearly a quarter (24%) of admissions officials at 359 selective colleges say they used Facebook, up from 6% the previous year, and 20% used Google to help evaluate an applicant...
<p>The good news is that adcoms don't have the time to research every applicant using Google and social media tools.</p>
<p>The bad news is that if you have something embarrassing posted by you (or about you), someone might call it to the attention of the schools you are applying to. In that case, the admissions folks might well check it out.</p>
<p>Obviously it makes sense to keep your privacy settings at a level that restricts what is public. But if you don't want something to get out, don't post it at all. There are plenty of stories of fake profiles (who often appear to be an attractive member of the opposite sex) who friend others to gain access to non-public content. While I seriously doubt that a Yale admissions officer will hack your Facebook account, rival applicants, enemies, troublemakers, etc. might try.</p>
<p>Has to be done. Colleges can be held liable for admitting people with issues they could have known about if that person harms somebody else. As checking FB is pretty easy a lawyer could make them look bad if they don’t at least try a quick check.</p>
<p>After I went to a scholarship weekend at my state’s flagship school, I learned that they searched those students on facebook. They only searched the top 100 students out of the 20,000+ who applied, but if you are in elite (top 1%) of applicants at a school, you should be wary that you will probably be searched, whether on Google or Facebook or Twitter or any other site. I know one student who was up for a big scholarship at an LAC, and when she showed up for an interview they asked her about articles and studies she had posted on a website. Granted, these were all great pieces of research and intelligent discussions that she had posted, things that helped her in the admissions process, but she had not included all of it in her application and these things had been found by the ADCOM.</p>
<p>Yes, excellent point to bring up right now. Shawn Abbott (look him up) admitted to me that his admissions officers are constantly digging up unsavory info about applicants through social networking sites. Mainly for honors programs or significant aid awards, but still. </p>
<p>Everyone needs to be careful of their privacy settings and who they add/accept.</p>
<p>We have an issue here with our freshman son. A friend of his at school just made a facebook page with our son’s name, etc. Is there a way to have this removed without confrontation or ? At this point, there is nothing on the page, but… Our S does not even know the password, etc as he did not set up the account (nor request for it to be).</p>
<p>^^Having a Facebook page isn’t a problem, it’s what you post on it that could potentially be problematic. As long as your son doesn’t have a profile picture of him in a drunken stance holding a red solo cup or have statuses bashing the school (i.e. “UGHHH have to go to scholarship weekend at X university, FMLLL, jeez this is the worst school ever, ppl are awful, profs are awful, f*** this school dont go here it sucks”), he should be fine. I honestly don’t think they’d care about most things, like inappropriate language or inside joke-related things that seem strange or offensive to outsiders. They’re only on the lookout for drug/alcohol related content or anything derogatory against their university.</p>
<p>Just ask the friend to take it down. Don’t make a huge deal out of it, because it’s not. Even if, by some infinitetessimally small chance, the friend absolutely refuses to take it down and college admissions officers somehow manage to find this joke page, they’d see that it hadn’t been updated in 3 years and would disregard it (I sincerely doubt that this friend would have the dedication to maintain a fake profile for his friend for years on end).</p>
<p>I agree with NavyBlueNinja, the reason most seniors change their name is because they have pictures of themselves participating in what colleges would definitely consider inappropriate activities.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, given how often Facebook changes its privacy settings, and how often it finds itself in hot water because of personal info being leaked or accessible in one way or another, I just choose not to trust Facebook. I still use Facebook, but I don’t put anything on there I wouldn’t mind anyone seeing.</p>
<p>If your friends on FB allow the public, or friends of friends, to view their FB postings and photos, then pics tagged with your name or your comments on those friends FB pages are subject to scrutiny even if you have the most private settings yourself. My D had a different name for her FB account for a number of years (not a fake name, but just a partial one).</p>
<p>To add to chrome16’s post that CC gives away more info than facebook…</p>
<p>If your screenname on CC is the same as your screenname on facebook, you’re potentially doubley busted, and I know of a case where someone posted a negative comment about a university on CC, and the individual was identified and confronted when someone typed into their browser “Facebook”</p>
<p>The internet is a very, very small place and getting smaller, so be careful on facebook AND on every other site where you may be identified.</p>
<p>It is a good idea for everyone to periodically see what can be viewed on Facebook by someone who is not a friend. </p>
<p>It used to be very easy to see what information of yours was publicly accessible, but two ways of checking that have now disappeared.</p>
<p>It appears the only way now to see what is publicly accessible is to ask someone who is registered on Facebook but is not a Facebook friend to type your name into the Facebook search box.</p>
<p>If you type into google: site:facebook.com and then your facebook name, it will show you all of the publicly accessible comments you have written on various facebook pages. For example, if you post a comment insulting your principal on a newspaper’s facebook page, it will show up on a google search. If you post on a politician’s facebook page or any other type of public facebook group, your comments also will show up on a google search.</p>
<p>It is almost a full time job to keep track of all of the monthly changes by Facebook.</p>
<p>This is pretty much why I have my Facebook privacy settings cranked up (People that arent my friends can only see my name, profile picture and sex) and my Twitter set to protected (People can’t retweet me, but hey small price).</p>
<p>I find it hard to believe checking FB is any kind of major trend at top schools. But, agree, there are times when something seems flakey and you have the means to check. Not just FB- also google. </p>
<p>However, some adcoms do check the posts on their own school FB page for applicants. Some kids post such specific info about themselves that the regional adcoms can recognize them. Some of these kids post dumb, dumb things like the fact that another school is their top choice.</p>
<p>I find it hard to believe that any university could (or would even make an effort to) try and dig up dirt on applicants by means of attempting to “connect the dots” from Facebook or another social media site. </p>
<p>For example, an adcom could look at the stats on my application, find my “chance me” thread and go from there to look at the other posts I’ve made, but why make the effort? Learning my opinion on dating in HS, drinking in HS, or my phobias isn’t going to add or detract from my stats enough for them to make an informed decision either way. </p>
<p>And if they choose to ignore the stats, and instead judge character based on a handful or FB posts (“Well, this applicant seems gossipy.” “Applicant X has a bizarre sense of humor that I’m not sure will mesh will our school’s culture.” “Applicant Y made a drug reference–no way is he coming here.”), then I can’t imagine they’re doing themselves any favors.</p>
<p>As long as you aren’t an ax murderer or a complete fraud, I don’t think there’s too much to worry about that isn’t made completely obvious already.</p>
<p>I don’t believe that any privacy measure will help to protect the private life of people. What you post will be available to the public somehow, someday.</p>
<p>Colleges should be more direct to tell students that they are looking at students’ posts on the internet so that students can be more aware of. Nowadays many employers can pay to scrutinize employment applicants. Kids should think that they will run for the POTUS in the future.</p>
<p>students shouldn’t have to be warned that they are being looked at by colleges. they shouldn’t be posting inappropriate things in the first place.</p>
<p>^ I disagree. Students post inappropriate things because they think FB and other social networks can protect their identity. They think that only their friends would know. Even adults can fall into this trap. Many people don’t understand how the posts are stored and circulated.</p>