<p>Check out last week's issue of Newsweek.</p>
<p>Set your profile to private and don't make your default pic provocative. Problem solved.</p>
<p>Students HAVE been rejected because of their Myspaces, but I don't believe many colleges routinely search for applicants' profiles.</p>
<p>"Set your profile to private and don't make your default pic provocative. Problem solved." </p>
<p>Even "private" isn't foolproof. One never knows who knows who, and who may see one's profile via so-called friends.</p>
<p>Umm... Don't make a myspace?</p>
<p>I would like to see the college admissions officer who pretends to be someone you know in order to access your Myspace profile, then use it in the application process.</p>
<p>And don't accept people you've never met as "friends," for god's sake.</p>
<p>that'd be great. most people are so dumb and superficial but they pretend to be so "smart" and "deep" on their college application. I hope by doing that the universities can see the TRUTH of the applicants.</p>
<p>The First Amendment only goes to a certain extent, sadly.</p>
<p>why do people start a new post when a subject has been done to death? go to search the forum and put in facebook or my space ....you'll see everything that has to be said on the subject.</p>
<p>BandTenHut,
Just because someone you know in real life is your friend now doesn't mean they'll be your friend forever. Also, "friends" have been known to deliberately sabatoge their "friends" when applying to the same college.</p>
<p>In addition, just as a computer glitch let me get someone's private e-mail messages, glitches could reveal someone's "friends-only" blogs to the world.</p>
<p>"ANd the stuff that I was talking about is not of you partying...it's more like high school seniors drinking"</p>
<p>yeah who drinks at parties anyway?????????////</p>
<p><em>rolleyes</em>
i think both of you were talking about the same thing.</p>
<p>fix up myspace by using css hacks, and let them see that you can make a GOOD looking page.</p>
<p>myspace is such an awfully designed/buggy website that you should probably avoid it altogether. facebook is significantly better and has far more powerful privacy settings. also, i think it's pretty easy to hide from myspace search (as has been previously pointed out) but less difficult to hide from facebook search.</p>
<p>I don't know about college admissions using it to check out applicants, but employers have and do - only an idiot posts risky personal things (made up or not) about themselves on the internet these days. At best, it tells the employer that you lack serious judgement.</p>
<p>haha i hear that if you 'hack' facebook with xss, they hire you.</p>
<p>It's not that important whether or not college admissions office actually ARE or are NOT doing MySpace screenings. What's important is that prospective students know they (or employers, or high schools, or anyone else) COULD be.</p>
<p>I know employers who use facebook, I know people who have lost their jobs over badjocks.com or facebook postings, I know that my high school has teachers undercover on MySpace, and so forth. And I know that none of those things are that unique. I've seen people held accountable in the news for things they've put on their "private, secure" blogs or profiles. With facebook now open to high schoolers, and with the fact that it gives off the impression of being more secure (when anyone can join as a high schooler and any faculty or staff can join their own institution), it's just as dangerous as MySpace.</p>
<p>The solution doesn't have to be "don't use the websites." "Use good sense" is totally sufficient. People just need to realize that such sites aren't secure, despite what they may seem, and to realize that they can be held accountable for any information they display there. Pearl said it perfectly: "At best, it tells the employer that you lack serious judgment."</p>
<p>I know at my school, after you're a student there you can get in trouble by something you have on myspace or facebook, but they're not out looking for it. If your roommate's mad at you and they know theres pictures of you underage drinking online, they can get you in trouble...but the police aren't out searching myspace all day</p>
<p>My take on this is, first, Facebook (I don't use Myspace) IS equivalent to public information. Everyone at my school can see it, and if there's stuff I wouldn't want the general public to see, I probably don't want my whole school to see it either. So I treat mine as if it's public.</p>
<p>That said, we need a reality check. Unless it's, say, Deep Springs and you're only looking for 24 students or whatever, it's simply not plausible for a college to do wholesale checks on people's profiles. Finding someone on Myspace can be a pain if they don't use their real name. Finding someone on Facebook is even harder, since you have to friend them or get access to their network.</p>
<p>Northstarmom makes a good point, though: For someone like her, who only needs to interview a few people, it's entirely plausible to find someone online. Thank you for pointing this out, northstarmom, and for providing the first concrete example I've ever seen of someone getting looked up by a college (or its agents).</p>
<p>My background was that of a popular liquor and there were/are pics of me playing pong on my myspace (same pictures are on my facebook). I'm not saying that my pictures are of me wasted, passed out, and doing beer bongs, but if anyone was to really look for whether or not I've been at a party with alcohol, or that I drink, it wouldn't be a mystery. Most pages are like this, from what I've seen.</p>
<p>I really don't think admissions would do this, especially considering the number of applications they get. Do you really think they have time to check some odd thousand number of myspace/facebooks (when half the time you won't even be able to find the person?) I really don't think they have time for such things, and personally it sounds a bid ludicrous, but of course that's just my humble opinion.</p>
<p>Just don't be stupid.</p>
<p>It's really irritating when people have drunk pictures of themselves on facebook, photos of themselves with beer can in hand when they're obviously underage, etc. Honestly, all it takes is one person who feels like turning you in, and that would suck. Obviously, just use common sense, don't have anything on your profile that hints at illegal activities..</p>
<p>
[quote]
It's really irritating when people have drunk pictures of themselves on facebook, photos of themselves with beer can in hand when they're obviously underage, etc. Honestly, all it takes is one person who feels like turning you in, and that would suck. Obviously, just use common sense, don't have anything on your profile that hints at illegal activities..
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You can't get arrested for being in a picture with a beer or "appearing drunk," nor "appearing high," or having a blunt in your hand.</p>