some more reasons to keep off facebook...
Over 25% of Colleges Now Prying Into High Schoolers' Facebook Profiles
According to a recent Kaplan Test Prep survey, which polled 350
admissions officers from colleges all over the country, over 25 percent
said they had looked up applicants on Facebook and Google.
Many high school students are now taking steps that were common place among
older college students entering the job market: they're changing their names
on Facebook, or they are ditching the site altogether.
The same Kaplan survey found that 15 percent of schools have a rigid
social media policy when it comes to admissions. That may not seem like
a lot, but compared to the college admissions climate even just a few
short years ago, it accounts for many schools.
According to Nancy McDuff, associate vice president for admissions and
enrollment management at the University of Georgia, students open
themselves up to inquiries from schools when they put themselves out
there online.
According to a recent Kaplan Test Prep survey, which polled 350
admissions officers from colleges all over the country, over 25%
said they had looked up applicants on Facebook and Google.
Many high school students are now taking steps that were common place among older
college students entering the job market: they're changing their names
on Facebook, or they are ditching the site altogether.
The same Kaplan survey found that 15% of schools have a rigid social media policy
when it comes to admissions. That may not seem like a lot, but compared to the
college admissions climate even just a few short years ago, it accounts for many
schools.
According to Nancy McDuff, associate vice president for admissions and
enrollment management at the University of Georgia, students open
themselves up to inquiries from schools when they put themselves out
there online.
"If a student mentions something in their application that isn't well explained,
and you're looking for more information, you may check their Facebook," she told
Time Magazine. "They're writing about themselves.
That's no different from what a guidance counselor may write about them when they
ask for someone to write a letter of recommendation."
---
Kaplan Test Prep Survey Finds That College Admissions Officers' Discovery of Online
Material Damaging to Applicants Nearly Triples in a Year
Over a Quarter of College Admissions Officers Today Include Google or Facebook in Applicant Evaluations; 35% Report Discovering Information that Negatively Impacted Prospective Students' Admissions Chances - Up from 12% Last Year
NEW YORK -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Results from Kaplan Test Prep's 2012 survey of college admissions officers* show that schools are increasingly discovering information on Facebook and Google that negatively impact applicants' acceptance chances.
While the percentage of admissions officers who took to Google (27%) and checked Facebook (26%) as part of the applicant review process increased slightly (20% for Google and 26% for Facebook in 2011) from last year, the percentage that said they discovered something that negatively impacted an applicant's chances of getting into the school nearly tripled - from 12% last year to 35% this year.
Offenses cited included essay plagiarism, vulgarities in blogs, alcohol consumption in photos, things that made them "wonder," and "illegal activities."
In 2008, when Kaplan began tracking this trend, only one in 10 admissions officers reported checking applicants' social networking pages.
"Social media used to basically mean Facebook. But the underlying trend we see is the increase in use of Google, which taps into a social media landscape that's proliferated to include Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, blogging and other platforms -- and teens today are using all of these channels," said Jeff Olson, Vice President of Data Science, Kaplan Test Prep.
"Additionally, we're seeing a growing cultural ubiquity in social media use, plus a generation that's grown up with a very fluid sense of privacy norms. In the face of all these trends, the rise in discovery of digital dirty laundry is inevitable."
Olson noted, "With regard to college admissions, the traditional application -- the essays, the letters of recommendation -- represent the polished version of an applicant, while often what's found online is a rawer version of that applicant.
Schools are philosophically divided on whether an applicant's digital trail is fair game, and the majority of admissions officers do not look beyond the submitted application, but our advice to students is to think first, Tweet later."
