College Applicants Beware

"College Applicants, Beware: Your Facebook Page Is Showing"
John Hechinger

College student applicants' Myspace and Facebook pages are being looked at by the admission offices at colleges whom look at their applications. These pages can be viewed by just typing in any name and if they are public, they can find out different information about that specific person. Colleges are now making a lot of use at looking how the applicant is outside of school studies by searching for their Myspace and Facebook links. They use the information they get, or pictures the may see from these pages and use that against them when picking out who will get into their school. Thirty-eight percent of the colleges which do this say that seeing the pages was a negative affect towards the applicant.

In Mr. Bowers' government class we read this article and had to answer the question: Do you think it's fair for colleges to look at these pages of applicants? My answer is yes, it is totally fair, and legal for that matter. If you are applying for a school, and they feel the need to get some sort of "background" check on you, don't be putting up negative and/or personal pictures or information on your social networking pages. I don't think it's necessarily fair for them to judge your position on getting accepted on these pages, but it's not their fault that you decided to put them on a public page.

So take those bad pictures from that party, or personal information off your Myspace page before you apply to that college you've been working so hard to get into for all these years. And maybe make your page "private". Who knows who will be searching you on Google next.


link:
"College Applicants, Beware: Your Facebook Page Is Showing" by John Hechinger