College
Applicants, Beware: Your Facebook Page Is Showing
By
John Hechinger, Wall Street
Journal
Updated Sept. 18, 2008 11:59 p.m. ET
High-school seniors
already fretting about grades and test scores now have another worry: Will
their Facebook or MySpace pages count against them in college admissions?
A new
survey of 500 top colleges found that 10% of admissions officers acknowledged
looking at social-networking sites to evaluate applicants. Of those colleges
making use of the online information, 38% said that what they saw
"negatively affected" their views of the applicant. Only a quarter of
the schools checking the sites said their views were improved, according to the
survey by education company Kaplan, a unit of Washington Post Co.
Some admissions officers
said they had rejected students because of material on the sites. Jeff Olson,
who heads research for Kaplan's test-preparation division, says one university
did so after the student gushed about the school while visiting the campus,
then trashed it online. Kaplan promised anonymity to the colleges, of which 320
responded. The company surveyed schools with the most selective admissions.
The vast majority of the
colleges surveyed had no policy about when it was appropriate for school
officials to look at prospective students' social-networking sites. "We're
in the early stage of a new technology," Mr. Olson says. "It's the
Wild, Wild West. There are no clear boundaries or limits."
The lack of rules is
already provoking debate among admissions officers. Some maintain that
applicants' online data are public information that schools should vet to help
protect the integrity of the institutions. Others say they are uncomfortable
flipping through teenage Facebook pages.
Colleges' recent interest
in social-networking sites is leading many aspiring students to take a hard
look at their online habits and in some cases to remove or change postings.
With a high-school graduating class nationwide of 3.3 million students,
colleges are expected to be sifting through a record number of applications
this year.
Nicholas Santangelo, a
senior at Seton Hall Prep, a private school in West Orange, N.J., says he
expects colleges might look at his Facebook site but hopes admissions officers
realize the postings reflect only a partial view of any student. "There
are some things I might think about getting rid of," says Nicholas, 17,
who is considering such competitive schools as Amherst College and Wesleyan
University.
Sites like Facebook and
MySpace let users set up online profiles -- including pictures, videos and
other personal information -- then solicit others to join their network of
online "friends." Users can exchange messages, often publicly, and
sometimes offer detailed descriptions of their activities, dreams and fears.
The sites have inspired
many a national conversation over privacy and exhibitionism. Some job
applicants have already discovered the hard way that employers often examine
the sites to weed out candidates. Representatives of the sites say users can
establish online privacy settings that let their pages be viewed only by
invited "friends." MySpace is part of News Corp., which owns The Wall
Street Journal. Facebook is closely held.
But Kaplan and many
high-school guidance counselors say students often don't restrict public access
on social-networking sites and, in any case, damaging information can find a
way to leak out. David Hawkins, director of public policy and research for the
National Association for College Admission Counseling, a professional
organization, says schools don't have time to scour the Internet systematically
to check out thousands of applicants. But he says admissions officers at times
receive anonymous tips, which may be from rival applicants, about embarrassing
Facebook or MySpace material, such as a picture of a student drunk at an
underage party.
In another recent study,
Nora Ganim Barnes, director of the Center for Marketing Research at the University
of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, found that 21% of colleges used
social-networking sites for recruiting prospects and gathering information
about applicants. It's especially common when universities are awarding
scholarships because it isn't hard to go online for a handful of finalists.
"No one wants to be on the front page of the newspaper for giving a
scholarship to a murderer," she says. "Everybody is trying to protect
their brands."
Thomas Griffin, director
of undergraduate admissions at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, says
the school will do an Internet search, including Facebook and other sites, if
an application raises "red flags," such as a suspension from school.
Mr. Griffin says several applicants a year have been rejected in part because
of information on social-networking sites. 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.
Janet Lavin Rapelye, dean
of admission at Princeton University, says the school hasn't rejected any
applicant because of information posted on the Internet. Princeton doesn't have
time to look at all applicants' online information, 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.
Greg Roberts, senior
associate dean of admission at the University of Virginia, says his staff is
free to check out anonymous tips about social-networking sites or make use of
the information if the admissions committee is evaluating a "tight"
decision.
Sandra Starke, vice
provost for enrollment management at the State University of New York at
Binghamton, says she instructs her staff to ignore Facebook and other sites
because she considers postings to be casual conversations, the online
equivalent of street-corner banter. "At this age, the students are still
experimenting," she says. "It's a time for them to learn. It's
important for them to grow. We need to be careful how we might use
Facebook."
Marc Prablek, a senior at
Ladue Horton Watkins High School in suburban St. Louis, considers Facebook
information "out in the public" and fair game for colleges. The
17-year-old, with some 550 "friends," says, "I don't have
anything bad on Facebook," but he may tweak his profile to be "more
sophisticated."
Marc, who plans to apply
early to Stanford University, says he won't mention that he loves to read X-Men
comic books. His Facebook literary picks currently include "Crime and
Punishment" and "Pride and Prejudice."
High-school guidance
counselors advise applicants, even if they restrict public access on their
sites, to refrain from including anything that could hurt them in college
admissions. They especially caution against foul or offensive language, nudity,
or photos of drinking and drug use.
"Students need to be
accountable for their actions," says Scott Anderson, director of college
guidance at St. George's Independent School, a private school near Memphis,
Tenn. When writing on Facebook or MySpace, he says, they should be thinking,
"Is this something you want your grandmother to see?"
Write to John Hechinger at john.hechinger@wsj.com
