As a professional adult who openly admits to enjoying catching up with old friends and spending some downtime on Facebook, it is important for both students and adults alike to remember that social networking sites are by no means private. You never know who may have access to your profile information and/or your pictures...including college admission offices and potential employers. This Chicago Tribune article is a great reminder to proceed with discretion and caution when utilizing sites such as FaceBook and MySpace...especially once you have submitted an application for admission or for a new job!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
By Emma Graves Fitzsimmons and Bonnie Miller Rubin
Chicago Tribune (MCT)
CHICAGO — Lauren Pfeiffer said she doesn't have to worry about what's on her Facebook profile, but she can't say the same about her fellow students.
"Some of my friends could get in trouble with their photos," said the junior at Andrew High School in Tinley Park, Ill. "I wouldn't want it to be a deciding factor in their future."
The idea that a lapse in cyber-judgment could alter a life trajectory might once have been dismissed as paranoia.
But with some admissions officers confirming in a new survey that they visit social-networking sites, high schoolers say getting into college is no longer only about sky-high test scores and impressive extracurricular activities. Now it means being smart about their online personas as well.
In a new survey, 10 percent of admissions officers from prestigious schools said they had peeked at sites like Facebook and MySpace to evaluate college-bound seniors. Of those using the profiles, 38 percent said it had a "negative impact" on the applicant, according to Kaplan Inc., the education services company that polled the officers.
At least one admissions officer had rescinded an offer because of an applicant's postings, the survey results showed. The survey went out to 500 schools — of which 320 responded — in July and August and promised anonymity.
The finding highlights a technological world moving so fast that neither the students nor the schools have had time to factor in all the implications. What's clear is that students have yet another potential obstacle to navigate in an increasingly fierce competition for slots in the country's top universities.
The networking sites were virtually nonexistent five years ago but now are approaching cell phone use in popularity. With few schools having formal guidelines in place, "we're in a period of figuring out this technology ... and exactly where the boundaries are going to be," said Jeff Olson, who heads research for Kaplan's test preparation division.
At the University of Notre Dame, which received 14,000 applications for 1,985 slots last year, assistant provost for enrollment Dan Saracino said he and his staff "don't go out of our way" to scrutinize students online, but sometimes they come across a candidate portraying himself or herself in a less-than-flattering light.
"It's typically inappropriate photos — like holding up a can of beer at a party," Saracino said.
In those instances, he will reach out and ask that age-old parental query: "What were you thinking?"
"We try to turn it into a teaching moment," he said. "It's an opportunity to let students know that what they put on these sites is not just between you and your friends, but you and the world."
On the other hand, using the Internet to vet someone's character seems overly intrusive to Northwestern University's Christopher Watson.
"We consider Facebook and MySpace their personal space," said the dean of undergraduate admissions. "It would feel somewhat like an invasion of privacy."
That sentiment was seconded by Ted O'Neill, dean of admissions at the University of Chicago, who was surprised by the survey's results.
"We don't have a policy not to look; we just don't look," he said. "Despite the fact that these things are semi-public ... I don't think we should be spying on things that aren't intended for us."
Even so, the findings give adults a bit of extra ammunition in urging discretion — not always the first impulse for adolescents.
Gloria Mueller, college counseling coordinator at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, Ill, said she has been telling kids to be careful with their postings ever since she first heard that colleges, as well as and employers, were checking out Web sites. "You never know when this will come back to bite you," she said.
Sharyn Reiff of Skokie, Ill., already had "the talk" a couple of years ago with her son, Jordan, a senior at Niles North High School, that resulted in his deleting some inappropriate content.
"He loves his Facebook and he makes it funny, but he knows it has to be good, clean fun," said Reiff, whose son has his hopes pinned on Brown University or Reed College. "He also knows that there are a lot talented kids out there and he needs every advantage he can get."
Ethan Goldsmith, a senior, said he, too, already was exercising caution because New Trier Township High School has suspended students from sports teams for brandishing a beer in photos online.
Kaplan's Olson stressed that schools weren't routinely checking the sites as part of the evaluation process but were visiting only if there is was something troublesome in the application or information that needs needed to be confirmed.
With colleges expecting a record number of applications this year, the survey results should serve as a wake-up call for both students and parents, he said.
"Today's application is not just what you send ... but whatever they can Google about you," Olson said.
For Pfeiffer, thinking about her friends' photos and profanity-laden "bumper stickers" — and how easily it all could be misinterpreted — led her to this conclusion: "I will definitely be changing my privacy settings now."
(Tribune reporter Jodi S. Cohen also contributed to this report.)
(c) 2008, Chicago Tribune.
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Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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