Online Teens and College Admissions
Posted by Jacqueline Iger on Tue, Jan 10, 2012 @ 04:42 PM
When I applied to college, I had never heard of Facebook, and I associated the term “social-networking” with lame mixers and “get-to-know-you” events that required attendees to adorn their shirts with a white name badge. I created a Facebook profile when I arrived at college as a freshman in 2004. By the time I graduated in 2008, I had 700+ Facebook friends, I was tagged in 600+ pictures, and much of my social life was wrapped up in online social networking. The career center at my college advised us seniors to delete our pictures posted on Facebook and to block our profiles from public consumption. Apparently employers were using Facebook and other social networking sites to vet applicants.
Kaplan Test Prep’s 2011 survey of college admissions officers illustrates that it is not just post-college youth that need to worry about the potential impact of Facebook and the Internet on their future. Rather, college admissions officers are increasingly checking high school applicants’ social networking profiles and searching them on Google—about 25% of admissions officers reported checking a profile at least once and about 20% reported Googling an applicant. Of the college admissions officers who used these online tools to vet applicants, about 12% said that what they found negatively affected the applicant’s chance of admission. Some of the offenses included photos depicting underage drinking and other illegal activities, vulgar speech, and plagiarism.
According to a 2011 Pew Internet study, 80% of online teens now use social networking sites, which means that 8 in 10 online teens must consider how their online behavior may impact their future. As teens spend more time on the Internet, we have a responsibility to educate children and teens in Internet safety, which includes issues of cyberbullying, online solicitation, and protecting one’s privacy. Schools use computers – including online and networked applications – as never before for instruction and research. Managing personal information in an online world is a critical concern for students, teachers, and families.