Hide and Seek: Facebook and the College Process
Each fall thousands of high school seniors debate whether they should limit their exposure on Facebook and other popular social networking sites, in case any college admissions representatives decide to search for them on one of these websites.
Does Facebook actually matter? Yes, says the Wall Street Journal. The article cites a study by Kaplan, which states that 10% of college admissions officers have used social networking sites to evaluate applicants, and “some admissions officers said they had rejected students because of material on the sites.” Another study by UMass found that 21% of colleges “used social-networking sites for…gathering information about applicants.”
So, while there is no guarantee that the colleges you apply to will search for your Facebook profile, there is a decent chance that some admissions reps will search for you. Considering that it takes little to no effort to hide your Facebook profile, every student should try and limit their visibility on Facebook during the application process. The one step every student should take is to change their privacy settings on Facebook so that only their friends can see their profiles or pictures. Here’s how to do it:
Simply go to settings→privacy settings→profile, and then change the privacy settings on every option so that only friends can see.
Even if an admissions counselor decides to search for you on Facebook, the most they will see is a small picture of you, your name, and what networks you’re in.
I think that this is sufficient, but some applicants may want to be even safer. If you want to take further steps, here are a few options:
1. Try changing your name. You can just change your last name, or edit your entire name. My full name is Regan Bozman, and that was my name on Facebook before I applied to college. From about November to April of my senior year, I listed my Facebook name as Rega Boz. My profile wouldn’t show up if someone searched my name on Facebook, but it was close enough to my real name that my friends could tell who I was.
2. Edit your profile. Many applicants choose to to edit their profiles. While everyone has different things listed, if your favorite activities include drinking, smoking, graffiti or something that would almost certainly turn off a college, you might want to take it out.
3. Filter your pictures. If you have pictures tagged of you either drinking or smoking, or if alcohol, cigarettes or drugs are present anywhere in the picture, simply untag them.
While these simple steps won’t get you into college, they will guarantee that those pictures of you playing beerpong last weekend won’t end up in the hands of an admissions rep from your dream school.
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