Completed college application, check. Written personal statement, check. Spruced up resume, check. Removed the pictures of last week’s party from Facebook, when was I supposed to do that?
For some students, the process of applying to colleges doesn’t end with the traditional completion of the application, personal statement and resume. Rather, some colleges are looking to use social networking sites to check up on applicants as part of the admissions process.
According to a report conducted by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, about one-fourth of U.S. colleges said they used social networking sites and various Internet search engines to research applicants.
In other words, such schools believe that what a student displays on Facebook or MySpace can help determine whether or not that student is worthy of acceptance or eligible for a particular scholarship.
While students should be careful of how they choose to portray themselves to friends and others on any site, they shouldn’t have to worry about college admissions becoming Big Brother. Allowing colleges to check on students from a site designed for personal interaction not only invades ethical rules of privacy but also undermines the efficiency of the traditional application process.
If colleges are allowed to see these sites now, they may push for more “monitoring” later on. When students apply for college, they agree to disclose academic and, to an extent, financial information to a school. That shouldn’t include jeopardizing the privacy of friends and family with whom they interact on social sites.
Colleges shouldn’t be able to judge anyone based on a video posted on a friend’s wall or a misunderstood joke in a Facebook status. How a student appears on a profile isn’t an accurate portrayal of who that student is.
“Looking on a site doesn’t mean what’s shown is what a student is actually like,” said second-year pre-psychobiology student Bobby Babak Asem, who is a frequent user of Facebook.
“If someone’s a good student, I don’t think the school needs to go that far. It breaks too many privacy rules. …. The perspective of an admissions committee can dramatically change with a single picture, which doesn’t prove anything.”
Furthermore, colleges have enough information from the application to determine whether a student is suited for their school or for a scholarship. They shouldn’t have to rely on these sites to learn about their applicants. Colleges that rely on such sites for more information point to the inability of the applications process to fully and accurately depict a student who is a fit with their school.
“Admissions have the SAT, personal statements and extracurriculars to look at,” Asem said. “They don’t need these sites. I don’t think it’s fair.”
If colleges must turn to a social networking site for an extra indicator of a prospective student’s qualities, then perhaps there is a problem with the current method of gauging applicants.
Perhaps colleges should focus on interviews and face-to-face interaction with students to learn more about them ““ not take up the time of admissions workers Googling candidates they have doubts about.
Even the UC admissions staff understands the tediousness of using social networking sites to research students. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Susan Wilbur, the UC system’s director of undergraduate admissions said, “Do you think we have time for that? We have not even discussed that.”
It’s not as if they can confirm whether or not a student actually helps the homeless on Saturdays by searching Facebook for pictures of them at a shelter.
And though social sites allow students to freely express themselves, students should remember who they’ve allowed to view their information and shouldn’t need the threat of college admissions to be wary of how they present themselves to others.
“While I don’t think admissions should accept students based on these social sites, you still have a professional responsibility to put stuff up there you want people to see and how you want them to perceive you,” said second-year UCLA medical student Alina Katsman.
I have a feeling that if colleges were to look at the Facebook profiles of the students they have already accepted, most of those students on campus wouldn’t look as appealing a second time around.
If you have any embarrassing photos or posts on your Facebook, e-mail them to Tehrani at ntehrani@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.