Should colleges check you out on Facebook?
For Teens, Their Parents, and Jewish Educators:
An article in Education Week noted what most of us already know: college admissions officers are not clueless when it comes to checking up on potential applicants.
There is an increase in the number of admissions officers who are digging deeper into social media as a way to gain a more rounded profile of student applicants. Kaplan Test Prep noted that this activity has more than quadrupled.
“Most kids have no idea how important it is that their profile[s] online — Twitter, Facebook, other social media spaces — need to be appropriate for the admissions process,” said Dean Skarlis, president of The College Advisor of New York. “Most kids don’t even realize what’s appropriate and what’s not because they’re 16, 17 and their idea of what might be appropriate is very different than that of a college admissions person.”
Unfortunately, social media users are experiencing less control of what content gets posted.
Appear in a picture, and your ability to remove it may be very limited.
How can you go about cleaning up your act?
Here are three really quick things to do now:
1. Conduct a search on yourself. Enter your name into various search engines and social media platforms to see what comes up.
2. Make sure your account is ‘clean’: free of postings that are inappropriate (get advice as to what inappropriate).
3. Do a search of your friend’s accounts, there may be content there that you would want removed.
4. Go into settings, and redo your privacy preferences so only your friends can see your posts..
Why is this post written for Parents, teens, and Jewish educators? As Jewish educators, we can use our setting to our advantage. Most of us meet with students in a trusting and casual environment. In those settings we have a unique opportunity to open discussions with our students that may rarely take place elsewhere. Moreover, helping students be more aware of the consequences of their actions is exactly within our mission.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
Related articles
Students shouldn’t air their “digital dirty laundry” as more college admissions officers are looking (blogs.ajc.com)
College Bound? Study Finds More Admissions Officers Reviewing Applicants’ Facebook, Social Media Profiles (losangeles.cbslocal.com)
Social Media Can Hurt Your College Bid (abcnews.go.com)
Comments