Sept. 26, 2008

Admission officers are beginning to browse Facebook and other social networking sites to gain knowledge about applicants, according to a survey of college admissions officers.  Jeff Olson, executive director of research for Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, said Kaplan surveyed the best schools in the nation about their practices regarding Facebook.

Kaplan interviewed 2,300 admissions officers from the nation's top 500 schools, as compiled from U.S. News & World Report and Barron's Profiles of American Colleges.  MU participated in the study, and officials said the university does not check social networking sites of any incoming students.  "Even if we wanted to do, there is no way we'd have the time to check those kinds of sites for our more than 20,000 applicants each year," MU Admissions Director Barbara Rupp said.  Facebook and other social networking sites offer account settings that prevent strangers from looking at your direct profile. The only possible information a stranger could receive from a blocked profile is the picture and schooling information.  MU freshman David Conway said it is not fair to base acceptance on photos or information found on one of the networking sites.  "If their academic record is strong enough to get in to college, I do not think it's fair to deny someone based on something that most high school students do," Conway said. "Raunchy pictures or information found should not hold someone back from a college experience."

Olson and the Kaplan team of researchers polled 152 of the 200 American-approved law schools in the country. One out of seven law schools said they check these sites for more in-depth student information.  Conway said he believes law schools are more likely to check the social networking sites because of the difficulty of getting in.  "The competition is a lot harder than any other profession due to so many qualified people going for the same spots," Conway said. "It is a good way to weed out applicants."  According to Harvard University's Institute of Politics, 86 percent of four-year college students have Facebook accounts and 59 percent have MySpace accounts.  About one in 10 college admission officers said they had visited students' social networking sites as part of the admissions evaluation process. Of those who had visited these sites, 37 percent said students' sites had a negative impact on their admissions evaluation.  MU freshman Adym Cooney said the end of privacy is closer than he thought.  "I do not mind that colleges are checking those sites, but I am more disappointed in the fact that from now on we have no privacy," Cooney said.