Facebook and College Admissions

monstor344
Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:20:25 +0000

Well, I can tell you they obviously haven’t checked the profiles of hundreds of kids from my school who have gotten into top colleges the last couple of years, because 85% of those kids have pictures tagged of them drinking. Or they don’t really care about that so much (as they frankly shouldn’t, unless an applicant has demonstrated an utter lack of responsibility with alcohol). Both are likely. As for other things:



Examples of what I think cross the line are blatant drug use (not cigarettes) and vandalism to personal property. Smoking a cigarette is not crossing the line and definitely does not doubt one’s character. Making racist, homophobic, or threatening remarks does cross the line, as does blatantly dissing a school as the example of one person getting admissions rescinded posted above.

Would smoking marijuana qualify as crossing the line? Whose judgment call is that, to accept drinking and not weed smoking? Can something interpreted as being horribly offensive actually be a misunderstood inside joke, which is partially what Facebook is partially about? There are serious errs to be made if an adcom checks an applicant’s Facebook.