News-Letter

Media Credit: Angeli Bueno SGA President Sonny Chandrasekhar discusses making the Wednesday before Thanksgiving a free day.

Media Credit: Angeli Bueno SGA members deliberate scheduling issues in their meeting.

One out of 10 college admissions officers have visited applicants' Facebooks or similar networking sites as part of their decision-making process and nearly half of these visits have negatively impacted the applicant, according to a recent survey by Kaplan, Inc.

A similar survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), of which the Johns Hopkins Career Center is an active member, revealed that nearly 17 percent of its employers actively use social networking sites as part of their recruiting effort.

John Latting, dean of undergraduate admissions, said that he will turn to an applicant's Facebook in unusual circumstances, wherein there is reason to believe that the applicant is not revealing his or her true personal information.

"Sometimes, you have the sense that maybe there's some risk with the applicant, you want a little more information on who this person is, so we have to do searches to fill in the details." Latting said. "Sometimes students don't really tell us what's going on."

Latting said that while reviewing Facebook profiles is by no means official procedure, admissions officers do consider these social networking sites to be reasonable sources for verification.

"On occasion, an applicant will make a claim that we're not sure we believe, and we feel we need to probe further," Latting said.

According to the Kaplan survey analysis, an applicant's Facebook can often reveal their true sentiments toward the school that they are considering.

One admissions officer reported that after an interview with a prospective student, he visited that student's social networking profile, only to find multiple boastful posts about how the student felt that he had aced the application process for that school and also that he didn't feel that he wanted to attend that school.

This led the officer to reject the applicant.?

Latting said he could not point to a parallel instance at Hopkins, but rejection would not be out of the question.

Out of the 320 admissions officers surveyed, 38 percent of those who reported having used applicants' Facebooks as a source of information also reported that these investigations ended up negatively affecting the applicants' chances.

According to the Kaplan analysis, boastful posts aren't the only evidence that an applicant may not be desirable - if a prospective student has an excess of incriminating photos or mentions of drug usage or other illicit activity, this can hurt their chances at admission, particularly if they were on the fence in the first place.

Mark Presnell, director of the Career Center, said that it's important for students to be aware that their Facebooks are not as private as they may believe.

While many students consider their social networking sites indicative of their social lives and therefore irrelevant to their career goals, Presnell said he's aware that many job companies will look to applicants' Facebooks for insight.

A NACE survey in 2006 revealed that one in 10 employers planned to start utilizing Facebook as part of their screening process, and Presnell said that it is not surprising that this number increased by seven percent over the past two years, as employers and admissions officers alike have become more savvy with the Internet.

Presnell said that he often encourages students to be vigilant about protecting their profiles.

"We want students to know to protect their Facebook accounts. In regards to any content, make sure that you'd be okay with people seeing it," Presnell said.

He added that while it is rare for a student to incriminate him or herself with inappropriate photos, friends will often post this content without asking for the student's permission. Presnell said that this is where students must become more cautious and warn their friends not to incriminate them.

Some students choose to make their Facebook profiles "private," meaning that someone can only view the student's page if he or she is "friends" with that person. Many students feel that they have already gone to satisfactory lengths to protect themselves.

"I used to let just anyone see my profile, but now I only let friends see it," sophomore Katie Evans said.

"Once I'm applying for real jobs after college, I'm going to take down my pictures and my wall."

According to Presnell, the future of social networking sites is in flux.

"It wouldn't surprise me if in the future employers went beyond using the sites to screen applicants and actually started to promote themselves through mediums like Facebook," Presnell said.

The admissions department has already begun using Facebook to its own benefit. According to Latting, starting three years ago, the admissions department created a Facebook group for admitted students and invited everyone to join.

This not only permitted admissions officers to gain access to incoming students' profiles, but created a convenient place to exchange information.

"Our Facebook groups have been very successful. Social networking sites, besides all their other purposes, really do allow us to see how high school students go about their daily lives," Latting said.

On occasion, a prospective student will invite an admissions officer to view their Facebook if they feel there is something unique that they can only convey through the site.

"We'll look on the applicant's Facebook when we're intrigued by something. Maybe they have a project that they're proud of, and they have documentation of it on Facebook. In this way, the site can benefit students, as well," Latting said.

Presnell said that it is less likely that a student's Facebook will benefit them when they are looking for a job, unless their profile has something outstanding about it.

Sophomore Kasia Garland said she thinks it is unfair for employers to use social networking sites to gain insight into a candidate.

"Facebook is a reflection of your social life, nothing else," Garland said.

"Obviously, you're not going to post a ton of pictures of yourself studying in the library ... but maybe I will, if it helps me get the job."

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