Web Profiles Haunt Students
By Dr. Marciene Mattleman
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - You're a high school student who wants to tell your friends about the crazy party you went to on the weekend, so you post it on Facebook.
But an article in The Wall Street Journal about a survey of college and university admissions procedures, might make you think twice.
When applying to college, most applicants send sufficient material - essays, transcripts and recommendations - for schools to make their decisions and more than 70% of admissions officers have never Googled or visited a social networking page to learn more.
In fact, only 15% of schools in the annual Kaplan Test Prep survey had an official policy regarding vetting.
However, several admissions officers report wanting to find out more about a project or seeing a "red flag" in an interview or recommendation, prompting them to dig deeper, with 35% saying they discovered something online that hurt the applicant - alcohol, drugs, bullying, plagiarism and even sexual assault.
It's college application time and if you know a student who's applying, suggest reading the article now.
