A student with a perfect GPA, stellar extra-curricular activities, and copious amounts of community service is much like any other competitive student in the applicant pool. However, one thing sets them apart—their Twitter.
Countless students at Langley and schools across the country are guilty of changing names on social media, most commonly Twitter and Facebook. Colleges are judging applications with an increasingly critical eye each year, causing students to resort to drastic measures to ensure their flawless image is not tarnished.
A number of students have disabled their Facebook and Twitter accounts as colleges are beginning to rely more heavily on an applicant’s profile to determine admission. “I would feel violated if they knew everything about me through Facebook,” said junior Debbie Lee.
Upholding a flawless image for the sake of college applications won’t always work, though, for the system of checking a student’s profile in its nature can be flawed. There is room for error in the process, as college admissions officers have the potential of finding the wrong profile and misjudging an applicant.
Despite the chance for error, colleges technically still have the right to search students on the web just as any other individual. Junior Rachel Kim, daughter of an admissions officer, agrees that colleges have the right to search students, regardless of violation of privacy. “They shouldn’t upload pictures or say things that would have a disadvantage towards them in terms of getting into school. Once it’s on the web it will always be on the web,” she said.
A majority of students are not altering their names on social media; what is posted on the Internet is the student’s choice, and only they will have to live with the consequences that may arise. Kylie Davidson, junior, said she will not be disabling her accounts or changing her name. “I don’t have anything that I’m trying to hide,” she said.
Some students even deem scrutiny of profiles a myth. “I think it’s an urban legend that they go and look at your Facebook profile,” said senior Alex Blankenship.
Colleges receive thousands of applications to narrow down, and they accept only a fraction of these. It takes time to research each individual student when a number of colleges regard the use of social media as a factor in the decision process unfair.
In one extreme case, a student had been offered admission initially, but when the institution investigated the student’s tweets, the college rescinded the offer of admission in light of the student’s inappropriate behavior and remarks. “They probably have the time to search you if they’ve accepted you,” said junior Rushi Challa.
Ultimately, a majority of the student population agrees that potentially offensive or inappropriate posts should be left off the web—it’s better to be safe than sorry.