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Special Articles |
College Applicants,
Beware: Your Facebook Page Is Showing
By JOHN HECHINGER
High-school seniors
already fretting about grades and test scores now have another worry:
Will their Facebook or MySpace pages count against them in college
admissions?
A new survey of 500 top colleges found that
10% of admissions officers acknowledged looking at social-networking
sites to evaluate applicants. Of those colleges making use of the online
information, 38% said that what they saw "negatively affected" their
views of the applicant. Only a quarter of the schools checking the sites
said their views were improved, according to the survey by education
company Kaplan, a unit of Washington Post Co.
Some admissions officers said they had
rejected students because of material on the sites. Jeff Olson, who
heads research for Kaplan's test-preparation division, says one
university did so after the student gushed about the school while
visiting the campus, then trashed it online. Kaplan promised anonymity
to the colleges, of which 320 responded. The company surveyed schools
with the most selective admissions.
Admissions officers have acknowledged
looking at social-networking sites like Facebook to evaluate applicants.
The vast majority of the colleges surveyed had no policy about when it
was appropriate for school officials to look at prospective students'
social-networking sites. "We're in the early stage of a new technology,"
Mr. Olson says. "It's the Wild, Wild West. There are no clear boundaries
or limits."
The lack of rules is already provoking
debate among admissions officers. Some maintain that applicants' online
data are public information that schools should vet to help protect the
integrity of the institutions. Others say they are uncomfortable
flipping through teenage Facebook pages.
Colleges' recent interest in
social-networking sites is leading many aspiring students to take a hard
look at their online habits and in some cases to remove or change
postings. With a high-school graduating class nationwide of 3.3 million
students, colleges are expected to be sifting through a record number of
applications this year.
Nicholas Santangelo, a senior at Seton Hall
Prep, a private school in West Orange, N.J., says he expects colleges
might look at his Facebook site but hopes admissions officers realize
the postings reflect only a partial view of any student. "There are some
things I might think about getting rid of," says Nicholas, 17, who is
considering such competitive schools as Amherst College and Wesleyan
University.
Sites like Facebook and MySpace let users
set up online profiles -- including pictures, videos and other personal
information -- then solicit others to join their network of online
"friends." Users can exchange messages, often publicly, and sometimes
offer detailed descriptions of their activities, dreams and fears.
The sites have inspired many a national
conversation over privacy and exhibitionism. Some job applicants have
already discovered the hard way that employers often examine the sites
to weed out candidates. Representatives of the sites say users can
establish online privacy settings that let their pages be viewed only by
invited "friends." MySpace is part of News Corp., which owns The Wall
Street Journal. Facebook is closely held.
But Kaplan and many high-school guidance
counselors say students often don't restrict public access on
social-networking sites and, in any case, damaging information can find
a way to leak out. David Hawkins, director of public policy and research
for the National Association for College Admission Counseling, a
professional organization, says schools don't have time to scour the
Internet systematically to check out thousands of applicants. But he
says admissions officers at times receive anonymous tips, which may be
from rival applicants, about embarrassing Facebook or MySpace material,
such as a picture of a student drunk at an underage party.
In another recent study, Nora Ganim Barnes,
director of the Center for Marketing Research at the University of
Massachusetts at Dartmouth, found that 21% of colleges used
social-networking sites for recruiting prospects and gathering
information about applicants. It's especially common when universities
are awarding scholarships because it isn't hard to go online for a
handful of finalists. "No one wants to be on the front page of the
newspaper for giving a scholarship to a murderer," she says. "Everybody
is trying to protect their brands."
Thomas Griffin, director of undergraduate
admissions at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, says the
school will do an Internet search, including Facebook and other sites,
if an application raises "red flags," such as a suspension from school.
Mr. Griffin says several applicants a year have been rejected in part
because of information on social-networking sites. In a recent case, the
university researched a student who disclosed on his application that he
had been disciplined for fighting. The school found a Facebook page with
a picture of the applicant holding a gun. "We have to use this
information to make the best decision for the university," Mr. Griffin
says.
Janet Lavin Rapelye, dean of admission at
Princeton University, says the school hasn't rejected any applicant
because of information posted on the Internet. Princeton doesn't have
time to look at all applicants' online information, but if an offensive
Facebook post came to the college's attention, the school would examine
it, Ms. Rapelye says. "All of us would consider anything that would
cause us to doubt a student's character," she says.
Greg Roberts, senior associate dean of
admission at the University of Virginia, says his staff is free to check
out anonymous tips about social-networking sites or make use of the
information if the admissions committee is evaluating a "tight"
decision.
Sandra Starke, vice provost for enrollment
management at the State University of New York at Binghamton, says she
instructs her staff to ignore Facebook and other sites because she
considers postings to be casual conversations, the online equivalent of
street-corner banter.
"At this age, the students are still
experimenting," she says. "It's a time for them to learn. It's important
for them to grow. We need to be careful how we might use Facebook."
Marc Prablek, a senior at Ladue Horton
Watkins High School in suburban St. Louis, considers Facebook
information "out in the public" and fair game for colleges. The
17-year-old, with some 550 "friends," says, "I don't have anything bad
on Facebook," but he may tweak his profile to be "more sophisticated."
Marc, who plans to apply early to Stanford
University, says he won't mention that he loves to read X-Men comic
books. His Facebook literary picks currently include "Crime and
Punishment" and "Pride and Prejudice." High-school guidance counselors
advise applicants, even if they restrict public access on their sites,
to refrain from including anything that could hurt them in college
admissions. They especially caution against foul or offensive language,
nudity, or photos of drinking and drug use.
"Students need to be accountable for their
actions," says Scott Anderson, director of college guidance at St.
George's Independent School, a private school near Memphis, Tenn. When
writing on Facebook or MySpace, he says, they should be thinking, "Is
this something you want your grandmother to see?"
Culinary Competition
The Alpharetta High School Culinary Team placed 2nd in a state wide
culinary competition at Turner Field sponsored by the Hospitality
Education Foundation of Georgia. The team consisted of Carly Linderman,
Sasha Brümmer, Savannah Andresen, Jimmy Carter, and Mick Powers. They
are mentored by Chef Wing Lau from Le Cordon Bleu and culinary
instructor, Mrs. Mary Murphy. The competition consisted of two parts.
The first component, lasting 30 minutes, was the knife cuts execution,
where judges critiqued the teams’ skills on cutting the required
vegetable cuts such as chiffonade, julienne, medium dice, mince, and
diagonal. The team cooked a menu that they created for second part of
the competition. They had an hour, to work banquet tables, using no
electrical appliances. The menu was comprised of an appetizer, entrée,
and a dessert. The appetizer created was a tomato-fennel broth with
mushroom tortellini and garnished with tomato and fennel brunoise. The
entrée was a pesto-stuffed chicken roulade accompanied by a frenched
chicken leg with rice pilaf, vegetable medley, and sauce aurore. . It
was a proud moment to have team member, Jimmy Carter, singled out for
his execution of chicken fabrication. The dessert was Amaretto
cheesecake mousse piped into a chocolate bowl served with macerated
strawberries and garnished with pistachio dust and strawberry sauce. The
team was evaluated on presentation, taste, and originality by a group of
renowned chefs from various state and national venues. The students were
also critiqued on their menu and recipe costing booklet exhibiting high
level writing and math skills. The Alpharetta Culinary Team did a
fantastic job on every aspect of the competition and their second place
win provided scholarship opportunities from the Culinary Institute of
America, Johnson and Wales University, the International Culinary
Schools at the Art Institute, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and
New England Culinary totaling over $5000. Way to go, AHS Culinary Team!!
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