colleges checking people's myspace?!?!

[curtins]

my freind sed that his sister's school where she teaches at had a big thing about how colleges check pppls myspace and then if theres bad stuff on it they wont let them in or something



is that true?

i cant imagine a college imploying people to 1st to find a perssons myspace and then to sit there and read it

and were talking thousands of applicants

[Brother Adam]

That seems like someone imagination ran away with them.

[Snarf]

I totally wish they would.

[homeschoolmom]

Yeah... that's where all the tuition is going... hiring people to read internet stuff...

[BC4Life]

yes it is true, his friend hes refering to is me

my sister is the student specialist at a prep school, and the hole school administation are telling the kids to get rid of them, because when they apply for college and say what their interests are, etc, they will see what type of comments and blogs, etc, and when they read "yeah the party was great last night, i got totally drunk" or when they see a gilrs pre-porn site, they say "well this kid is obviously lying" and they will reject that student. ill talk more to my sister, since probably some of you think your right about every little thing and cant accept facts that you dont hear first *cough* curtins *cough* and ill let the rest of you know.

[BC4Life]

[quote]That seems like someone imagination ran away with them.[/quote]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' date='Nov 18 2005, 07:48 PM']Yeah... that's where all the tuition is going... hiring people to read internet stuff...
[right][snapback]794681[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]
like these 2 kids

Edited November 18, 2005 by BC4Life

[Guest T-Bone]

[quote name='BC4Life' date='Nov 18 2005, 04:51 PM']yes it is true, his friend hes refering to is me

my sister is the student specialist at a prep school, and the hole school administation are telling the kids to get rid of them, because when they apply for college and say what their interests are, etc, they will see what type of comments and blogs, etc, and when they read "yeah the party was great last night, i got totally drunk" or when they see a gilrs pre-porn site, they say "well this kid is obviously lying" and they will reject that student. ill talk more to my sister, since probably some of you think your right about every little thing and cant accept facts that you dont hear first *cough* curtins *cough* and ill let the rest of you know.
[right][snapback]794686[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]


Yeah, that's a good way to get sued. There's a bunch of people with the same name out there. If they got the wrong person, then they would be liable on several different levels.

[Snarf]

I considered applying to John Hopkins, and they actually had a field in their Common Application add-on for a URL of the student's website. I felt dismayed that Dartmouth didn't do the same thing, because in high school I spent my time online instead of studying, building a website that had little traffic (except for a few thousand hits from the Stigmata movie board). But it was a microcosm of all things Seth. If they looked at it, it would have been a third dimension to the flat paper application of mine they saw.

But, it's a double-edged sword. A forum like Myspace shows what students are like without the leering eye of teacher's proof-reading. If you have a 750 SAT Verbal but talk about your boy crazes as if your keyboard had keys that only output "lol idk w/e", you should be accountable for that. I know kids with 1550s who have the personality of SmarterChild, and those are exactly what colleges desire and are entitled to avoid.

As for there being mistaken identity, I'm sure colleges are smarter than that. It'd be far too easy to track IP addresses and affirm geographical location and such, so the chances of two Jim Egal coming from the same ISP and both applying to the same school is negligible.

[curtins]

it just seems unrational and illogical that colleges would actually do that for all of their applicants.

[Snarf]

I doubt this is IU we're talking about here. I'd assume this is a competitive school thing, where every edge possible matters.

So, I find it reassuring and regret that I missed out.

[Laudate_Dominum]

myspace is junk

[curtins]

I second that

[Snarf]

Deep in the corners of a Cambridge, MA office...

Jeeves, this kid has a 4.0, 1600, built his own computer out of chicken wire and a flashlight. And he has a myspace account.

-You know the drill. Put him with the rest of the wait-listed. Oh, myspace? Rejection. Definitely.

[photosynthesis]

[quote name='Snarf' date='Nov 18 2005, 06:16 PM']in high school I spent my time online instead of studying, building a website that had little traffic (except for a few thousand hits from the Stigmata movie board).  But it was a microcosm of all things Seth.  If they looked at it, it would have been a third dimension to the flat paper application of mine they saw.
[right][snapback]794704[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

I used to have a website when I was in high school... i since took it down.

don't worry, if you went to Hopkins you wouldn't have time for Myspace.. you'd be walking around Baltimore with your nose in your quantum physics textbook all day.

seriously, I've worked in an admissions office for a REALLY small college and they don't check myspaces... I don't even think the old fluffy air extractions who work there even know what myspace is.

[toledo_jesus]

haha. yeah I would not worry about this. Even if it's true maybe it will just be incentive to keep MySpace clean...

[Nathan]

Honestly, I would be careful about what you're writing on MySpace and public programs like it. This publishing every thought that pops into your head stuff can come back and bite you on the butt.

[BC4Life]

its very easy to colleges to do it, all they would have to do is search for a specific school on myspace and then for the student. my sister did it with her students, and my gosh, she was disgusted with some of the things her students had. and it took her no time to find them either. she also said there was an article in the new york times about it.
as you guys are making it not seem like, yes my sister is a real person with a real job at a real school. to call her ignorant just because you think its false is, well, pretty ignorant

[Andrea348]

[quote name='Snarf' date='Nov 18 2005, 06:16 PM']But, it's a double-edged sword.  A forum like Myspace shows what students are like without the leering eye of teacher's proof-reading.  If you have a 750 SAT Verbal but talk about your boy crazes as if your keyboard had keys that only output  "lol idk w/e", you should be accountable for that.  I know kids with 1550s who have the personality of SmarterChild, and those are exactly what colleges desire and are entitled to avoid.[right][snapback]794704[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

i'm a first year teacher and went to a professional development workshop last weekend. the leader of the workshop brought up how kids these days have horrible grammar and they sent e-mails where they don't capitalize what needs to be capitalized. i could totally relate. when i'm just online on pm or replying in blogs, or even emailing friends....i do not capitalize stuff and often use three dots... luckily for me i know how to switch when needed. i've seen the writing of some of my 8th graders even, and it is absolutely HORRIBLE. they can barely write in complete sentences. it's a shame.

[photosynthesis]

[quote name='Nathan' date='Nov 19 2005, 09:08 AM']Honestly, I would be careful about what you're writing on MySpace and public programs like it. This publishing every thought that pops into your head stuff can come back and bite you on the butt.
[right][snapback]795049[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]
that's very true.

[Dreamweaver]

At my schools, one of the RAs had a Facebook and he mentioned something about drinking (I don't remember if he was of age or if it was on or off campus). Anyways, the Resident Hall Association took away his RA privledges and everything, all over a Facebook comment, which could have been a joke. They had no proof of his drinking.

Is it right? Not necessarily, but RAs still have to conduct themselves in a proper manner.

Always be careful about what you write about online. It may come back and bite you in the butt when you least expect it.