The Wall Street Journal posted a video on their website where Deans of Admissions from eight top colleges answered questions about Facebook and their college admissions process. These are the collective thoughts and opinions of the panel.

To what extent can an applicant’s Facebook profile be viewed and considered by an admissions office?

If you post things on Facebook, they become public material and essentially anyone can possibly see it.

Although the admissions department doesn’t check profiles and pictures on a regular basis, IF there is anything compromising on the Internet or on your Facebook page (photo, comments from friends, your interests, groups, videos, etc) that you are not proud of, you should do everything you can to delete or block things before starting the admissions process.

If there is something on the Internet or on your Facebook page that will make the school’s admissions department doubt your character, they will investigate it (if it hasn’t already been brought to their attention).

Remember: anything you post on Facebook – even it if is only shared with certain people or one friend – can somehow get copied & pasted, shared, or emailed to other people.

The opinion the admissions department has of the applicant can be negatively affected if they happen to see something inappropriate online. Their decision to accept the applicant may also be negatively affected.

A report showed that of all the recent application acceptances that were then rescinded, almost 7% of those were due to inappropriate postings on a website.

What is an inappropriate posting that could jeopardize an applicant’s chances, either before or after they have already been admitted?

Possible scenarios:

• If students that have been accepted to a school (or currently attend a school), and they discuss any drugs and/or alcohol they use or will be using.
• Anything that would make the school’s officials concerned about the well-being of other members of the community. If someone came across something compromising on Facebook and brought it to the school’s attention, it would need to be investigated to make sure that the community’s best interests and safety were being taken care of.
• Any ethical issues, that violate the school’s own honor code

To recap: If you have a Facebook or social networking profile, it is open to the public. People you don’t even know may have access to it, let alone the admissions department of a college you are applying to.

Delete and block any inappropriate pictures, posts, comments, videos, etc BEFORE you apply to a college. You don’t want something on your Facebook page to be the reason why you were not accepted.

In general, you always want to represent yourself as a respectable, mature human being. Make sure your social networking and Facebook profiles portray that image.

After you have carefully checked your Facebook profile, check out accredited online degree programs in your area!