Graduate programs may be screening Facebook profiles
Angelica Patterson
Issue date: 10/2/08 Section: News
Last update: 10/2/08 at 1:51 AM EST
As far as social networking Web sites go, Facebook.com is one that is familiar to college students.
But could the content of a Facebook.com profile influence admissions to graduate programs?
Kaplan, an organization that provides test preparation classes and admissions consulting, released a survey showing that last year, 10 percent of college admissions officers visited students' social networking pages as part of the evaluation process.
Of those officers, 38 percent reported that social networking sites have generally had a negative impact on the applicants' admissions evaluation.
"It's not happening that we are aware of on the graduate side," said Kelly McGinley, an office assistant for graduate admissions at Duquesne University's School of Education. "But, just from hearing, there are companies I know and corporations [who] are looking at [Facebook.com]."
Peggy Eiseman, administrative assistant for graduate music admissions, said Facebook.com doesn't influence the graduate music program either.
"No, not at all," Eisman said. "It has no role at all in admissions process. We have no involvement with Facebook at all."
With more than 100 million active users, according to Facebook.com's Press Room, it is growing exponentially among colleges and universities.
Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and co-founders Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes from their Harvard dorm room, Facebook.com is marketed as "a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and coworkers," according to the Facebook .com Press Room fact sheet.
Thomas McCue, director of graduate programs in the A.J. Palumbo School of Business, said his department stays away from Facebook.com.
"We don't use it," McCue said. "If we do it for one, we have to do it for all. [We] can't search for just one student on Facebook."
Nicole Pernischová, a 21-year-old mathematics and computer science graduate student said she doesn't think viewing Facebook.com profiles violates any rights.
But could the content of a Facebook.com profile influence admissions to graduate programs?
Kaplan, an organization that provides test preparation classes and admissions consulting, released a survey showing that last year, 10 percent of college admissions officers visited students' social networking pages as part of the evaluation process.
Of those officers, 38 percent reported that social networking sites have generally had a negative impact on the applicants' admissions evaluation.
"It's not happening that we are aware of on the graduate side," said Kelly McGinley, an office assistant for graduate admissions at Duquesne University's School of Education. "But, just from hearing, there are companies I know and corporations [who] are looking at [Facebook.com]."
Peggy Eiseman, administrative assistant for graduate music admissions, said Facebook.com doesn't influence the graduate music program either.
"No, not at all," Eisman said. "It has no role at all in admissions process. We have no involvement with Facebook at all."
With more than 100 million active users, according to Facebook.com's Press Room, it is growing exponentially among colleges and universities.
Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and co-founders Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes from their Harvard dorm room, Facebook.com is marketed as "a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and coworkers," according to the Facebook .com Press Room fact sheet.
Thomas McCue, director of graduate programs in the A.J. Palumbo School of Business, said his department stays away from Facebook.com.
"We don't use it," McCue said. "If we do it for one, we have to do it for all. [We] can't search for just one student on Facebook."
Nicole Pernischová, a 21-year-old mathematics and computer science graduate student said she doesn't think viewing Facebook.com profiles violates any rights.
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