If recruiters use it to screen candidates, why can't colleges?

Facebook in admissions: Is it ever OK to peek at an applicant's page?
Posted 4/29/2009 12:44 PM EDT USA TODAY

A report released today by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, revives an evolving discussion about whether it's OK for schools to make admissions decisions based on what an applicant has posted on Facebook or similar account.

The Big Brother-like implications of doing so is what gets people's dander up. But I get the feeling that most college admissions officials recognize and respect the ethical issues involved in such a practice.

Of more than 500 colleges and universities surveyed last year, 17% said they used a social networking site and 23% said they used a search engine to research potential students. Those numbers represent drops from the previous year, when more than 400 colleges were surveyed. In 2007, 21% said they used social networking sites and 26% said they used search engines. The respondents represented a cross section of types of colleges nationwide.

Should we make something out of the declining numbers? Survey author Nora Ganum Barnes, director of the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, said the dips are within the margin of error and cannot be considered significantly different. It's worth mentioning that Kaplan Test Prep and Admission last year found an even lower rate of use for schools it surveyed: just 10% of 320 admissions officials surveyed said they have visited an applicant’s social networking site. The company surveyed schools with the most selective admissions.

I wonder if the dips reflect a certain ambivalence among admissions officials about whether to acknowledge what they do. "I think there was a little hesitation," Barnes told me. "If this is the number of schools that openly tell us they do it, there probably are others, too."

But Susan Starke, vice president of enrollment management at the University at Binghamton, told me a decline wouldn't surprise her. "College interest may have peaked and waned," she says. Starke said those sites are, essentially, none of her business. Even if potentially damaging information is available publicly, "Students feel this is a private site for their friends. We want to look at what a student sends in and tells us about."

Robert Maddox, electronic recruitment coordinator at St. Mary's College of Maryland, St. Mary's City, says he, too, thinks most colleges have moved beyond using Facebook to evaluate students. "We don't want to infringe on their personal space," he says.

While I can imagine the temptation to check out the occasional Facebook page to try to get more context about an applicant, I suspect most schools don't have the time to Google students or sift through Facebook pages -- smaller schools probably have fewer staff available to take on such a chore, and larger schools simply get too many applicants. I'd be interested in hearing what readers have to say on this topic. Is it ever OK to take a look at an applicant's Facebook page?

Source: USA Today - http://www.usatoday.com/community/profile.htm?UID=ca617b94859be53c&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3aca617b94859be53cPost%3aba35e9b9-1e19-447e-bc12-62d31d1a08e3

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