One of my favorite sayings I always taught my students was, “The choices you make today will dictate where you are tomorrow.” This is becoming more and more true with the growing number of social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and the new Google Plus. It is imperative that students are careful what they put out onto social networking sites for public eyes. What seems fun in the moment may be a detrimental roadblock to future plans.
This past summer, Kaplan Test Prep conducted their annual survey of college admissions officers from 500 of the top colleges and universities. Of the 359 that responded 38 were in the list of the top 50 colleges and universities. The most interesting fact they found is that “nearly a quarter (24%) of respondents from the schools surveyed have gone to an applicant’s Facebook or other social networking page to learn more about them, while 20% have Googled them.”
Some of the offenses that impacted an applicant’s admission chances included posts about essay plagiarism, using vulgar language, and bragging about alcohol consumption or other “illegal activities”. Students ought to be aware that even though these behaviors may happen on personal time, when they are put out there for the public to assess they can and will be used to form judgments in terms of character, values, morals and standards. Colleges are looking for upstanding students that will represent their college well and take studying seriously.
Things to think about when posting information about yourself:
1. Be sure what you’re posting will make you appear in a good moral character. It may not be fun, but it is safe.
2. What goes out on the internet is difficult to retrieve or undo. Choose wisely.
3. You can not undo a negative impact — first impressions are difficult to re-create/re-do.
4. Ask yourself, would I want gra’ma to see this? Chances are if it is juicy enough it’s going to get around to others. You do not want to “go viral” for the wrong reasons.
5. Be deliberate about your choices.
Remember, choices yield consequences. Think carefully about where you want to be in your life. The “future” may seem so far away, but you are creating your future now. Be careful what you put out on Facebook, MySpace, Google Plus or any website, blog or social networking site because you may be setting up your own roadblocks to where you want to be tomorrow.
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