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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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7

Colleges Snoop on Applicants' Online Lives

Admissions, financial aid officers 'fess up to checking social networking pages

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(Newser) – A quarter of colleges check applicants' social networking pages or run their names through search engines, according to a new report. The colleges didn't say whether their online findings could make or break an application, but the study's authors believe overly candid online postings have the potential to sink one's chances. "No school wants to give a prestigious scholarship to someone standing on a beer keg and wearing a lampshade," said its author.

A director of the counselors' association told the Los Angeles Times that the takeaway is clear: "Don't post anything that you don't want your mother or father or college admission officer to see."

College hopefuls are advised to steer clear of overly candid postings online, or at least to make sure their security settings are tight.
College hopefuls are advised to steer clear of overly candid postings online, or at least to make sure their security settings are tight.   (©Mathieu Ramage)
College admissions and financial aid officers sometimes peek at applicants' social networking pages, according to new report.
College admissions and financial aid officers sometimes peek at applicants' social networking pages, according to new report.   (Shutter Stock)
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No school wants to give a prestigious scholarship to someone standing on a beer keg and wearing a lampshade. - Nora Ganim Barnes, director of the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

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Timinator2K
Apr 29, 09 8:13 AM CDT
"No school wants to give a prestigious scholarship to someone standing on a beer keg and wearing a lampshade." BUT, THEY WILL... LEST THEY BE SUED AND FINANCIALLY BLED TO DEATH FOR BACK DOOR DISCRIMINATION. THIS SORT OF DISQUALIFICATION MIGHT TERRIBLY AFFECT HOW FUTURE BILL CLINTON CLONES WILL GET INTO IVY LEAGUE SCHOOLS AND, AFTERWARDS, POLITICAL HIGH OFFICE. Reply
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IN RESPONSE:
Robert_Dada
Apr 29, 09 9:17 AM CDT
After graduation from Georgetown, Clinton won a Rhodes scholarship where he then went on to Oxford and later Yale for a law degree. And what was YOUR educational background???
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IN RESPONSE:
Mad
Apr 29, 09 12:21 PM CDT
LOL, Tim, are you still jonesing after Clinton? My god, the power and hold Clinton continues to weld over the republicans awes me! Such a magnificent obsession
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Nwambe
Apr 29, 09 9:17 AM CDT
or, y'know, how future George Bush clones will get C averages at Yale and have parents bail them out after going on coke-fueled binges at their local chapter of the Skull and Crossbones society. Reply
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AS1280
Apr 29, 09 10:04 AM CDT
"No school wants to give a prestigious scholarship to someone standing on a beer keg and wearing a lampshade." Umm, and exactly HOW does this make someone a bad person/student. It just means they've had too much to drink, and come on, I'd rather have these fun-loving people in class with me than some of those over-achieving a-holes Ivies usually admit! Reply
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