Colleges Checking Prospective Students' Facebook Profiles

There’s certainly more reason to clean up all of your photos, tagged or not, statuses, friends, and other possible incriminating information on Facebook (News - Alert). Colleges are considering more than your GPA, SAT scores and GMAT scores to get into their institutions and a lot of it relies on how you network socially.

Kaplan recently issued their 2010 admissions survey and, according to the report, 82 percent of the 386 admissions officers indicated that their respective schools used Facebook "to recruit prospective students."

As the saying goes, first impressions last a lifetime so the cleaner your online life, the better off you’ll be. Perhaps last night’s photo of you slamming down two shots of tequila isn’t exactly the best method to garner an acceptance letter to the universities to which you’ve applied.

According to a blog post on StudentAdvisor, the best way to protect your Facebook is to tweak your privacy settings so that people not on your approved friends list can access information and pictures that could serve as a detriment to your future.

College admissions advisors rely on this method more than prospective students realize.

Allison Otis, a Harvard Admissions interviewer, recently posted on Quora.com that she does Google (News - Alert) students on the occasion. If a Facebook profile turns up in the search and it’s public, she will look at it and there is no specific guideline in the admissions process that prohibits excluding the information.

But does the information sway an admissions officer’s opinion?

“I try not to let it. But all people are influenced by details and nuances. That's why first impressions are still valuable,” writes Otis.

Otis’ blog, “The Other Side of the Table” goes into more detail about Facebook and its role in the college application process.

“I'd like to tell you that I don't let myself be prejudiced by photos of kids holding beers at parties, or dancing with their friends on furniture, or painting questionable logos on each other's stomachs. I'd like to say that,” writes Otis.

“But it's just not true.”

In addition to cleaning up your profile and playing with your privacy settings to ensure a positive profile, a good rule of thumb is to Google yourself.

“Check often. It's a good habit that will serve you well, not just through the admissions process, but beyond,” concludes Otis.