Do you know what your Facebook profile says about you?
If you’re like most high schoolers, Facebook is a part of your everyday life. But when it comes time to apply for college, what you posted on Facebook two years ago could come back to bite you.
So what’s an ambitious wanna-be college freshman to do? The smart thing, of course, is to never post potentially embarrassing information in the first place. But even if you have, there are still ways you can protect your online self from the eyes of curious college admissions officers.
Lock down your Facebook privacy settings before sending off those college applications.
Facebook privacy policies change almost as often as Lady Gaga changes her hair. Which means you need to keep a sharp eye on them. Settings you should take a good hard look at include:
- How (and with whom) you share information
- Who can see your photos
- Who can check you into Places
- How you show up in search results
- How much information your friends can share about you
Comb through all those photos of you before college admissions officers do.
Snap happy people are everywhere. Which means, of course, that you’re probably tagged in a lot more photos than you realize. Sure, you’re notified when someone tags you, but things that seemed harmless six months ago might seem a little less awesome now that you know college official-types might be looking at them.
So do yourself a favor. Go to your Facebook profile page and take a good look at all the photos and videos of you. And if you see something that’s even vaguely scandalous? Un-tag yourself. It’s the smart thing to do.
Make incriminating status updates disappear.
Hopefully, there’s nothing out there that would be of concern. But, it’s better to be safe than sorry, so scroll through your shared content and status updates for potential red flags. And if you find one? Make it go away.
It’s easy. Just place your mouse on the right side of the status update box you want to delete. A little “X” will appear. Hover over it and a button saying “remove post” will pop up. Click it and poof! All evidence of your poor judgment will disappear.
Doing these three things will go a long way toward making your Facebook profile college application-friendly. Want more information about making social media work for your college application? Check out this post.
And don’t forget, we’ll be bringing you great information about college applications and getting into college all year long. Subscribe to our blog so you don’t miss a thing!
Photo courtesy of C. M. Keiner.
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