Admissions will consider applicants’ social media presence

With admissions deadlines looming for studentys applying to Boston University and BU students applying to graduate schools or to internships, it is important for everyone to be mindful of what they publically post on social media, said Maggie Mulvihill, a professor in the journalism department at BU.

According to a Saturday New York Times article, a prospective Bowdoin College student, who spent the entirety of an information session criticizing her fellow information session attendees via Twitter, was unable to gain admission to the Brunswick, Maine school due to a combination of her grade point average and her tweets.

This incident sheds light on the issue regarding a lack of anonymity on the Internet and its rising prevalence in the college admissions process, according to the article.

“It’s a public forum, and anything that you put on the Internet, lives on the Internet forever,” Mulvihill said. “It’s public — even if you limit it to your friends — it’s public. So, when you put something out on the Internet that way, you’re basically announcing to the world particular information about yourself, no matter what your settings are.”

Although social media provides outlets for free expression, there are legal limits to what one can post online, Mulvihill said. As technology develops, more laws have been created to specify the legality of Internet posts.

“You’re going to be criminally charged if you violate the law, and there are specific laws regulating use of the Internet that result in criminal charges, like cyber-bullying laws,” Mulvihill said. “…The law is evolving as technology changes. So for students, it’d be a little tough to keep up with all the legal changes. I think they have to use the Internet in a way that isn’t violent. A lot of it is basic sense.”

In addition to abiding by legal restrictions for Internet usage, students need to be wary of their social media profiles when applying for jobs and internships, said Michelle Johnson, professor of practice for multimedia journalism at BU.

“Everybody should be aware that when you’re [employers] evaluating a candidate, you’re going to look at them across the board,” Johnson said. “That can include their use of social media, because you want to get a sense of what their discretion is like, how they conduct themselves in public … That [social media] is one great way to gauge what kind of person you’re dealing with. I don’t know that they’re using it against you, so much as to evaluate you.”

Johnson said in order for a student to maintain a clean online persona, they should create separate personal and professional accounts. This includes not posting anything too personal on a public forum, and adjusting privacy settings on accounts to control who has unlimited access and who does not.

“There are a few ‘work-arounds [to privacy settings],’ but I think for the most part, they work pretty well,” Johnson said. “Unless you’re out for some high-security job, I can’t imagine anybody digging too far to break those barriers down.”

Savannah White, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said she believes online posts have a significant affect on future opportunities.

“It [social media] definitely affects futures, because everyone has social media,” White said. “Once something’s up there [on the Internet], it’s unlikely that it’ll go away.”

Matthew Craig, a School of Education junior, said he posts whatever he wants online, and mostly uses social media for venting and posting stand-up comedy videos.

“They [online posts] won’t affect my future, hopefully,” Craig said. “I might take my Facebook down in a year or two when I graduate. I think — I hope — I made them [online profiles] private, so only my friends can see, but I’m not completely sure about that.”

Danny McCarthy, a College of Communication freshman, said he has a specific tactic for deciding what is appropriate to post online.

“I use the ‘Mommy Rule,’” McCarthy said. “If my mom would hate that I wrote it, I probably wouldn’t post it, or if I was embarrassed about it later, then I would probably delete it. I think when you post dumb things, people think you’re dumb, and I’m smart.”