Dear Colleges, It Isn’t Okay to Look at Prospective Student’s Social Media
In order to apply to college, students bear all. They have to submit their transcripts, recommendation letters, and often very personal essays. They do and reveal anything they can to these top universities for a chance at admission. And yet, with all this information, colleges still invade their prospective students’ privacy by looking at their social media. It is time for this to stop.
In Critical Questions for Big Data, Danah Boyd and Kate Crawford make the point that “just because content is publicly accessible does not mean that it was meant to be consumed by just anyone” (672). This very argument applies to colleges. Students, or should I say children, can sign up for social media sites as young as the age of 13, and even younger if they don’t follow the rules of the site. They sign up for these sites as a societal expectation — a way to connect with their peers. They post silly things, like photos from sleepovers or Halloween parties — all for their peers to see.
The emphasis in these situations is that these posts are for THEIR peers. Not college admissions offices. They post things that are appropriate for THEIR friends and don’t usually give a second thought to who else might be looking. Some may argue that children should think before they post, but why should we put all the blame on children who are just trying to impress their peers? We all did stupid things as children to impress our friends and crushes, and this is no different — it’s just more public now that one post can be seen by millions. Children aren’t media trained professionals, and they shouldn’t have to be. Children shouldn’t be afraid that the selfie they took at 14 will be the reason a college didn’t accept them. We should let kids be kids and learn from their mistakes, but not prevent their futures from happening because of a post.
