Apply To College Through Facebook
Embark’s new Facebook application College Planner lets you research colleges and apply to them without ever having to leave Facebook. From CNet News:
Online applications, I suppose, have been thoroughly destigmatized (back in my day, there was still the concern that an electronic application wouldn’t be taken as seriously as a paper one), but it’s still a bit ironic to be applying to college through a site that’s best known as an addictive procrastination hub.
What really stands out about “social college applications” is that many people I knew (not all, obviously) were fiercely private about where they were applying, especially if the school was a “reach.” Then again, this was before high schoolers were eagerly exposing their souls on MySpace.com profiles, so perhaps privacy is no longer sacred.
AllFaceBook, CNet’s source, has a follow up post about making sure your profile is ready to be snooped at by colleges. Folks in the workforce have known (or should have known) to do this for years, as more and more employers are turning to Google to help with background checks of prospective applicants. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to expect colleges to start doing the same, finding prospective students’ MySpace and Facebook pages for whatever info they may want to judge a potential student by.
