Applicants to UNC’s business school might have their Facebook profiles browsed by unlikely visitors — admissions officers.
Kaplan Test Prep released a study last week documenting admissions officers’ use of Google and Facebook to evaluate applicants.
The study, which surveyed admissions officers nationwide, found that law schools are more likely than business schools and undergraduate programs to use the Internet to find out more about an applicant, but the inverse is true at UNC.
Many admissions administrators said screening applicants is not a part of the formal process, but that doesn’t mean applicants can’t be screened — especially for business school applications.
The University’s undergraduate admissions office does not use social media in the application process, said Ashley Memory, assistant director of undergraduate admissions.
“We do not use Facebook, Google or any other social media tool as a mechanism to evaluate our applicants,” Memory said.
UNC’s business school screens some of its applicants, but it does not have a formal policy either, said Sherry Wallace, director of MBA admissions for the school.
“An applicant should know anything on the web is subject to our review,” Wallace said. “We sometimes do review applicants’ online presence.”
Michael States, assistant dean for admissions at the UNC School of Law, said they don’t have a formal policy of researching students on the internet, but they don’t rule it out.