You meet a new person, you think they are kind of cool - so what do you do? Look them up on myspace/facebook/other internet networking site of course! As we begin to create more and more profiles of ourselves on various sites, we also have to be more and more careful about the information we put on them, especially if we are applying for college:

According to a preview of unpublished research on the online activities of higher education institutions, a significant percentage of colleges and universities sometimes dig into would-be undergraduates’ social-networking profiles.At the same time, high school students accustomed to social-networking Web sites have flocked to new online sites that let them send information about themselves to colleges in hopes of gaining an edge over fellow applicants.”It’s only natural, given today’s students’ comfort with sharing personal information on a Facebook or MySpace,” said Tony Pals, a spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, a Washington-based organization of more than 900 private institutions. “Students are further motivated by the fact that college admissions has never been so competitive.” [Education Week]

Now might be the time to take down that picture you put up in order to impress that cute boy/girl and the time to put up the picture of you with your debate team friends at last weeks tournament.