Big Brother isn't just watching... he is actively stalking you.

We have all heard that companies and colleges will occasionally check an applicants facebook before hiring/enrolling them. Well, now there is proof that it has, in fact, become commonplace. A recent Kaplan study found that admissions departments at 80% of top colleges “visited potential students’ online profiles during their recruiting process. One blogger wrote:

"I doubt that hordes of students frequently lose scholarships or have an admission reneg’d for something that they innocently put up on Facebook. BUT what actually happens is much worse. Indiscreet social media postings can make your interviewer (or the admissions officer) prejudiced against you without realizing it. And that’s scary and worrisome because a large chunk of admissions decisions are really close calls. They are based on “fit” and “feel” – it’s not just what you’ve shown you can do, but the potential people think you have.".

So, if you are planning on applying for school, or for a job... make sure you lock up your privacy settings on all social media sites. It's hard enough to get ahead in the world without the disadvantage of your interviewer having seen photos of you doing keg stands in the nude at last weekends party.

Education FAIL

Now, as you all know, I am a fan of the Twilight series. That said, even I have a problem with this 'Twilight' is now being used as required reading in an Honors Literature class at the university level. That's right, apparently there were no better options than a book about sparkly vampires and a whiny high-school girl. The books are fun, but let's be honest, it is hardly the pinnacle of literary genius. Here is a section of the syllabus:

"While we read and discuss some important, influential narratives about the supernatural – Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight as well a few minor works – we will also explore how these texts, like much other fiction, try to create particular reading experiences, as they push us to consider the nature and importance of literary imagination and the way fiction’s seductiveness is tied to other potentially dangerous attractions."

Good job Ohio State University, for setting the bar so low.