FOR MBA ABROAD
Why B-school Applicants Need to Keep it Clean
Business schools frequently check out applicants online before deciding who makes the cut
Many MBA applicants think if they turn in a polished application and perform well at the admissions interview, they will be a shoe-in at top business schools. What they fail to realize is that their online reputation—everything from their high school blog to their Facebook page to their Twitter feed—is fair game when admissions committees are considering applicants. In fact, 27% of B-school admissions officers say they Googled applicants to learn more about them, and 22% say they visited their Facebook pages and other social networking sites for the same purpose, according to a survey recently conducted by Kaplan Test Prep.
Employers have been checking the online reputations of potential hires for years, and because admissions committees are interested in the employability of the applicants they accept, it is only natural they are following suit, says Linda Abraham, president of the admissions consultancy Accepted.com.
Times have changed, she adds, and MBA applicants have to realize their online reputation matters. And it could matter a lot. No one wants to get rejected from a school or job opportunity because of something juvenile or unsuitable on the Internet.
“Photos of you drunk or scantily clad are not appropriate for the public, and anything digital is public,” Abraham says. It’s a challenge to keep everything on the Internet positive. “You can’t paint over the graffiti on the Internet as you would the bathroom wall,” says Abraham, who advises clients to clean up their online presence.
ISSUES MAY ARISE
Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business has no official policy on tracking a prospective student’s online reputation. Still, if an issue arises that prompts admissions committee members to conduct a Google search or something similar of a prospective student, they will do it, says Kelly R Wilson, assistant dean of MBA admissions at McDonough. She adds that business schools might assess all public behavior, which means applicants should refrain from being rude to the assistants in the admissions office when they visit campus, as well as conduct themselves appropriately online. “Someone presenting themselves in a negative way or a way that will have a negative impact on the school and the brand we’re trying to live is a deal breaker,” says Wilson. Obviously, the overwhelming majority of applicants today have had some sort of online presence, probably dating back to long before they wanted to apply to business school. Perhaps their friends tagged them in photos at a wild party they would rather forget. Or they used foul language in a blog entry when they were 15. In more serious cases, there could be news stories with their names linked to criminal acts, such as underage drinking. Regardless, they can repair their online reputation, says Todd William, founder and CEO of Reputation Rhino, an online reputation management company.
REPUTATION REPAIR
Clients who sign up for Reputation Rhino’s service can have the company help them conduct an online reputation repair, which means getting negative content removed whenever possible or highlighting positive content, so it moves the negative onto the second or third page of search results. They can also hire Reputation Rhino to help them create a positive, professional online presence and monitor their reputation by keeping tabs on what is being said about them and responding to it. There are helpful hints and strategies that business school applicants can implement on their own. For starters, they should search their name (and any nicknames) on Google to see what comes up and take inventory of their social networking profiles. If there is inappropriate content, they should remove it whenever possible. If they cannot remove it themselves, they should contact those who can, such as a Web administrator or a friend who has posted content or photos of them, says Abraham.
PROFESSIONAL PRESENCE
Applicants should also beef up their professional presence on the Internet. Flaunting the positives should eventually override negative content in search results if it cannot be removed. Creating a profile on LinkedIn is a must, says Wilson. But even Facebook can be used in more professional ways. Applicants often can connect with schools via their Facebook pages, as is the case with McDonough. Recently, Monster.com launched BeKnown, an app that allows Facebook users to create a professional network separate from their personal identity on the site. Bloomberg Businessweek
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