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Looking for an edge in the college admissions process? Sure...who isn’t? If you’re considering applying to some of the most competitive colleges in the country, you’ll need to find some way to distinguish yourself from the thousands of other hopefuls vying for a spot. Adding details of perseverance and overcoming adversity to your essay is a great place to start but be wary about what personal anecdotes you decide to share because you never know where your private story will end up: An admissions officer at the University of Pennsylvania was fired after she posted and openly ridiculed excerpts of students’ application essays on her Facebook page. Not cool.
Penn officials were made aware of the series of online posts written by Nadirah Farah Foley through a collection of Facebook screenshots anonymously sent to the dean of admissions. According to The Daily Pennsylvania, Foley included quotations from essays as well as disdainful remarks. In one excerpt, she quoted an essay in which an applicant had described the experience of overcoming his fear of using the bathroom outdoors while camping in the wilderness. “Another gem,” Foley wrote on the student’s topic choice. And although she is no longer working for the university, neither she nor her supervisors have officially confirmed that the postings were the reason for her departure. (For more on this story, click here.)
Do you think Foley breached Penn’s privacy policy even though she didn’t mention any students by name? What would you do if your essay was one of those Foley mocked? Let us know in the comments section.