As more employers have begun to use social networking Web sites like Facebook as a hiring tool, college admissions officers have begun to use Facebook profiles as a factor in accepting or denying applicants.

A survey of 320 top colleges found that 10 percent of admissions officers acknowledged looking at social networking sites to evaluate applicants, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article titled “College Applicants, Beware: Your Facebook Page Is Showing.”

The survey, conducted by education company Kaplan, reported that of those colleges making use of the online information, 38 percent said that what they saw “negatively affected” their views of the applicant. In comparison, 25 percent of the schools said their views of the applicants improved.

Kaplan surveyed schools with the most selective admissions, and promised anonymity to the colleges.

In the article, some admissions officers said they had rejected students because of material on the sites. Jeff Olson, who heads research for Kaplan’s test-preparation division, said one university did so after the student gushed about the school while visiting the campus, then insulted it online.

The vast majority of the colleges surveyed had no policy on using social networking sites to gather information on prospective students.

Washington University’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions also has no policy about what their admission officers can or cannot do when it comes to browsing prospective students’ Facebook pages.

“I can tell you, that at the present time, we have no formal policy as it relates to Facebook,” Nanette Tarbouni, director of admissions, said.

Students at the University expressed mixed reactions about the use of tools such as Facebook in determining college acceptances.

Junior Ryan Gill believes that using Facebook in the college admissions process is fair game.

“You want to have a good image everywhere, including Facebook. You want people to respect you. Even though it’s just the Internet, you want to be presentable everywhere,” Gill said.

However, senior John King expressed relief that such methods are relatively recent.

“I’m just glad I didn’t have a Facebook back then and didn’t have to deal with all these shenanigans that are going on with college admissions nowadays,” King said. “I might not even be attending here if the worst happened.”

King anticipates that he may need to deactivate his Facebook account before applying for employment.

“Having a Facebook does not look too professional in my opinion anyway. You can never be too careful,” he said.

Many high school students also seem to express King’s anxiety about their own Facebook accounts being used as an informal part of their application.

James Pham, a senior at Stuyvesant High School in New York City who is currently applying to Washington University and Northwestern, fears how admissions officers will view his Facebook.

“I’d rather not have a Facebook than be judged on it right now,” Pham said. “I have friends that have privatized their information and photo albums, but I don’t know if that is enough. Colleges red flag anything shady, even if it is meant to be a joke. I’d rather not be worrying about a simple thing such as Facebook determining where I go to school.”