ThinkB4applying: No Dopey Names
By KATE STONE LOMBARDI
Published: January 18, 2004
It seemed like a cool screen name when he selected it, in middle school. But five years later, when it was time to apply to college, Jeremy Woolf began to rethink his e-mail address. ''I found SexyJer13 to be inappropriate,'' Mr. Woolf says. He set up a separate account under the name JerWoo and is now happily enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis.
The SexyJer13 problem is one shared by many students applying to college online. ''AOL became popular for us 1985 babies when we were in seventh grade, hence the cheesy, immature screen names,'' says Nancy Borowick, a freshman at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. Her first screen name, Cutie, now mortifies her. She thinks her newer account, FancyNancy, is an improvement.
''I know someone whose screen name is Twentyfourozcorona and he had a separate e-mail address he wrote on applications,'' Ms. Borowick says. ''Schools today encourage prospective students to send in e-mails, so many fear the impression a school official would get if they saw a screen name like boycrazy4eva.''
Should college applicants worry? Do admissions officials notice screen names? Well, yes and no. While a screen name will not make or break an acceptance, one that raises eyebrows could be a problem, especially if it refers to illicit or illegal activities.
''There's no question that to have an e-mail address that refers to activities that we would prefer our students weren't doing is not smart,'' says William M. Shain, dean of undergraduate admissions at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. ''I would keep the private parts of your life private rather than advertising them.''
So Pothead1 is out. So is No.1Slacker. Steer clear of anything profane or sexual. Liz Forman, associate director of admissions at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, was interviewing a young woman with an excellent academic record and noted the student's screen name on the application. ''It was something like Sexybabe, and I did ask how she chose it,'' Ms. Forman recalls. ''She just blushed. She was a great student and she'd had it for five years. She said, 'I actually let my younger brother set up the account, and he was 11 and thought it was cool.'''
Roughly 30 percent of this year's college freshmen applied online, according to the National Association of College Admissions Counseling, and students also communicate via e-mail to confirm interview appointments, send last-minute test scores, ask questions about programs and in general demonstrate interest in the school. Colleges use e-mail to acknowledge receipt of applications, notify students about missing materials and send acceptance letters. Some offer reduced fees for online applications.
Given all this electronic chatter, which is likely to become part of the application folder, e-mail etiquette is important. Last semester, Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, N.Y., handed out fliers listing dos and don'ts to college-bound seniors. At the top of the list, counselors cautioned against using the kind of informal language -- ''C U later'' or ''GTG'' (got to go) -- that teenagers use among themselves.
''I never want to see that instant messenger type of language,'' says Connie Sheehy, associate director of admissions at Williams College in Massachusetts. ''If they are inquiring at an academic institution that is going to expect them to be writing in proper English, they should treat it as if it's a formal letter.''
Counselors urge using formal salutations, being respectful and avoiding using all uppercase or lowercase letters. Ms. Forman was not impressed by a recent Kenyon applicant who wrote in e.e. cummings style.
Nanette Tarbouni, director of undergraduate admissions at Washington University, says students become so casual they forget to include even basic information. ''A student will write and say please send me more information, and that's it,'' she says. ''They don't sign it and they don't put their name or address on it.'' In addition, with the ease of e-mail, prospective students annoy officials with questions whose answers can easily be found online.
Several officials advise setting up a separate e-mail account for corresponding with colleges, checking it frequently and not changing it. When Ms. Sheehy sent e-mail messages about a new music program at Williams to all applicants who had indicated an interest in music, roughly 20 percent came back as undeliverable.
Screen names that do not transcribe easily, with no vowels or 1's that can be misread as l's, should also be avoided. And applicants should not choose a name as an ingratiating admissions strategy. Besides being overreaching, officials at Yale might not appreciate a return address of Harvard08.
Kate Stone Lombardi is a contributor to the Westchester section of The Times.
By KATE STONE LOMBARDI
Published: January 18, 2004
It seemed like a cool screen name when he selected it, in middle school. But five years later, when it was time to apply to college, Jeremy Woolf began to rethink his e-mail address. ''I found SexyJer13 to be inappropriate,'' Mr. Woolf says. He set up a separate account under the name JerWoo and is now happily enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis.
The SexyJer13 problem is one shared by many students applying to college online. ''AOL became popular for us 1985 babies when we were in seventh grade, hence the cheesy, immature screen names,'' says Nancy Borowick, a freshman at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. Her first screen name, Cutie, now mortifies her. She thinks her newer account, FancyNancy, is an improvement.
''I know someone whose screen name is Twentyfourozcorona and he had a separate e-mail address he wrote on applications,'' Ms. Borowick says. ''Schools today encourage prospective students to send in e-mails, so many fear the impression a school official would get if they saw a screen name like boycrazy4eva.''
Should college applicants worry? Do admissions officials notice screen names? Well, yes and no. While a screen name will not make or break an acceptance, one that raises eyebrows could be a problem, especially if it refers to illicit or illegal activities.
''There's no question that to have an e-mail address that refers to activities that we would prefer our students weren't doing is not smart,'' says William M. Shain, dean of undergraduate admissions at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. ''I would keep the private parts of your life private rather than advertising them.''
So Pothead1 is out. So is No.1Slacker. Steer clear of anything profane or sexual. Liz Forman, associate director of admissions at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, was interviewing a young woman with an excellent academic record and noted the student's screen name on the application. ''It was something like Sexybabe, and I did ask how she chose it,'' Ms. Forman recalls. ''She just blushed. She was a great student and she'd had it for five years. She said, 'I actually let my younger brother set up the account, and he was 11 and thought it was cool.'''
Roughly 30 percent of this year's college freshmen applied online, according to the National Association of College Admissions Counseling, and students also communicate via e-mail to confirm interview appointments, send last-minute test scores, ask questions about programs and in general demonstrate interest in the school. Colleges use e-mail to acknowledge receipt of applications, notify students about missing materials and send acceptance letters. Some offer reduced fees for online applications.
Given all this electronic chatter, which is likely to become part of the application folder, e-mail etiquette is important. Last semester, Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, N.Y., handed out fliers listing dos and don'ts to college-bound seniors. At the top of the list, counselors cautioned against using the kind of informal language -- ''C U later'' or ''GTG'' (got to go) -- that teenagers use among themselves.
''I never want to see that instant messenger type of language,'' says Connie Sheehy, associate director of admissions at Williams College in Massachusetts. ''If they are inquiring at an academic institution that is going to expect them to be writing in proper English, they should treat it as if it's a formal letter.''
Counselors urge using formal salutations, being respectful and avoiding using all uppercase or lowercase letters. Ms. Forman was not impressed by a recent Kenyon applicant who wrote in e.e. cummings style.
Nanette Tarbouni, director of undergraduate admissions at Washington University, says students become so casual they forget to include even basic information. ''A student will write and say please send me more information, and that's it,'' she says. ''They don't sign it and they don't put their name or address on it.'' In addition, with the ease of e-mail, prospective students annoy officials with questions whose answers can easily be found online.
Several officials advise setting up a separate e-mail account for corresponding with colleges, checking it frequently and not changing it. When Ms. Sheehy sent e-mail messages about a new music program at Williams to all applicants who had indicated an interest in music, roughly 20 percent came back as undeliverable.
Screen names that do not transcribe easily, with no vowels or 1's that can be misread as l's, should also be avoided. And applicants should not choose a name as an ingratiating admissions strategy. Besides being overreaching, officials at Yale might not appreciate a return address of Harvard08.
Kate Stone Lombardi is a contributor to the Westchester section of The Times.
