More colleges are checking applicants’ social media profiles as a way to learn more about what kind of person you are. All students who plan to apply to college in the upcoming years should assume that their Facebook and/or Twitter profiles will be reviewed. Social media profiles are archived so please don’t assume that it’s too soon to get started on managing your online profiles.

Here are 5 quick tips for cleaning your profiles:

1. Google yourself! Whatever information is discovered about you shouldn’t be a surprise.

2. Monitor your account regularly to maintain appropriate postings from yourself and friends.

3. Monitor what your friends are posting on their own pages to make sure that they’re not posting inappropriate words or videos (this can be especially tricky if you’re “liking” or sharing any inappropriate posts from friends).

4. Adjust your privacy settings to restrict others from seeing your posts.

5. Review older (archived) posts as well to clean those, if necessary.

Students and/or parents should monitor these profiles on a regular basis, i.e. every week or two. Given the increased viewing of social media profiles by colleges, college-bound students must beware. A good rule of thumb . . . if you wouldn’t want your grandparent to see your post, then don’t post it.