How could they possibly know who we are? Forum

[Steve2207]

I read a recent thread here on TLS that mentioned that ADCOMS sometimes use this site to gauge the opinion of their applicants and discover which schools/ scholarship offers they have already received. I created this thread because the thread in which I read this is not really designed for this type of question.

My question is, how in the world could ADCOMS possibly know who we are? For instance, if I logged into TLS and said, “I applied to Notre Dame and I am pissed because I am still waiting for a decision, blah, blah, blah”, how would they ever guess who I am? They do not know my age/race/ lsac #// lsat score/ ssn/ etc. All they know is I am a person who applied and my name is Steve. In addition, for all they know the thread is completely made up and they would be wasting a lot of time trying to figure out who I am for no reason, or the details could be fabricated/ exaggerated. How likely is it that ADCOMS have people that take the time to search these threads in order to try and determine who each person is? Also, if they do, how in the world do they figure out for certain who a specific applicant is based off of their post?

I realize that some post and profiles are more revealing than others, but seriously do admission committees have the time to launch in depth investigations on each individuals post just on the slight chance that they may discover that person’s preference, or personal opinion regarding their school? I am having a hard time believing this.

[WaltWhite]

As long as every school knows to give me more money, and furthermore only uses this information for non-punitive interactions with me, I'm not sure I care.

[Steve2207]

As long as every school knows to give me more money, and furthermore only uses this information for non-punitive interactions with me, I'm not sure I care.

I think we all can agree with that, and I will even agree that ADCOMS can get a general feel about how potential students feel in general about their schools, or where they stack up compared to the competition. However, I really cannot figure out how anyone could think that they have the time/ interest/ ability to figure out who we all are and let our post influence their decisions.

[WaltWhite]

As long as every school knows to give me more money, and furthermore only uses this information for non-punitive interactions with me, I'm not sure I care.

I think we all can agree with that, and I will even agree that ADCOMS can get a general feel about how potential students feel in general about their schools, or where they stack up compared to the competition. However, I really cannot figure out how anyone could think that they have the time/ interest/ ability to figure out who we all are and let our post influence their decisions.

If there's two things I've learned, ever, it's that (1) never underestimate the lengths people will go to to potentially screw you out of money, and (2) see point one, x1million in cases of institutionalized bureaucratic systems (i.e. university-related admissions processes)
(2) sub section A: Bonus for state schools.


So... I wouldn't be surprised if every major law school has some little piss ant in the admissions office whose sole job is to monitor the law school's reputation (especially concerning potential applicants) on the internet. They make way too much money from puffed up prestige not to.

EDIT: Now... whether or not they place a lot of stock in our individual identities/opinions, I don't know. However, I'm willing to bet that they'd sell me short because everyone knows I cook meth.

[dextermorgan]

Because 0Ls get on here and plaster the boards with every mundane (identifying) detail of their lives.

They also have a tendency to post their entire fucking personal statement.

[WaltWhite]

Because 0Ls get on here and plaster the boards with every mundane (identifying) detail of their lives.

They also have a tendency to post their entire fucking personal statement.

This. And LOCI's and Why X's and SSN's.

[wannabelawstudent]

.

[06102016]

..

[WaltWhite]

Because 0Ls get on here and plaster the boards with every mundane (identifying) detail of their lives.

They also have a tendency to post their entire fucking personal statement.

This. I think the big thing is numbers, though. If you know someone's GPA/LSAT and they have it posted on here, that narrows it down quite a bit. If you also know their race and/or location, you're getting even closer, and so on.

It probably doesn't matter, though. I doubt there's some admissions person at each school sifting through the thousands of mundane posts on here to figure out who each poster is.

Only the assholes.

[2012Lsatscore]

.

[slawww]

Because 0Ls get on here and plaster the boards with every mundane (identifying) detail of their lives.

They also have a tendency to post their entire fucking personal statement.

This. I think the big thing is numbers, though. If you know someone's GPA/LSAT and they have it posted on here, that narrows it down quite a bit. If you also know their race and/or location, you're getting even closer, and so on.

It probably doesn't matter, though. I doubt there's some admissions person at each school sifting through the thousands of mundane posts on here to figure out who each poster is.

Yepp. I've never understood why people put their precise information. Putting 3.69 165, Male, resident of xx, wrote about my experience in xxxx in my "why X" etc. makes it pretty easy to figure out.

[wannabelawstudent]

Because 0Ls get on here and plaster the boards with every mundane (identifying) detail of their lives.

They also have a tendency to post their entire fucking personal statement.

This. I think the big thing is numbers, though. If you know someone's GPA/LSAT and they have it posted on here, that narrows it down quite a bit. If you also know their race and/or location, you're getting even closer, and so on.

It probably doesn't matter, though. I doubt there's some admissions person at each school sifting through the thousands of mundane posts on here to figure out who each poster is.

Despite numerous people in admissions saying that this occurs. Despite current students saying that this occurs and that their administration directly told them they knew who they were.

I think you guys are overestimating how easy it is to do this.

[Steve2207]

I am certainly not saying it is impossible for every poster, and yes as previously mentioned I myself have given some details. However, it seems to me, that at best, the information provided in most circumstances cannot positively identify who a person is, and when you look at the number of applicants for each school, it seems like a long shot that someone is behind the scenes trying to make decisions based off of those details. In addition, in my opinion, there is really too much room for error with regard to doing this, and it could result in someone being unfairly denied, or offered less scholarship money. We all know there are lots of posters that come on this site and COMPLETELY make different things up for attention. What if a legitimate applicant has a story that is similar? How is it fair that their application is affected by what someone else has posted?

[wannabelawstudent]

I am certainly not saying it is impossible for every poster, and yes as previously mentioned I myself have given some details. However, it seems to me, that at best, the information provided in most circumstances cannot positively identify who a person is, and when you look at the number of applicants for each school, it seems like a long shot that someone is behind the scenes trying to make decisions based off of those details. In addition, in my opinion, there is really too much room for error with regard to doing this, and it could result in someone being unfairly denied, or offered less scholarship money. We all know there are lots of posters that come on this site and COMPLETELY make different things up for attention. What if a legitimate applicant has a story that is similar? How is it fair that their application is affected by what someone else has posted?

Well....no one said they reject/admit people based on their posts. They said they use to gauge yeilds. Moreso the UIUC audit explicitly says they used LSN/TLS to gauge how competing schools cycles were going. Coming up with an accurate yeild projection is a big deal for law schools and people have been fired for having a class much too small or too large than their goal. I understand the skepticism but you literally have people saying "Yes we do this". Kinda hard to deny it then

Your employers are gonna do this too. You gotta get use to it.

[Steve2207]

I still say there is too much margin for error with this system in most cases. I sincerely hope that this site isn’t used to determine people’s admission, or even their scholarship offers. Perhaps I am naive, and frankly I could care less if they know who I am or not, but I am willing to bet that ALOT of applicants would be upset by this.

[ManOfTheMinute]

I still say there is too much margin for error with this system in most cases. I sincerely hope that this site isn’t used to determine people’s admission, or even their scholarship offers. Perhaps I am naive, and frankly I could care less if they know who I am or not, but I am willing to bet that ALOT of applicants would be upset by this.

Hmmm. they could figure out who I am fairly easily

[wannabelawstudent]

I still say there is too much margin for error with this system in most cases. I sincerely hope that this site isn’t used to determine people’s admission, or even their scholarship offers. Perhaps I am naive, and frankly I could care less if they know who I am or not, but I am willing to bet that ALOT of applicants would be upset by this.

Honestly you're making a big jump from what Mike said to "they use this site to determine people's admissions or offers".

Also yeah the info you get from this site is unconfirmed but it typically is reliable. And some data is better than no data. Gauging how many admitted students is gonna come here is a big deal for them, and this at least helps them in some way. I'm not upset at all by this, makes sense, and you shouldnt post stuff you don't want coming back to you on the Internet anyways.

[Steve2207]

I still say there is too much margin for error with this system in most cases. I sincerely hope that this site isn’t used to determine people’s admission, or even their scholarship offers. Perhaps I am naive, and frankly I could care less if they know who I am or not, but I am willing to bet that ALOT of applicants would be upset by this.

Hmmm. they could figure out who I am fairly easily

Maybe, and to be honest I think most of us would not care. However, the fact is we all could POSSIBLY be identified as someone we are not, and if that had any influence on our prospects in any way, it would be unfair.

[risa]

I heard from one admissions dean that while he never looks at the forums himself, he did have a current student come to him once and tell him that someone was trashing the school on a message board. Not sure how, but that current student figured out who the poster was and it turned out he/she was on the waitlist and hoping that the shit talking might open up a spot. Dean claimed he called this poster to personally let him/her know they were being released from the waitlist. Maybe this was BS, but given the context in which I was told, it would be a pretty random thing to make up.

[wannabelawstudent]

Just curious....do you feel different if employers did it?(cause they definitely do)

[Steve2207]

I still say there is too much margin for error with this system in most cases. I sincerely hope that this site isn’t used to determine people’s admission, or even their scholarship offers. Perhaps I am naive, and frankly I could care less if they know who I am or not, but I am willing to bet that ALOT of applicants would be upset by this.

Honestly you're making a big jump from what Mike said to "they use this site to determine people's admissions or offers".

Also yeah the info you get from this site is unconfirmed but it typically is reliable. And some data is better than no data. Gauging how many admitted students is gonna come here is a big deal for them, and this at least helps them in some way. I'm not upset at all by this, makes sense, and you shouldnt post stuff you don't want coming back to you on the Internet anyways.

This wasn’t based entirely off of Mike’s post, I have read this on here several times since I joined. I will admit, you have particularly made some good points, and I can see how it can be done (in some cases). But, I still feel like it is unfair, IF it is used in anyway other than to determine how many would be matriculating to a particular school.

[Steve2207]

Just curious....do you feel different if employers did it?(cause they definitely do)

I actually recently read in the news a couple weeks ago, that a particular state made it illegal for employers to review facebook pages before making decisions to hire (I can’t remember which state this was though). But yes, I think for any employer or school to look at a forum where someone is, for the most part anonymous (or presumes they are anonymous), is unfair. I suppose this is really just a matter of opinion though.

[wannabelawstudent]

Just curious....do you feel different if employers did it?(cause they definitely do)

I actually recently read in the news a couple weeks ago, that a particular state made it illegal for employers to review facebook pages before making decisions to hire (I can’t remember which state this was though). But yes, I think for any employer or school to look at a forum where someone is, for the most part anonymous (or presumes they are anonymous), is unfair. I suppose this is really just a matter of opinion though.

But, what if they're talking about that particular school or business? (Like what occurs here). I mean surely you realize there's a limit.

[guano]

I still say there is too much margin for error with this system in most cases. I sincerely hope that this site isn’t used to determine people’s admission, or even their scholarship offers. Perhaps I am naive, and frankly I could care less if they know who I am or not, but I am willing to bet that ALOT of applicants would be upset by this.

Honestly you're making a big jump from what Mike said to "they use this site to determine people's admissions or offers".

Also yeah the info you get from this site is unconfirmed but it typically is reliable. And some data is better than no data. Gauging how many admitted students is gonna come here is a big deal for them, and this at least helps them in some way. I'm not upset at all by this, makes sense, and you shouldnt post stuff you don't want coming back to you on the Internet anyways.

This wasn’t based entirely off of Mike’s post, I have read this on here several times since I joined. I will admit, you have particularly made some good points, and I can see how it can be done (in some cases). But, I still feel like it is unfair, IF it is used in anyway other than to determine how many would be matriculating to a particular school.

Life is unfair. Thing is, it can work to some people's advantage (if they're borderline and seem cool) as well as disadvantage (if they appear to be dicks)

Also, if you don't post a lot of info, you remain anonymous; the more you post the more likely it is they can put two and two together
but they probably don't go looking, more like they just check once in a while and will only look if someone's weird

[alwayssunnyinfl]

I wonder how adverse an effect something like your LSN account could have on your application once you've been identified. I doubt adcomms care if you're into low-carb diets or like House of Cards, but they probably would take note if you applied to 15 different schools.