Do adcoms peruse social networking sites & search engines? Forum

[Mr. Matlock]

1

[Holly Golightly]

Don't lie in your PS.
???????
Profit.

[D. H2Oman]

Take for example this hypothetical scenario: An applicant states in his/her application that he is a vet who lost a leg (ie. roadside bomb by insurgents) while serving in Iraq, but in reality s/he is not really an amputee. And if adcoms were to "dig up" some more on this unsavory applicant, they'd see the applicant in some rather provocative pictures at frat parties, nightclub excursions, etc. This can be somewhat problematic (for the applicant).

Thoughts?

Maybe the worst hypothetical scenario you could possibly come up with. I can only conclude that you are Reasonabledoubt's equally retarded cousin.

[cubswin]

Ha, yeah you probably could have picked a more plausible hypo. If you lied about being an amputee and ended up admitted, you'd be exposed at some point.

The question of to what extent do ad-comms use facebook, etc. is interesting though; I always wonder if they can somehow view my profile despite my privacy settings (I mean, there has to be some way around that stuff, right?).

[Scurredsitless1]

Don't lie in your PS.
???????
Profit.

It doesn't have to be lying per se.

One can always be a victim of a smear campaign on the internet.

What if a disgruntled ex-lover made a web site about me littered with false allegations that puts me in a rather unflattering light? Then what? Will adcoms extend the courtesy to even ask me? Likely not. They will take that at face value.

Or if one were denied a job for posting on a msg board, then that msg board threw a world of shit at the person that signed the letter.

[eLegal]

UMich's Sarah Zearfoss addressed this exact question in a recent interview she did here.

[BigA]

The question of to what extent do ad-comms use facebook, etc. is interesting though; I always wonder if they can somehow view my profile despite my privacy settings (I mean, there has to be some way around that stuff, right?).

I would hope not. You think?

[jonas586]

If you are indeed Peter North, I think it's apparent that all your legs are still intact.

[Trifles]

You do not want to work for a company or attend a school that is interested in micromanaging your activities that you do in your free time. Stop being paranoid what someone might or might not think of you someday down the road. You will never be able to please everyone, so live your life as you see fit, even if that means using your real name online to post stupid image macros and call your friend a [homophobic language redacted] on Facebook.

[Barbie_Head]

UMich's Sarah Zearfoss addressed this exact question in a recent interview she did here.

Thank you so much for this. This answers my question right to the point. And to the clowns thinking that my post is a flame/troll, you might want to read this (courtesy of the link provided by "eLegal"):

Question posed:

When making admissions decisions, do you ever go beyond the four corners of the application and do some independent research on an applicant (i.e., Googling an applicant, reviewing their Facebook page, etc.)? If so, has this process ever yielded any surprising results?

UMich's Admissions Dean Sarah Zearfoss' response

Very rarely. While I do know other admissions offices that regularly Google any applicant they are going to admit, we don’t do that for two reasons. First, we have a fairly large class so I’d probably spend my entire day doing outside research on applicants rather than reading files. Second, I just don’t think the information that you might find is all that reliable. I don’t have time to track down and verify everything I might find out about an applicant.

That said, when I have Googled an applicant, it’s almost always for the same purpose: to better understand some work experience that they might have included on their resume. For example, if someone lists a job for a company I’ve never heard of, and I’m just not grasping what they do, I might look up that company on the Internet for a better understanding. That comes up a fair amount – I probably do that at least once a week.

But the best Google story I ever had concerned an applicant a couple of years ago – I think it was a woman – who described this incredible invention she created. This struck me as astonishing because, if I recall, she did not have the strongest academic record. Nonetheless, this invention (as she described it) struck me as pretty amazing because it was a rather sophisticated medical device and she would have been worth admitting on that ground alone. But this invention seemed so remarkable that I felt like I had to do some independent research and confirm her role in creating it. So I Googled it and I came across a ton of newspaper articles that discussed the invention; as it turned out it was the applicant’s mother – a scientist -- who invented the device, not the applicant.

Note the highlighted part. Yikes!!

Not too surprising, is it?

[SandyC877]

You do not want to work for a company or attend a school that is interested in micromanaging your activities that you do in your free time. Stop being paranoid what someone might or might not think of you someday down the road. You will never be able to please everyone, so live your life as you see fit, even if that means using your real name online to post stupid image macros and call your friend a gay man on Facebook.

THIS IS ALPHA RESPONSE!!!!!!

[icydash]

Long story short, if on your app you put something that seems totally ridiculous or obviously is not in line with what your potential is (based on resume / UG school / GPA / major / personal statement / etc), they will look into it. If it's something that can be obviously and easily verified (being an amputee), the truth will come out once you begin law school. You'd be surprised how good a sense of an applicant these TRAINED professionals (who do this 24/7 for many many years) can get, and how easy it is to spot something out of the ordinary for them.

AKA hope for the best, expect the worst. If you have pictures of you toking up while banging two chicks at the same time, all of you covered in beer, as your facebook picture, then take it down (at least while you're waiting on an admissions decision ). Don't lie on your personal statement, it's not worth enough in the decision making process to warrant the potential risks involved.

Are you the same guy that asked last week if adcoms can find out if you're lying in your PS?

Try not to be retarded and you should be fine.

[BigA]

I'm not sure why you'd be worried about them googling your name. However, it's kind of disconcerting if they can bypass the facebook security settings. I don't want to have to take down the pics that icydash described

[billyez]

There's no need to be worried about Facebook. It's incredibly easy to lock everyone but your friends out. I don't know why I didn't blocik it out before I started applying anyway...everyone should lock their profile. Plus, you can make your profile not appear if your name is googled I believe.

[icydash]

You can change your privacy settings on facebook so only your friends can view your pictures, etc... and no, adcoms can NOT get around these privacy settings.

[SwollenMonkey]

Hey, Peter North, I heard you were an anal stunt-double when you first started in the porno business. Is this true?