stupid question... why the secrecy regarding identity? Forum

[scottybear]

so, i've come across a few posts in the last few months implying that one ought to kind of be careful about revealing too much information here on these boards because adcomm officers browse these forums (most recent one: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 9&t=206543)
The implication always seems to be that it's kind of a bad thing if they can match a post to an applicant, and I can't quite figure out why that might be. Anyone want to shed some light on this for me? Why would some kind of ID be detrimental?

Thanks! sorry if this is a silly question.

[jetsfan1]

Two reasons come to mind off the top of my head
1) people say incredibly stupid things on tls (stupid as in mean, bashing certain schools, etc.) that they would never say/would wanna be identified with in real life.
2) so for people deciding between schools, they often identify which way they are leaning/how they feel about certain schools. If I were a school and I had offered a kid 100k and read online he was leaning another way, you bet you ass I would be pulling that offer real quick. The applicant obviously does not want this to happen, and hence the anonymity.

Sure there are more, but those just off the top of my head.

[rad lulz]

Poast here long enough and you will make enemies

[Lawbro]

Two reasons come to mind off the top of my head
1) people say incredibly stupid things on tls (stupid as in mean, bashing certain schools, etc.) that they would never say/would wanna be identified with in real life.
2) so for people deciding between schools, they often identify which way they are leaning/how they feel about certain schools. If I were a school and I had offered a kid 100k and read online he was leaning another way, you bet you ass I would be pulling that offer real quick. The applicant obviously does not want this to happen, and hence the anonymity.

Sure there are more, but those just off the top of my head.

^ This. And not everyone wants to be identified as a jets fan either, that's just embarrassing.

[jetsfan1]

Haha touché sir. And whose making enemies rad?

[star fox]

Law schools will take who they can get.

[jetsfan1]

Agreed. Which is why if they were to read online that someone's likely not coming, then its on to the next one. And fast

[bk1]

Even if you had the cleanest cut online persona, there is still a stigma regarding having an online persona at all. I don't think that's right, but that's the way it is. People will often judge you for using an internet forum or social networking site, especially if you use it extensively, but even if you use it relatively lightly. While I hope that this stigma dies with the boomers, the fact is that it exists right now.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I'd be really really surprised if a school pulled a scholarship offer after it was made based on anything here, unless it found out something really egregious, like someone had actively misrepresented something significant on their application or the like. But I suppose if they're still deciding on scholarships, who knows...

(I think I've seen adcomms say they check out people on TLS more to see which other schools their applicants are considering, who their competitors are, than to evaluate individual candidates.)

[jetsfan1]

Possibly. But overall, literally nothing good could come from having your ID revealed on this site. Only bad things could happen. Just makes sense to stay anonymous bc it's all risk no reward.

[scottybear]

Ah. I see.
those all make sense.

I didn't realize that it might affect admission offers, etc. I just assumed that by the time a school admits you, they WANT you, so seeing that you might consider another school would cause them to up their offer to make them more attractive, if anything.

But I totally see how it could go the other way, too, especially given the rankings war and how they want to keep their turned down offers of admission numbers low.

being identified does seem like a low-reward situation.

thanks everyone for a lot of fast replies to my idle wonderings.

[rad lulz]

Possibly. But overall, literally nothing good could come from having your ID revealed on this site. Only bad things could happen. Just makes sense to stay anonymous bc it's all risk no reward.

Well sometimes you can use TLS to hook up w chicks

[TripTrip]

Possibly. But overall, literally nothing good could come from having your ID revealed on this site. Only bad things could happen. Just makes sense to stay anonymous bc it's all risk no reward.

Mmm that's not true. If I tell the world my LSAT, GPA, work experience, and relevant softs (see: all of LSN), there's very little risk of anything bad happening. It is possible, however, that an adcomm would connect that to my real application. That won't necessarily have a negative effect, but maybe you have a terrible username. So we'll assume a little risk.

What's the reward? Collective efficacy. Scatter plots, data points, scholarship tracking, etc. Suddenly the applicants are empowered and knowledgeable consumers. I know how I stack up with a school's numbers and whether I should be expecting any money or could negotiate for a scholarship. Without sites like LSN we would be completely in the dark. The reward, when everyone does it, is great for everyone.

There will always be people on the sideline who want the best of both worlds, to take all the info in but then don't provide their own. If they are so paranoid of... whatever it is they are paranoid of.. they should post their stats (all of them!) at the close of the cycle. But really, not disclosing is kind of a jerk move.

Now, on the other hand, if you mean posting your real name and LSAC number all over is all risk and no reward, you're right. No good could come of that.

[magp90]

Everyone should use a decent amount of prudence when posting on a site like this... Unless you're posting truly unique and sensitive information about yourself while also shitting all over the schools you're applying to, you'll probably be fine... (And if you're doing that, you're probably enough of an asshole to deserve it.)

Last year, someone took it upon themselves to warn me in a private message that what I was saying about a certain school that I was considering would probably land me in the reject pile given that members of the admissions committee from that school tended to lurk on TLS... I got freaked, but then I was substantially less worried when said school gave me a full ride, no stips soon after. The fact is that if you maintain a reasonable level of anonymity, they can't guarantee that they'd be rejecting the right person.

So... just be careful, but there's not much need for paranoia. I'd be more concerned with pissing off future peers you'd be in classes with for the next three years.

[TripTrip]

they can't guarantee that they'd be rejecting the right person.

That's a really good point.

[WahooLaw24]

Ah. I see.
those all make sense.

I didn't realize that it might affect admission offers, etc. I just assumed that by the time a school admits you, they WANT you, so seeing that you might consider another school would cause them to up their offer to make them more attractive, if anything.

But I totally see how it could go the other way, too, especially given the rankings war and how they want to keep their turned down offers of admission numbers low.

being identified does seem like a low-reward situation.

thanks everyone for a lot of fast replies to my idle wonderings.

.

[WahooLaw24]

Ah. I see.
those all make sense.

I didn't realize that it might affect admission offers, etc. I just assumed that by the time a school admits you, they WANT you, so seeing that you might consider another school would cause them to up their offer to make them more attractive, if anything.

But I totally see how it could go the other way, too, especially given the rankings war and how they want to keep their turned down offers of admission numbers low.

being identified does seem like a low-reward situation.

thanks everyone for a lot of fast replies to my idle wonderings.

It's very unlikely to happen IMO, but say you want to go to school X and want to leverage school X with school Y's scholarship. If you're easily identifiable and going on about how you're sold on school X but just trying to grab some extra money with your other offer, you're certainly not doing yourself any favors.

Or if you're going on about how schools A,B,C are just your safety schools, etc........you get the picture.

[Dr. Dre]

Poast here long enough and you will make enemies

[guano]

they can't guarantee that they'd be rejecting the right person.

That's a really good point.

that depends on how much identifying information you put up here.
Some people are very identifiable, while others post full details so that anyone even passingly familiar with them can identify them. When you post your full scores and background, you're already narrowing it down significantly.

[tony2167]

^regardless, they still can't be sure you made the post yourself. Maybe multiple people use the one account, maybe your roommate forgot to log out of your account before posting etc. Any school that would reject an applicant based on a post they read on here likely wouldn't be worth attending. Adcoms really only care about 2 things, and neither one is your message board persona.

[guano]

^regardless, they still can't be sure you made the post yourself. Maybe multiple people use the one account, maybe your roommate forgot to log out of your account before posting etc. Any school that would reject an applicant based on a post they read on here likely wouldn't be worth attending. Adcoms really only care about 2 things, and neither one is your message board persona.

not true, but feel free to post identifying information and offensive opinions and try it out

[presh]

After 1L year, there was a student in my class who was very bent on transferring. Our law school was low 20s at the time (I think). He had stellar numbers for transferring - similar to ones that got another student from our school into Harvard as a transfer. He applied to 13 of the top 14 if I remember correctly.

He also had a habit of coming onto TLS and posting some really nasty things about our school, his fellow students, and some of the top 14 schools. In posts that made him easily identifiable (think exact class rank, exact GPA, hometown, etc). Every student in the school and a good portion of the faculty knew who he was based on his posts here.

He was rejected from every T14 but Gtown. Was the fact that his dickishness was readily available for adcom perusal? Or his numbers? Or a bad rec letter? IDK. But would you really want to risk it?

[tony2167]

^regardless, they still can't be sure you made the post yourself. Maybe multiple people use the one account, maybe your roommate forgot to log out of your account before posting etc. Any school that would reject an applicant based on a post they read on here likely wouldn't be worth attending. Adcoms really only care about 2 things, and neither one is your message board persona.

not true, but feel free to post identifying information and offensive opinions and try it out

Oh, so you've got unequivocal evidence that people have been kept out of schools thanks to their TLS posting? Do share. You really think a school would withhold an admission offer to an above median candidate because he or she posts dickhead comments on a message board? Schools care about numbers.

Edit: I'm not saying anyone should come on here and post ridiculous slander about schools. You shouldn't be a dick for the sake of not being a dick, but worrying about absolute anonymity to the point of not disclosing numbers or even what schools you're interested in is paranoid as hell.

[presh]

Well that is just silly. There is never going to be a definitive answer unless an adcom posts on here about rejecting someone based on TLS posting. Everyone just has to decide what level of risk they want to take regarding the information they share.

Or you megapoast until any posts with personally identifiable info are buried.

[guano]

actually, I was identified by the adcoms at one school I applied to and the person who told me discussed that they do take what is said online into consideration