Mentioning my Quora activity on my application?

[InquilineKea]

So... It's obviously something that should be secondary to my research interests, but it actually *really* shows my passion for science (and my willingness to go very deeply into the peer-reviewed research) better than anything else.

My Quora profile is over at http://www.quora.com/Alex-K-Chen (I've actually emailed individual posts describing my research to potential advisers), but I'm also strongly considering letting the other profs read it if they want to learn more about me.

For example, here are some posts I made on the site:

• http://www.quora.com...wer/Alex-K-Chen
  
• http://www.quora.com...hange-over-time
  
• http://www.quora.com...ademic-journals
  
• http://www.quora.com/Colleges-Universities/Does-grade-inflation-matter?
  
• http://www.quora.com...wer/Alex-K-Chen
  
• http://www.quora.com...or-the-sciences
  
• http://www.quora.com...to-live-forever
  
• http://www.quora.com...-or-Ritalin-use
  
• http://www.quora.com...my-astrophysics
  

(this is really just a small selection of all I have - I also have lots of posts over at Reddit AskScience and Stack Exchange too)

And all my astronomy answers are over at http://www.quora.com...tronomy/answers (I also have lots of neuroscience answers where I digged deeply into the neuroscience literature too).

The one thing is that at worst, they may interpret it as a lack of focus. But on the other hand, they might value the fact that I already read the original literature in many different fields for fun, and I already have a lot of experience analyzing it online. I am an intensely interdisciplinary person, and the departments I'm applying to are interdisciplinary ones.

Edited September 29, 2011 by InquilineKea

[Sigaba]

IK--

MOO, you should not mention mention your Quora profile. The worst possible outcome is, IMO, they read a post of yours and say "This is why we're going to tell this guy 'no.'"

[Eigen]

Not the best way to go about it.

Many of those aren't exactly scholarly literature, and as such might give them the wrong impression about you, or ruffle feathers.

If you wanted to compile some of your best writings on a site and make an "interactive CV" of sorts, that might be OK... But you want it to be as professional as possible, imo.

::edit:: I just flipped through some of your posts that you highlighted, and I wouldn't think I'd want an Adcom to see most of those as some of their first examples of my work if it were me. The mix of primary and secondary sources, coupled with the fact that they're primarily just compiled resources with links and quotes more than an analysis or discussion of the topic makes them poor examples of what you can/will/have done in academic arenas, imo.

Edited October 4, 2011 by Eigen

[InquilineKea]

Okay I see. Thanks very much for all the advice (and for going over things)!

What would you think of a post like http://www.quora.com...gree-axial-tilt ? I've already used that post to highlight my research when I emailed professors, and it mostly resulted in very positive replies.

And what about...

http://www.quora.com...he-consequences

http://www.quora.com...e-of-the-galaxy

http://www.quora.com...used-the-change

http://www.quora.com...-expand-forever

http://www.quora.com...e-current-trend

http://www.quora.com/Why-does-Pluto-have-so-many-satellites

But yes - I'll have to agree - the ones I originally highlighted weren't the best examples of my work (I actually was really tired when i wrote the OP so I ended up grabbing whatever was easiest for me). The ones I've just highlighted above, though, are the best examples of my work there. if necessary, I could just upload them up to a personal webpage or a Wordpress

MOO, you should not mention mention your Quora profile. The worst possible outcome is, IMO, they read a post of yours and say "This is why we're going to tell this guy 'no.'"

I agree - that is definitely a concern. What is unique about Quora, though, is that I can make any of my posts anonymous at any time. So I can mass-anonymize my more controversial posts once admissions time comes.

Edited October 5, 2011 by InquilineKea

[Sigaba]

What is unique about Quora, though, is that I can make any of my posts anonymous at any time. So I can mass-anonymize my more controversial posts once admissions time comes.

Your "footprint" in cyberspace may be much larger than you realize.

[Eigen]

Some of your better works (as described above) that truly highlight your research work, you should re-write into a more acceptable format.

Write them up as you would a research paper, make a PDF, and upload it online somewhere.

Then you can give people a link to that site, that has only works presented in a scholarly fashion- not everything else as well.