Admissions and social networking privacy?

[newpsyche]

Hi, friends!

I have a question related to admissions and social networking. For those of us who are 21+, should we be worried about having hints about alcohol on our Tweets or Facebooks? My Tweets are unprotected and every once in a while there might be a small mention of alcohol, but nothing crazy. Should I be worried that a professor or admissions committee member will view that negatively? Again, I'm of legal age. Many have said that committees want to see that you're "normal"...

[maeisenb]

If you're worried, why not protect your tweets, shut down your FB to all but your friends, and scrub any really terrible photos. The adcom people aren't your friends, so why do they need to read your tweets? If you're really worried that you want them to see that you are normal, you could leave up profile pictures that show you doing normal things (i.e. pretending to hold up the leaning tower of Pisa or something, but remove those of you dressed up in a crazy Halloween costume).

[Sigaba]

Hi, friends!

I have a question related to admissions and social networking. For those of us who are 21+, should we be worried about having hints about alcohol on our Tweets or Facebooks? My Tweets are unprotected and every once in a while there might be a small mention of alcohol, but nothing crazy. Should I be worried that a professor or admissions committee member will view that negatively? Again, I'm of legal age. Many have said that committees want to see that you're "normal"...

Yes, and yes. (Bluntly, it is alarming how many of you have so much personal information about yourselves on the internet.)

Also, keep in mind how your friends, frienemies, and enemies may have tagged photos of you and made comments about you. Scrub your photo stream at Flickr and every other social network site to which you belong.

Then, google your favorite username, see what you find, see what is cached (a category of data people forget), and see what you can delete. Even if you think the content is unoffensive, blow it away. You simply do not know how others will interpret anything. So take no chances.

[fuzzylogician]

I don't think that adcoms will reject you just because they googled your name and learned that you sometimes go out with friends and drink. That by itself is no reason to suspect a bad fit or inappropriate behavior.

However, it is important to be conscious of the public image that your online activities project. Assume that anything and everything you post on the internet will be accessible to future employers. Don't post anything that could potentially cause you damage in the future. Limit access to your profiles and delete everything that might be harmful.

Edited November 19, 2011 by fuzzylogician

[Sigaba]

I don't think that adcoms will reject you just because they googled your name and learned that you sometimes go out with friends and drink. That by itself is no reason to suspect a bad fit or inappropriate behavior.

FL--

I respectfully disagree with you on this point. Binge drinking among collegians is an ongoing issue. While it may not be fair to conclude that a photo of an applicant drinking means the applicant is a binge drinker, such evidence could still be used to make that argument.

My $0.02.

[fuzzylogician]

The OP mentioned "hints about alcohol" in tweets or FB, nothing about compromising photos. Those are a whole other matter; people should worry more about publishing silly photos of themselves that can be abused, in general. Anything that is online is there forever, many people tend to forget that.

FL--

I respectfully disagree with you on this point. Binge drinking among collegians is an ongoing issue. While it may not be fair to conclude that a photo of an applicant drinking means the applicant is a binge drinker, such evidence could still be used to make that argument.

My $0.02.

[newpsyche]

Thanks to all for the responses! Yes, I think I was a bit vague in my question--my Tweets are followed by my parents, my priests, etc. and I'm Facebook friends with my parents, priests, professors, honors advisor, etc. This is nothing crazy, just a mention every here and there of, say, wine. I think it's definitely true that there's a wide spectrum of what is and is not acceptable to reveal in social networking profiles, so I agree with all of you in some way or other.

Thank you again!

[gellert]

Then, google your favorite username, see what you find, see what is cached (a category of data people forget), and see what you can delete. Even if you think the content is unoffensive, blow it away. You simply do not know how others will interpret anything. So take no chances.

Question about this bit!

How will adcomms know your favorite usernames? I have several usernames that I use across the net, and none of them are associated with my real name. This one here (on tgc) is probably the username with the most identifying information attached to it, so I don't use this username anywhere else on the net.

Just wondering exactly how paranoid I ought to be, haha.

[Sigaba]

Question about this bit!

How will adcomms know your favorite usernames? I have several usernames that I use across the net, and none of them are associated with my real name. This one here (on tgc) is probably the username with the most identifying information attached to it, so I don't use this username anywhere else on the net.

If you have stated your undergraduate major, your GPA, your GRE scores, your location (current or previous), and other schools to which you've applied, you've provided pieces of information that can be used in conjunction with your name to find you here (if not also elsewhere). From there, a researcher can google your username and be off and running.

More creative searches could be performed based upon your writing sample and SoP.

Just wondering exactly how paranoid I ought to be, haha.

As the saying goes, "Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get me." Ultimately, the level of PERSEC that one practices on line and IRL are judgement calls.

[gellert]

Gotcha. Thanks!

[ecritdansleau]

Bleh--this topic brought me to realize, upon doing a google search of myself, that what comes up is another person with my name (not a particularly common one) and so all that comes up is her twitter and facebook. I don't use twitter, and I have my facebook privacy set up to not show up in google. It's kind of annoying. Should I worry? Am I thinking about this too much?

[Sigaba]

Should I worry? Am I thinking about this too much?

If she's one of those types who cannot get enough attention and has a demonstrated habit of doing what it takes to get it, you might have cause to worry--especially if she's also a lousy writer.

[gellert]

Maybe get a Twitter or make your Facebook searchable (but not viewable)? It's better to control your internet presence than leave it up to factors like someone sharing your name. If adcomms can see that one FB is obviously you (has your school network, etc.) and the other isn't, they won't judge you off the other person's visible FB material.

[Sigaba]

Maybe get a Twitter or make your Facebook searchable (but not viewable)? It's better to control your internet presence than leave it up to factors like someone sharing your name. If adcomms can see that one FB is obviously you (has your school network, etc.) and the other isn't, they won't judge you off the other person's visible FB material.

Gellert--

I like this idea.

To tease it out a bit, one could even include some additional information-- just to make sure there's no confusion between two Jane Doe's that went to the same flagship state school.

[gellert]

Yep. Just make sure it's all appropriate and represents you well as a scholar -- though that should go without saying.

[kuzotz]

This isn't something to worry about. If certain employers are using this to judge the character of their candidates then that employer is unfit for the recruiting process. Overall what a person does during their free time is theirs to do unless it compromises the company/institution. It's a bit hypocritical to know that the generation that abused drugs and alcohol during their youth is turning around with such draconian standards that applicants are scared that a photo of them at a house party shows up or a photo of them drinking a beer at Chili's can dash their hopes for finding future employment/ university admission. I think I wouldn't worry about it. I actually fired someone from my project for just that exact reason. This guy recruited people who had the appearance of decent character, but at the end of the day I was looking for candidates that could get the job done. I dunno seeing a party pic, and knowing the candidate's qualifications demonstrates a level of responsibility that shows more than someone who is a boyscout. Anyway just my 2 lil cents. my 2 yen my 2 kurus.

[Sigaba]

This isn't something to worry about.

Then what about this and what about that (especially page 2)?

[gellert]

Then what about this and what about that (especially page 2)?

The stats on "Are you permitted to visit ... social networking page ..." are swapped between those two reports. Report one has 88% saying "yes," report two has 88% saying "no."

Edited November 24, 2011 by gellert

[Sigaba]

The stats on "Are you permitted to visit ... social networking page ..." are swapped between those two reports. Report one has 88% saying "yes," report two has 88% saying "no."

Good catch.

My focus was on the statistic that almost three out of ten respondents who, having viewed an applicants social network sites, discovered material that led to a rejection.

As for the 88%/12% flip flop, I may give the POC at Kaplan a call after the holiday weekend.

[isobel_a]

I've set my FB on private and have only two or three photos of myself up.

I'd imagine most POIs are too busy to scour the internet in hopes of linking people to usernames and forum posts. I know I'm too busy to do that, and I'm on vacation at the moment...

[Pitangus]

I have a Google+ profile, which I like because it pops up near the top on Google searches of my name, plus I've linked it to my linkedin etc. profiles, which in turn makes them appear near the top as well.

Not that I think sites like linkedin are that useful, but rather I agree with Gellert that it's best to have control of what's out there under your name. All of my profiles have the basic CV-type info to identify me, as well as a headshot photo to hopefully distinguish me from the two people on Facebook with my name.

[marlowe]

So I did the typical self-google and didn't come across anything particularly damning.

Then, I clicked on the link to Spokeo; the website had pictures of every person with my name in the world, addresses, websites et cetera. I clicked on my home state on the map, and not only did they have my home address, they had information like the value of my home, and parents and sibling's names. Creepy stuff.

If admissions committees actually make this effort, I would be surprised (and profoundly disturbed).

[Pitangus]

So I did the typical self-google and didn't come across anything particularly damning.

Then, I clicked on the link to Spokeo; the website had pictures of every person with my name in the world, addresses, websites et cetera. I clicked on my home state on the map, and not only did they have my home address, they had information like the value of my home, and parents and sibling's names. Creepy stuff.

If admissions committees actually make this effort, I would be surprised (and profoundly disturbed).

Yeah, some of those personal info sites (Spokeo, Intelius) are really sketchy, though they tend to put all the weird stuff behind a pay wall, which makes me wonder if they actually have the information (or if someone would actually pay for it).

[isobel_a]

Spokeo makes me angry. This is like a stalker's dream. I didn't opt-in to this service, how the @#$%& do I opt out?

It has me listed at every address I've lived at in my current state... with property values!