Do graduate schools look up applicant's Facebooks?

[SundayMatinee]

Just curious if this is actually a thing.

[gliaful]

It's not universal, but it does happen. To circumvent this, I dropped my last name on facebook and used my middle name instead. I made all of my posts accessible to friends only.

They also look at your linkedin, if you have one of those. But on linkedin you can check to see who has looked at your profile so you'll know.

[selbstverteidigung]

Good question

[Nochal]

I assume that they do and will. (Whether they "should" is another matter, however.)

 

I just heard last week that some business made an applicant log into her facebook account during her job interview. Apparently, this was just to see her reaction to the request.

[twinguy7]

I have heard the same things, both that some grad schools look at your FB or LinkedIn and that employers are known to look at it or ask you to pull it up.

[lookwhoslp]

I know a professor on the admissions committee at my school, and I doubt (s)he actually looks at applicant's social media cause (s)he just looks over the applications. If anything, i guess the secretaries or other people involved might look, but as far as professors that are not the committee, I don't think so. They literally get a stack of 150 so applicants and have like 1-2 weeks to 'grade' the applications for when they later have a discussion about who's in and who's out. Doubt they would spend extra time looking for FBs of every applicant... Now maybe once the pile is dwindled down to the top 50, maybe?

Edited February 2, 2015 by lookwhoslp

[selbstverteidigung]

Just deactivate before the interview and then say you don't have one.

[Jolie717]

That is really weird and creepy. My Facebook page is rated "G" and all, lol, but there are others that share my exact same name who don't exactly look, ummmmm professional. How the heck would they know who you were?

[lookwhoslp]

That is really weird and creepy. My Facebook page is rated "G" and all, lol, but there are others that share my exact same name who don't exactly look, ummmmm professional. How the heck would they know who you were?

I guess they can't quite know for sure, but they do have your transcript so they at least know what school you go to (if you have that listed on your FB). 

[SLPosteriorCricoarytenoid]

Facebook makes it incredibly easy to find anyone now days. All you need is a small piece of information such as hometown, college, employment, etc. You don't even need a last name if you have some of those. Better to be safe and set everything to private just so nothing is questionable in the rare occasion that anyone would look. For me, I don't have anything to hide on my Facebook but I would still be nervous if it were looked at. Mainly due to things my friends write on some things, not bad but maybe questionable lol.  

[ohioslp2b]

Sorry I am a little late to the party, but this has happened to me! I had an interview for grad school, and the next day the clinic director added me as a friend on Facebook! Completely caught off guard, I accepted her request and she immediately unfriended me. I believe it was a case of searching my Facebook on her phone and she accidently pressed the "Add Friend" button. Keep those profiles clean!