Has social media ever doomed a strong applicant in your experiences?

[radioactive15]

Do you know or have seen a strong applicant get rejected due to his posts on FB or instagram?

Would you all recommend we deactivate these accounts during the application cycle, or only should people who have pics of them underage drinking, smoking, etc have trouble with these sites?

Addtn: If so, please elaborate on what the social media user did that sealed their own fate

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[gyngyn]

Yes.

 

[ShadyLane]

Yes.

Now I'm curious...what kind of content doomed them?

 

[gyngyn]

Now I'm curious...what kind of content doomed them?

Racism, misogyny and/or other serious personal flaws exhibited repeatedly.

 

[whitemagic]

How exactly does this work? Do you send some lowly intern to scavenge through 6,000 Facebook profiles and have them write up a police report on their findings?

 

[FrkyBgStok]

There was a person on SDN two years ago that had his acceptance rescinded due to posts here on SDN.

 

[whitemagic]

@FrkyBgStok How would they even know it was him unless he specifically came onto SDN and wrote "Hi I'm X applicant and I got accepted to X School of Medicine and my AAMC ID is 9999999." Seems like it would be unlawful to rescind an application based on inconclusive evidence, no? Also, I thought the moderators wrote that SDN never discloses the identity of any of its members unless specifically issued a subpeona?

 

[gyngyn]

There was a person on SDN two years ago that had his acceptance rescinded due to posts here on SDN.

In that case I believe the posts that resulted in rescindment were actually on Facebook.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

Oh i was not aware it was on facebook. From what I understand, his SDN name was very similar to his real name and he posted often in the thread of the school he got accepted to.

 

[gyngyn]

Oh i was not aware it was on facebook. From what I understand, his SDN name was very similar to his real name and he posted often in the thread of the school he got accepted to.

This is true.

 

[jqueb29]

I get a kick out of the people who think all applicants should disable their social media for the duration of the cycle. If you don't post idiotic stuff, you're just fine.

 

[raiderette]

I scrubbed my fb years ago before sorority recruitment. I look like a cross between mother teresa and a Elle woods.

 

[gyngyn]

How exactly does this work? Do you send some lowly intern to scavenge through 6,000 Facebook profiles and have them write up a police report on their findings?

This has no educational value for an intern and would not qualify as service learning.

 

[radioactive15]

I get a kick out of the people who think all applicants should disable their social media for the duration of the cycle. If you don't post idiotic stuff, you're just fine.

Are only racism and illegal things what can destroy your chances, or will merely using words like **ck, b**** (though, infrequently) be enough to see your immaturity and revoke?

 

[hoihaie]

Are only racism and illegal things what can destroy your chances, or will merely using words like **ck, b**** (though, infrequently) be enough to see your immaturity and revoke?

there are a lot of physicians whose language aren't 100% stellar

 

[radioactive15]

Is there a greater chance of admissions monitoring your social media pages or calling your reference contacts from your AMCAS to verify the hours?

 

[miamiheatfan]

Is there a greater chance of admissions monitoring your social media pages or calling your reference contacts from your AMCAS to verify the hours?

It depends, if you have some sort of institutional action for behavior related instances, then social media. If you claim to have 20,000 hours of research, probably reference contacts.

Also, in general, in my opinion you have to try really hard to be really inappropriate on social media. Go by the rule, if grandma wouldn't be proud of it, you probably shouldn't post it.

 

[argama]

I feel like a lot of the applicants who change their facebook name during application cycle from like John Doe to like John [insert middle name] or Jon Duh-oh or JD something of that like do it more to draw everyone's attention to their "new name" than to "hide their facebook from adcoms".

 

[Spinach Dip]

This is one reason I dont have a FB account.

 

[MrLogan13]

Don't post anything dumb on social media. Nothing is truly private on the Internet.

 

[deleted577188]

What about Twitter?

 

[Make Or Break]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...rescinded-due-to-comments-made-on-sdn.966310/

Remember, remember, the rescindment of November.

 

[The_Sunny_Doc]

Don't post yourself in compromising pics (and don't let people tag you in them!).

I didn't change my name for the cycle because my social media presence actually helps my image. Be smart about it because the personal branding you do today could help you in the future, with so many patients looking up their physicians online. It's wise to have a FB account associated with your real name so people have some sort of info to go of off. Take advantage of it!

 

[Goro]

Our wily old Admissions Dean does check up on people via Facebook etc. While this hasn't happened at my school AFAIK, acceptees from other schools have have their acceptances rescinded from their antics on facebook.

Look up the thread or post "remember remember the rescindment of November" or something similar. [EDIT: see Make or break's post above for link]

So delete those pics of you toking up or hitting the bong, or with a Dos Equis in your hand when you were 17, or slapping a "heil Hitler" salute with a swastika flag draped on your bed.

These common warnings you see posted above apply to Faculty as well. My school has a social media policy for faculty and my Dean has every right to fire me if I were to do something stupid and unprofessional on SDN or any other media site.

Gonnif's wise advice is worth repeating: "So all should assume your comments can be found and all should behave professionally. It doesn't mean hiding but it does mean being an adult"

Do you know or have seen a strong applicant get rejected due to his posts on FB or instagram?

Would you all recommend we deactivate these accounts during the application cycle, or only should people who have pics of them underage drinking, smoking, etc have trouble with these sites?

Addtn: If so, please elaborate on what the social media user did that sealed their own fate

 

[resiroth]

You can also just set your FB to private... Not that hard, and no one that isn't your "friend" can see anything, even your profile picture.

 

[The_Sunny_Doc]

Yes. There was a student in my BS/MD program who got booted for setting her Facebook profile photo as herself in her shirt and underwear and holding a half empty liquor bottle. The administration felt it reflected poorly on the image of the school and the type of people it was accepting.

She didn't know that wasn't a good idea?! How... I don't even.

 

[Mad Jack]

This thread is exactly why I periodically disappear from SDN for extended periods of time.

I don't know about applicants, but if you ask around, many long-term SDN members have encountered issues (mostly minor, but not always) related to their activity on this board. I myself have been identified in person several times, although I never encountered any problems.

Same. My interactions have been largely benign, but then again, I don't say anything all that horrible on here.

 

[Mad Jack]

Set FB to private, it's not that hard. With proper privacy settings, adcoms would have to go really, really out of their way to get you in any kind of trouble.

 

[dbeast]

Same. My interactions have been largely benign, but then again, I don't say anything all that horrible on here.

Yup I got recognized too out on interviews. Fortunately, my internet comedy is pure gold so everybody was happy to see me. I felt famous

Also, my facebook profile is far more interesting and my photos are more attractive than I am in real life. I'd probably get rejected without my internet persona not the other way around.

Is it really that hard to not come off as a total crazy person on social media?

 

[fictionalfinalism]

I've realized that whenever someone googles my name, a stripper comes up as the first result. Obviously, none of this is in my control, but could this be a speed bump in my application cycle?

 

[altblue]

I've realized that whenever someone googles my name, a stripper comes up as the first result. Obviously, none of this is in my control, but could this be a speed bump in my application cycle?

i'm apparently a decently well-known athlete. it's a shame I don't look like the guy.

 

[anxiouslyanxious]

This thread is exactly why I periodically disappear from SDN for extended periods of time.

I don't know about applicants, but if you ask around, many long-term SDN members have encountered issues (mostly minor, but not always) related to their activity on this board. I myself have been identified in person several times, although I never encountered any problems.

Same. My interactions have been largely benign, but then again, I don't say anything all that horrible on here.

Yup I got recognized too out on interviews. Fortunately, my internet comedy is pure gold so everybody was happy to see me. I felt famous

Also, my facebook profile is far more interesting and my photos are more attractive than I am in real life. I'd probably get rejected without my internet persona not the other way around.

Is it really that hard to not come off as a total crazy person on social media?

Do you guys reveal stats and other info on sdn? Confused as how people id you if you didn't.

 

[Mad Jack]

Do you guys reveal stats and other info on sdn? Confused as how people id you if you didn't.

There's enough info on me on SDN to figure out who I was if you were in Sri Lanka if you wanted to, I'm pretty transparent.

 

[jqueb29]

Set FB to private, it's not that hard. With proper privacy settings, adcoms would have to go really, really out of their way to get you in any kind of trouble.

But med schools can get Facebook to let them look at your profile!!!




My mom genuinely believed this.

 

[dbeast]

Do you guys reveal stats and other info on sdn? Confused as how people id you if you didn't.

I post lots of photos of myself on SDN

 

[puglet]

I post lots of photos of myself on SDN

Shia surprise!

 

[altblue]

Do you guys reveal stats and other info on sdn? Confused as how people id you if you didn't.

I never understood how could people can do this, like, guess someone's identity.

I know a couple people in real life who browse SDN, but I'd actually be kind of creeped out if someone managed to identify me. Sure, there's enough out there to figure out my UG and, if someone is aquainted with me in real life,, but I think this would speak less of my ability to keep myself hidden and, well, more of them being weird.

That said, I think it's entirely reasonable to not want people seeing my posts, even if I don't post stupid racist/inflammatory stuff. I like to rant about things, and I know this could rub people the wrong way.

 

[Hospitalized]

Yes. There was a student in my BS/MD program who got booted for setting her Facebook profile photo as herself in her shirt and underwear and holding a half empty liquor bottle. The administration felt it reflected poorly on the image of the school and the type of people it was accepting.

Seriously? Dat judgement.

edit: in reference to her poor judgement, not the school rescinding her acceptance

 

[Inventor of Post-Its]

I feel like a lot of the applicants who change their facebook name during application cycle from like John Doe to like John [insert middle name] or Jon Duh-oh or JD something of that like do it more to draw everyone's attention to their "new name" than to "hide their facebook from adcoms".

I always think this is funny because tons of the people who do it had their facebook URL automatically set to "firstname.lastname" at some point, so even if their display name is Firstname Middlename they'll still come up in a search for their first and last name just as easily as if they hadn't done anything. And now it looks like they're trying to hide something.

 

[Spinach Dip]

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has some studies/examples suggesting that essentially 3 pieces of information could identify almost one anyone off the internet (see below). This was further extended to an index (which I dont have the citation for in front of me) that valued certain pieces of information and made the argument that 25 point of value could identify anyone one. Birthday was value at 13 points for example.

Good thing I'm a shortish-tall [fe]male with light-darkish hair who at one point lived in the USA.

There must be at least 5 others like me in the world somewhere.

 

[baby tooth]

Shia surprise!

This is brilliant! Glad I popped into the thread.

 

[altblue]

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has some studies/examples suggesting that essentially 3 pieces of information could identify almost one anyone off the internet (see below). This was further extended to an index (which I dont have the citation for in front of me) that valued certain pieces of information and made the argument that 25 point of value could identify anyone one. Birthday was value at 13 points for example.


https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/01/primer-information-theory-and-privacy
A Primer on Information Theory and Privacy

If we ask whether a fact about a person identifies that person, it turns out that the answer isn't simply yes or no. If all I know about a person is their ZIP code, I don't know who they are. If all I know is their date of birth, I don't know who they are. If all I know is their gender, I don't know who they are. But it turns out that if I know these three things about a person, I could probably deduce their identity! Each of the facts is partially identifying.

Good post, but I meant that it would just be weird for someone to point out my SDN identity to me. I know it's entirely possible for them to do so, and if anyone knows me reasonably well, they can probably do so.

 

[deleted647690]

Would having a picture on your facebook of you doing something like pulling a public prank look bad to an adcomm? Would that reflect poorly on your character and cause them to doubt your maturity?

 

[Chemistry>Physics]

What stops someone from sabotaging an acceptance then?

 

[BABSstudent]

I have one story about an applicant and social media but I didn't interview them. I was supposed to host them for a night. Normally I look at the students Facebook page just so I can get an idea of who they are, what they like, where they have been. The school doesn't tell me anything except what the student wrote on their student hosting "application" which is sometimes dreadfully short (1 sentence).

This applicant had their posts locked down but it showed they were attending a public event (a music festival). I looked at the event page just to see what it was and who was playing so we could have something to talk about. I couldn't believe that one of the first post on the page was from the applicant. They asked if police were searching for drugs at the festival and what was the best way to smuggle them in because they had a ton but didn't want to get busted. They posted the message at least five times while waiting for a response since they were on their way to the festival.

I decided to not host the applicant and I don't know if they got in. I emailed the office coordinating the hosting and said something like, "due to their recents posts on social media I do not feel comfortable having this student stay in my house." I never linked anything or mentioned exactly what I saw, nor was I contacted about it.

I guess the moral of the story is even if you have some of your privacy settings up things can still show. And the other thing is don't post to a public page since you can't control those privacy settings.

 

[mehc012]

I hope adcoms find my Facebook...my Timeline is chock-full of awesome. Honestly, I think my social media presence paints a better picture of me than my application.

SDN on the other hand...no.

Sadly, since my facebook has never been in my full name (I joined using my nickname), the username is nicknameemantsal, my privacy settings are high, and oh yeah, nobody cares that much about me to spend the time hunting me down...odds are they'll never see it. They're more likely to see my SDN, since I've not really been trying to hide who I am on here.

 

[Spinach Dip]

They asked if police were searching for drugs at the festival and what was the best way to smuggle them in because they had a ton but didn't want to get busted. They posted the message at least five times while waiting for a response since they were on their way to the festival.

I decided to not host the applicant and I don't know if they got in. I emailed the office coordinating the hosting and said something like, "due to their recents posts on social media I do not feel comfortable having this student stay in my house." I never linked anything or mentioned exactly what I saw, nor was I contacted about it.

 

[Goro]

Yes, yes and yes.

Would having a picture on your facebook of you doing something like pulling a public prank look bad to an adcomm? Would that reflect poorly on your character and cause them to doubt your maturity?

 

[eyesfeeltired]

Oh i was not aware it was on facebook. From what I understand, his SDN name was very similar to his real name and he posted often in the thread of the school he got accepted to.

what did he post that caused him to get kicked out or get rejected from med school

 

[Axes]

(Never mind)