Changing social media name for residency

[odyssey2]

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I've noticed just about everyone I know in med school changed their names on their social media profiles so that residency programs don't look them up before interviews. Does everyone at your school do this during application season, and is it really that much of a liability for programs to find them? How strict are they in terms of online content, ie, would they hold it against you for having a photo holding a drink, etc.? I've always found this confusing.

 

[Rekt]

I've noticed just about everyone I know in med school changed their names on their social media profiles so that residency programs don't look them up before interviews. Does everyone at your school do this during application season, and is it really that much of a liability for programs to find them? How strict are they in terms of online content, ie, would they hold it against you for having a photo holding a drink, etc.? I've always found this confusing.

Most of those idiots don't realize you can search by phone number that you give ERAS anyway. Just set profile to private. It really doesn't matter anyway unless you have some egregious photos that are easy to find.

 

[operaman]

Yeah I’ve never had an applicant whose profile I couldn’t find unless they had temporarily deleted it.

Usually just curious who people are. Red flags would be things like substance abuse, pics or posts showing grossly unprofessional behavior, posts that would be a potential liability for the program ( see the fired Cleveland clinic resident from recent news cycles).

But yeah the name changes are kinda stupid and don’t really hide you from anyone with any internet savvy, which describes basically every resident in America.

 

[Cognovi]

Your social media profile can be an additional opportunity to sell yourself. It beats me why so many people insist on a nonsensical name as part of their personal brand.

 

[nimbus]

I know a teacher who uses a fake name and birthdate so her students don’t find her.

 

[Chibucks15]

I know a teacher who uses a fake name and birthdate so her students don’t find her.

My wife is a teacher and that’s definitely what most teachers do, at least when you’re younger. Last thing she wants is students seeing beach vacation pics, etc

 

[DrRedstone]

My strategy has always been to hand pick what things I make available to the public, the rest of my things only being for my facebook friends.

 

[differentiating]

Yeah, the fake name thing is incredibly stupid but very popular. I just have my profile private as a default and didn’t worry about it any more than that, but I also don’t post anything particularly noteworthy to begin with.