Do admission committees take into account any posts on this forum?

[bornunderatree]

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Members do not see this ad.

Especially when making II / acceptance decisions?
Do they attempt to match posters to applications?
Just curious...

 

[nylock10]

You can absolutely bet that they do. Also make sure to either deactivate your Facebook and other social media accounts or at least set them to private. The last thing you want is them knowing what songs you listen to on Spotify. Still listening to Linkin Park? Better pack some sunscreen: you're going to the Caribbean.

 

[OchemOficionado]

It's possible. Be respectful.

 

[bornunderatree]

Possible, most definitely. Probable tho?

 

[Frogger27]

Possible, most definitely. Probable tho?

Possible, not probable

 

[Cotterpin]

Adcoms are so incredibly busy already, I can't imagine they have the time to investigate thousands of applicants to see if they have matching stats and characteristics with posters on this forum.

 

[GrumpyGus]

When I was interviewing, many admissions members came up to me and went "Oh my God, you're GrumpyGus aren't you?"

Instead of shying away, I owned it and replied with "you're pawsitively correct."

"We love what you post. The mixture of sassiness and realness is very refreshing. We'll note it in your file"

Accepted.

But really, if they even did find me all they would find out is that a) I'm kind of a dick, b) I'm kind of funny, and c) I both farted during an interview and had Tulane sausage induced diarrhea while I was on a date. So really, it captures me as an applicant perfectly and I hope they match me.

 

[bornunderatree]

"you're pawsitively correct."

Cat people...

 

[Lawpy]

Especially when making II / acceptance decisions?
Do they attempt to match posters to applications?
Just curious...

They probably can if:

1. You're famous/infamous on SDN
2. You revealed everything about yourself online while doing #1

For someone with <100 posts and/or mostly a lurker, no one cares unless they did something incredibly stupid and/or malicious online. With the result being a rejection/acceptance revoked.

Now, people do put SDN on their AMCAS provided they're a volunteer here (i.e. an SDN moderator). I don't know whether doing this had any effect on their application, but they seem to find it meaningful to list it.

 

[mmm_cats]

delete your account

 

[Cotterpin]

They probably can if:

1. You're famous/infamous on SDN
2. You revealed everything about yourself online while doing #1

So maybe the reason why Baratheonfire doesn't have an interviews is because he's infamous for complaining about not having any interviews.

 

[Lawpy]

So maybe the reason why Baratheonfire doesn't have an interviews is because he's infamous for complaining about not having any interviews.

and he ran into serious trouble for doing something stupid recently. so yeah it's an example of how SDN activity can actually hurt you if you're found out by adcoms/schools.

 

[Ismet]

Remember remember the rescindment of November.

Some adcom members and deans troll their school's specific thread. The Michigan dean of admissions was notorious for that when I was applying, and would tweet about things he read on SDN.

 

[Lawpy]

Assume all social media may be searched and seen by Adcoms so always be professional even when critical

One of the admission directors at a particular school is doing her doctorate in social media and medical student selection. Some medical schools have added an internet background search step usually post-interview, per-selection as due diligence to find any obvious issue. With automation and some software this is easy to do. Here are some threads on the issue

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/is-hiding-your-social-media-necessary.1195790/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...strong-applicant-in-your-experiences.1134926/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...hools-search-an-applicant-personally.1066684/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/is-this-true-about-premed-forums.1198242/

This is a much larger issue for medical residents in applicant selection with many medical specialty academies and GME (residency) programs issue guidelines and, in some cases, strict agreements on social media use while in a program. The reason for this has been patients and families have started to look up doctors who are treating them. A case then was a 3rd year peds residents was treating a young girl and the next day the parents came in screaming to take that doctor away from my daughter or I will sue. Turned out the parents were freaked about a photo from a drunken frat party taken some 10 years earlier was posted on a social media site with this doctor tagged. (I will try find the original case report and add it).

In the meanwhile there have been a slew of studies done on this to the point that AAMC has guidelines for applicants (first in list)
https://www.aamc.org/students/aspiring/324178/socialmediadoesnthurt.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3758042/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23139411
http://www.amednews.com/article/20121127/profession/311279999/8/
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/731175
http://www.ojphi.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2161/2026
http://jepm.seahq.net/VolXVI_IssueV_McHugh.pdf

While this is true, i find it hard to believe adcoms have the time and reason to take the trouble identifying some random lurker with few posts when making interview/acceptance decisions. There's no reason to unless they did something incredibly stupid and malicious here.

As far as benefits of being identified online on SDN, i can't think of any. Maybe possible networking opportunities? Last i checked, @mimelim has stated that an MS4 chatted him up to talk about applying to vascular surgery residency programs and managed to get a spot as an intern there. It would make sense to use SDN as a networking medium (hence the name) for applying to residency.

A drawback: the med school adcoms here are too smart to allow a similar trick happen for med school IIs/acceptances 😉

Remember remember the rescindment of November.

Some adcom members and deans troll their school's specific thread. The Michigan dean of admissions was notorious for that when I was applying, and would tweet about things he read on SDN.

Huh nice. Thanks for the tips.

 

[aldol16]

and he ran into serious trouble for doing something stupid recently. so yeah it's an example of how SDN activity can actually hurt you if you're found out by adcoms/schools.

Now I'm interested. What's the story here?

 

[bornunderatree]

Remember remember the rescindment of November.

Some adcom members and deans troll their school's specific thread. The Michigan dean of admissions was notorious for that when I was applying, and would tweet about things he read on SDN.

So posts on a specific school page for "some lovin" may actually have some value?

 

[iluvbeingpremed]

but wouldn't it be very difficult to make sure they had the right person....lots of people do similar things/have similar stats to I feel like you'd have to be painfully oversharing info for them to recognize specific people

 

[Ehwic]

I would like to summon @Aubrey Graham to this thread.

 

[aldol16]

but wouldn't it be very difficult to make sure they had the right person....lots of people do similar things/have similar stats to I feel like you'd have to be painfully oversharing info for them to recognize specific people

Well, it could be quite easy to match people if they have linked MDapplicant profiles with accepted data on it since schools get access to that data some time in the spring. Some people might also have defining characteristics too that make them unique - people strive so hard on here to not fall into the "cookie-cutter" pre-med type.

 

[Astra]

If your memes are dank, it adds 5 points to your LizzyM score

 

[Ismet]

So posts on a specific school page for "some lovin" may actually have some value?

Highly unlikely.

 

[Turkishking]

Yeah. they're going to go on SDN and try to find out who you are.

 

[Goro]

We like to see what people are saying about our schools, Lawper. Most people do not give out enough info to out themselves, but quite a few do.

While this is true, i find it hard to believe adcoms have the time and reason to take the trouble identifying some random lurker with few posts when making interview/acceptance decisions. There's no reason to unless they did something incredibly stupid and malicious here.

As far as benefits of being identified online on SDN, i can't think of any. Maybe possible networking opportunities? Last i checked, @mimelim has stated that an MS4 chatted him up to talk about applying to vascular surgery residency programs and managed to get a spot as an intern there. It would make sense to use SDN as a networking medium (hence the name) for applying to residency.

A drawback: the med school adcoms here are too smart to allow a similar trick happen for med school IIs/acceptances 😉



Huh nice. Thanks for the tips.

 

[Goro]

Oh! care to share? PM if needed! I love dish.

and he ran into serious trouble for doing something stupid recently. so yeah it's an example of how SDN activity can actually hurt you if you're found out by adcoms/schools.

 

[Astra]

and he ran into serious trouble for doing something stupid recently. so yeah it's an example of how SDN activity can actually hurt you if you're found out by adcoms/schools.

Oo I love drama. What happened? PM me if you dont wanna post here plz

 

[Lawpy]

Now I'm interested. What's the story here?

Oh! care to share? PM if needed! I love dish.

Oo I love drama. What happened? PM me if you dont wanna post here plz

i'll PM you guys. although admittedly, my post sounded a lot harsher than need be.

while highly unlikely, the issue is that they could. hence my suggestion to always be professional. I have had direct knowledge of at least two incredibly dumb applicants who bashed the schools they had just interviewed at by posting in the school specific threads. additionally since it is now very easy to configure software to search the internet, applicants should professional in their postings, especially on other social media as medical students and residents as the several links to studies and guidelines in my previous post noted

We like to see what people are saying about our schools, Lawper. Most people do not give out enough info to out themselves, but quite a few do.

yeah it makes sense that doing stupid stuff like maligning a school in its application thread is compelling enough to sink that application. it's no different from other social media. but i felt that SDN offers some additional layer of anonymity/privacy that SDNers should take advantage of and respond courteously to avoid running into such problems

 

[787593]

and he ran into serious trouble for doing something stupid recently. so yeah it's an example of how SDN activity can actually hurt you if you're found out by adcoms/schools.

What did he do??

 

[GotIronKnee]

Dude,

i'll PM you guys. although admittedly, my post sounded a lot harsher than need be.




yeah it makes sense that doing stupid stuff like maligning a school in its application thread is compelling enough to sink that application. it's no different from other social media. but i felt that SDN offers some additional layer of anonymity/privacy that SDNers should take advantage of and respond courteously to avoid running into such problems

please let me know as well.

 

[ready2go2]

i'll PM you guys. although admittedly, my post sounded a lot harsher than need be.




yeah it makes sense that doing stupid stuff like maligning a school in its application thread is compelling enough to sink that application. it's no different from other social media. but i felt that SDN offers some additional layer of anonymity/privacy that SDNers should take advantage of and respond courteously to avoid running into such problems

I need the dirt too...

 

[Lawpy]

What did he do??

Dude,

please let me know as well.

I need the dirt too...

Done. Also, to stop derailing the thread, if anyone wants to know, just PM me. Thanks!