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MB333999

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Okay so... i've got some rather vulgar/crazy pictures and videos from parties and other things on facebook.. my settings are set so that only friends can view them but im just scared that med schools will get a peak somehow.. do u think I should take them down before applying in the next cycle or atleast untag myself??
 
During my cycle I'm planning on deactivating facebook.
 
yea i suppose its not worth the risk, my parents will be happy i final take some of them down :laugh:
 
Personally, I wouldn't worry about it if your privacy settings are set to "friends only" and your profile is not searchable by google.
 
I made mine private for the application cycle. I left the keg stand/beer bong pictures up and tagged. If a school chose not to interview me based on those pictures I probably wouldn't want to go there anyway.
 
hm alright, i also dont have my full last named spelled out, only the first initial so pretty doubtful they would find me anyway.. rite...
 
hm alright, i also dont have my full last named spelled out, only the first initial so pretty doubtful they would find me anyway.. rite...

If your profile is not searchable by google, they won't find out about it that way. If they actively search facebook for it, they might find your profile, but if your privacy settings are turned up they'll only be able to see your profile picture.
 
The only problem with deactivating is that at least 50% of your 300+ friends that you don't talk to frequently will think you deleted them from their friends list.

Wouldn't want any cold blood like that lol
 
I dont know....it appears it would be private but someone could show them pics to get at you....etc...

I rather just not have anything on FB I would not show my family.

I made my info page a joke and changed it after one of our professors saw something by being a friend of a friend....

that student is now suspended for a yr....

not worth it even if the chance is near zero.....🙂
 
The only problem with deactivating is that at least 50% of your 300+ friends that you don't talk to frequently will think you deleted them from their friends list.

Wouldn't want any cold blood like that lol

Plus if you deactivate, how are you going to chat with hot babes online all day??
 
I dont know....it appears it would be private but someone could show them pics to get at you....etc...

I rather just not have anything on FB I would not show my family.

I made my info page a joke and changed it after one of our professors saw something by being a friend of a friend....

that student is now suspended for a yr....

not worth it even if the chance is near zero.....🙂

Agreed.
 
I am going to take down my facebook when I apply. My friend got fired from her job about something on her facebook, so I am not going to take any chances.

My sister says that don't put anything out that you would want your boss and your secret crush knowing.
 
I am who I am. I urge all adcoms to view my Fb, view my SDn, view whatever they want of me. And to accept me for who I am, my abilities, my potential, and also my flaws. And believe that I am a constant work in progress, always trying to become a better... human being 😀
 
That being said, I dont engage in gatherings with the aim of going into a drunken monkey-like stupor...
 
You're missing out.

Indeed.

As for me, when I start applying. I'm going to untag the ones where I'm doing anything "crazy". I'm 21, so I don't feel like pictures of me drinking are a big deal... I just won't have anything illegal up. Plus, my profile is completely private from non-friends. I also don't friend people I don't know.
 
I have nothing on my facebook that I'd be worried about anyone seeing. but I'm still very private. However, I do have a friend who changed his facebook name to something completely different for the cycle. He just changed it back when he got accepted into his top choice 🙂
 
thx for the replies guys 🙂
 
I dont know....it appears it would be private but someone could show them pics to get at you....etc...

I rather just not have anything on FB I would not show my family.

I made my info page a joke and changed it after one of our professors saw something by being a friend of a friend....

that student is now suspended for a yr....

not worth it even if the chance is near zero.....🙂

This can be changed in the privacy settings.
 
You guys are insane lol

Paranoia paranoia everybody's coming to get me... :scared:

People get fired from jobs because they lie and then facebook catches them. If you just dont lie about crap and be yourself, no one should be shocked by what they see on your facebook. If you feel the need to hide something on facebook you shouldn't have it up there anyway and your probably not comfortable being yourself in the first place.

That being said, I would bet money adcoms or someone related at least glances at facebook type stuff.
 
I have the box unchecked for allowing search engines to locate my profile... but I pop right up when searching my name on Google. :lame:

It's all private though besides the main profile pic and I could careless if anyone sees what I look like.
 
Three points.

I believe that if an adcom really wanted pictures of you from facebook they wouldn't have too much trouble. If any of your friends have public profiles they can check out their profiles and find pictures of you within their pictures. A lot of work for one person, though.

For the people who are like, "if they don't want me because of who I am I wouldn't want to go to their school anyway," that's really kind of... interesting, honestly. To say that anyone who doesn't like what you do you don't want to associate with is counterintuitive to me. But, to each his own. Either way, I would argue that (almost) any professional school, upon witnessing enough inappropriate content featuring one of their applicants in a public forum, would not accept them.

As such, when/if I end up applying, I'll deactivate my profile or change my name. Deactivating isn't a problem because I keep in contact with most people outside of facebook more than in facebook anyway 🙂

And no drunken stupors for me either 🙂
 
Or you could share a name with a well-known NCAA basketball player and have your name buried deep down in search results like me, lol
 
Three points.

1. I believe that if an adcom really wanted pictures of you from facebook they wouldn't have too much trouble. If any of your friends have public profiles they can check out their profiles and find pictures of you within their pictures. A lot of work for one person, though.

2. For the people who are like, "if they don't want me because of who I am I wouldn't want to go to their school anyway," that's really kind of... interesting, honestly. To say that anyone who doesn't like what you do you don't want to associate with is counterintuitive to me. But, to each his own. Either way, I would argue that (almost) any professional school, upon witnessing enough inappropriate content featuring one of their applicants in a public forum, would not accept them.

3. As such, when/if I end up applying, I'll deactivate my profile or change my name. Deactivating isn't a problem because I keep in contact with most people outside of facebook more than in facebook anyway 🙂

And no drunken stupors for me either 🙂

Re: 1. They would first need access to my list of friends.
 
Or you could share a name with a well-known NCAA basketball player and have your name buried deep down in search results like me, lol

and i only thought you shared your name with a mexican robot. i guess i dont know much about the NCAA 🙂

i share my name with exactly one other person. i wonder if she is aware of my existence as i am of hers . . . in any case she runs cross country so if anyone were to google me, they might think i was more athletic than i really am, which is pretty awesome. that is, if they don't notice she is way younger and lives in another state. i guess its good for both of us because if someone googles her they might think she did all the art that i did. collectively we an artistic athlete.
 
and i only thought you shared your name with a mexican robot. i guess i dont know much about the NCAA 🙂

i share my name with exactly one other person. i wonder if she is aware of my existence as i am of hers . . . in any case she runs cross country so if anyone were to google me, they might think i was more athletic than i really am, which is pretty awesome. that is, if they don't notice she is way younger and lives in another state. i guess its good for both of us because if someone googles her they might think she did all the art that i did. collectively we an artistic athlete.

That's pretty awesome. The only other person who shares the same name as me AND shows up in google results was a high school newspaper editor who's now in college. Kind of hope she becomes a famous journalist or something - especially since VR was my lowest section. 😀
 
Don't know if this happens for med schools, but I've heard horror stories from people applying to jobs at large consulting or Ibanking firms

Even if you have your profile set to "friends only," if you have a lot of friends theres a decent chance there will be one at that large firm your applying to, and even though it sounds sketchy and unethical, they ask people at the firm if they know applicant X, tell them to show the recruiters your profile, and then factor what they see into their decision.

I'm not too sure how widespread that is or if it occurs in med schools (its easier for me to imagine a big Ibanking firm doing something sleazy like that than a medschool adcom), but its something to think about. Personally, I set mine to friends only, but also detagged any pictures with alcohol beyond a glass of wine at dinner or something.
 
and i only thought you shared your name with a mexican robot. i guess i dont know much about the NCAA 🙂

i share my name with exactly one other person. i wonder if she is aware of my existence as i am of hers . . . in any case she runs cross country so if anyone were to google me, they might think i was more athletic than i really am, which is pretty awesome. that is, if they don't notice she is way younger and lives in another state. i guess its good for both of us because if someone googles her they might think she did all the art that i did. collectively we an artistic athlete.

:laugh: I like that a lot.

According to google, I'm a dentist in Texas and a med student in CA, among others. Looks like my name makes me destined for success!

Edit: Holy canoli, I'm also a DO in Colorado.
 
I made mine private for the application cycle. I left the keg stand/beer bong pictures up and tagged. If a school chose not to interview me based on those pictures I probably wouldn't want to go there anyway.

complete bs
 
Re: 1. They would first need access to my list of friends.

He's got a point, actually. Anyone searching facebook will have access to your list of friends. I don't see a way to make that private. Still, the chances are very small that someone will look through all of your friends' photos in an attempt to "incriminate" you.
 
Perhaps I am, but i do not like being a drunken monkey. And not just for aesthetic reasons. I find much greater joy in going out with a bunch of friends for dinner, or maybe a drink or two, or just hanging out. Being in a drunken monkey state inhibits me from maximizing my enjoyment levels 🙂
 
Okay so... i've got some rather vulgar/crazy pictures and videos from parties and other things on facebook.. my settings are set so that only friends can view them but im just scared that med schools will get a peak somehow.. do u think I should take them down before applying in the next cycle or atleast untag myself??

I'm leaving my FB profile the way it is, but I'm careful to remove anything I wouldn't want a future employer or med school to see. I untag myself from any pictures in which I look like I've been partying, even if I was sober and it was completely innocent. I also remove wall posts with curse words or suggestive/obnoxious statements. My privacy settings are set to only show my profile to friends, but you never know who knows who.

FB is a social networking site, so there's no need to treat it like a purely professional thing. But you shouldn't leave anything on there that you think potential employers would question. Remove pictures in which you're drunk or in the presence of questionable paraphernalia, but don't worry about looking silly hanging out with your friends or family.

FB can actually be your ally. I've been told by my friends who are in management positions that they do search applicants on google. When they find a FB profile that reflects well on an applicant, it works really well in their favor. Think of it this way--if you found your dream job or perfect med school, wouldn't you want those making decisions to know that you're a great friend and aunt/uncle? FB can actually be a tool to show everyone that you're respected and well-liked. That's the flip-side of the question...
 
FB can actually be your ally. I've been told by my friends who are in management positions that they do search applicants on google. When they find a FB profile that reflects well on an applicant, it works really well in their favor. Think of it this way--if you found your dream job or perfect med school, wouldn't you want those making decisions to know that you're a great friend and aunt/uncle? FB can actually be a tool to show everyone that you're respected and well-liked. That's the flip-side of the question...

lol wat
might as well update your myspace while you're at it
 
I deactivated my Facebook about three months ago (not for interviews, just because I had an epitome and realized the whole thing is rather stupid), and it was a great thing to do.

If you have half a brain, you'll try and distance yourself as much as possible from that crap.
 
I deactivated my Facebook about three months ago (not for interviews, just because I had an epitome and realized the whole thing is rather stupid), and it was a great thing to do.

If you have half a brain, you'll try and distance yourself as much as possible from that crap.

Thankfully I don't have half a brain - I have a full brain! So I don't distance myself :laugh:

I really like the point made above about facebook potentially being a positive influence. For me it wouldn't work because I have too many sexual innuendos on there. But for the christian upper class youth (just for the connotations it implies, not for the reality of the situation... because people seem to take things so literally here), it just might work 😉 In reality, it could be helpful to make your main facebook by a different name than create a different facebook for professional and familial relations. But that seems like an awful lot of work 🙂 Intriguing point, though.
 
Also, if you're planning to use facebook as a networking tool (as I definitely am), and plan on friending coworkers or even your medschool friends, who will eventually be your colleagues, do you really want them to see you as a potentially irresponsible person?

Not that I think drunken stupors are irresponsible per se, but it might be hard for some 40+ year olds to think of a 30's-something colleague as professionally competent when their profile picture includes their body weight in booze.
 
He's got a point, actually. Anyone searching facebook will have access to your list of friends. I don't see a way to make that private. Still, the chances are very small that someone will look through all of your friends' photos in an attempt to "incriminate" you.

There used to be a setting to make that private or friends only, I can't find that anymore. Now though if you go privacy settings, and then search, you can set who is able to search for you and if you want to be included in search engines. I have no problem with friends and my networks searching for me, and I have everything set to friends only or private so they can't see my profile anyway.

Next to the option about public search results, there is a small link called 'preview' where you can see what your profile looks like if someone did find it on say Google. These people can't see your friends list if your profile is friends only or private, but they can see eight random people you are 'friends' with and what pages you're a 'fan of'.
 
There used to be a setting to make that private or friends only, I can't find that anymore. Now though if you go privacy settings, and then search, you can set who is able to search for you and if you want to be included in search engines. I have no problem with friends and my networks searching for me, and I have everything set to friends only or private so they can't see my profile anyway.

Next to the option about public search results, there is a small link called 'preview' where you can see what your profile looks like if someone did find it on say Google. These people can't see your friends list if your profile is friends only or private, but they can see eight random people you are 'friends' with and what pages you're a 'fan of'.

Yeah, this is what I was wondering about. Can they only see the 8 random people, or can they look through everybody?
 
Alright, so it looks like if you search for a random person through FB, you can see their entire friends list. However, there is a setting to make your profile unsearchable by google AND by random people on FB. I'm definitely satisfied with that. 👍
 
I'm pretty sure there's a way to make it so that people you aren't friends with can't see your list of friends. I've come across a lot of profiles where you can't see who they're friends with.
 
Yeah, this is what I was wondering about. Can they only see the 8 random people, or can they look through everybody?


If you go on your profile page and look at the box with your friends list, on the top right hand corner there is an edit button. There you can make your friends list private.

I was trying to figure out how to do it just last week. I was looking through settings and all that other stuff -- took awhile to figure out how.
 
Oh the joys of a private profile that only friends can see AND the lovely limited profile option (for family and the professional types on my list).

I'll probably go through and tone down some of my albums (maybe even untag some pics)...wouldn't want my new classmates making snap judgments about me based off fb...
 
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