Online Screening

[PreMedHopeful]

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Do Med schools screen applicants based on the internet like facebook, SDN, myspace and such.....

If so, isn't that an invasion of personal privacy....

 

[n618ft]

Do Med schools screen applicants based on the internet like facebook, SDN, myspace and such.....

If so, isn't that an invasion of personal privacy....

They've got better things to do with their time. 👍

 

[TopSecret]

They've got better things to do with their time. 👍

From what I hear department chairmen and residency directors often go on social networking sites for a little background check. I'm sure adcoms go on those sites to screen their applicants prior to interview invitations but probably not before secondaries.

 

[TooMuchResearch]

Do Med schools screen applicants based on the internet like facebook, SDN, myspace and such.....

If so, isn't that an invasion of personal privacy....

If the information is on Facebook or SDN, it's not private.

 

[Forthegood]

Do Med schools screen applicants based on the internet like facebook, SDN, myspace and such.....

If so, isn't that an invasion of personal privacy....

I have no clue about your question so I won't speculate.

What I would like to address is the bold above. The whole application is an invasion of privacy... that's kind of the point. ADCOMs want to see who you really are, not just the facade you practice in the mirror before your interview.

Do what everyone else does and take off any damning information before you apply. Seriously, it is not worth the risk, and all you will get here on SDN is speculation (unless LizzyM peeks her head in).

 

[Longshanks]

Do Med schools screen applicants based on the internet like facebook, SDN, myspace and such.....

If so, isn't that an invasion of personal privacy....

If its on the internet, its public space, and thus not invasion of privacy. There is nothing private about the internet, its the equivalent of being in the middle of a street fare. Now, if you're the guy or gal who's drunk and half naked making a fool of himself in a street fare, that isn't private space; same if you're the drunk half naked guy or gal on facebook/myspace.

 

[adeline]

This is why you need to:

1. be selective about what you post
2. lock it down anyway
3. be anon on other forums.

 

[sustentacular]

Do Med schools screen applicants based on the internet like facebook, SDN, myspace and such.....

If so, isn't that an invasion of personal privacy....

If you're worried about it you should adjust your privacy settings so that only your friends can view your profile.. I have mine set so that may name doesn't even come up in search results. But I also second what everyone else is saying about info you post on the internet being public.

 

[TopSecret]

A smart approach is to have two profiles. One for public viewing with adcoms as the intended viewers and another that is private and for personal friends. I know a lot of people who do this.

 

[NAVY DDS 2010]

Do Med schools screen applicants based on the internet like facebook, SDN, myspace and such.....

If so, isn't that an invasion of personal privacy....

Is someone starting to worry about what they have been posting lately?

Anything on the internet is fair game. Once you posted it on a public forum, you made it public, not private. By the way, adcom people do look at SDN. Do they try to link people, probably not. They just want to know what is being said these days about other schools and more importantly their school.

 

[Compass]

Just to let you know, private profiles are not guaranteed hidden from view by people who are not your friends. Certain schools, especially undergrad, have internet security/network specialists/other people who have UNHINDERED access to ALL of your information in the name of safety and to monitor such stuff as illegal drug uses. There is no way to confirm whether anyone has examined your account using one of these accounts, but they do exist... `

 

[Forthegood]

Just to let you know, private profiles are not guaranteed hidden from view by people who are not your friends. Certain schools, especially undergrad, have internet security/network specialists/other people who have UNHINDERED access to ALL of your information in the name of safety and to monitor such stuff as illegal drug uses. There is no way to confirm whether anyone has examined your account using one of these accounts, but they do exist... `

Go on... who are these people...

 

[Looking Glass]

Just to let you know, private profiles are not guaranteed hidden from view by people who are not your friends. Certain schools, especially undergrad, have internet security/network specialists/other people who have UNHINDERED access to ALL of your information in the name of safety and to monitor such stuff as illegal drug uses. There is no way to confirm whether anyone has examined your account using one of these accounts, but they do exist... `

I don't think they're going to spend their time sitting in the IT department wading through thousands of insipid Facebook profiles unless they really have nothing else to do or someone starts a fire (See http://www.theonion.com/content/video/police_slog_through_40_000).

Also, if they get caught doing this, they'd have one heck of a lawsuit on their hands for privacy invasion.

 

[movax]

... especially undergrad, have internet security/network specialists/other people who have UNHINDERED access to ALL of your information in the name of safety and to monitor such stuff as illegal drug uses. There is no way to confirm whether anyone has examined your account using one of these accounts, but they do exist...

This is true.

 

[Forthegood]

This is true.

Excellent post.

 

[movax]

Excellent post.

I didn't want to say more to freak folks out, but rest assured there are quiet bots that troll undergrad FB networks for the given reason in threads.

For great examples of Facebook fail: www.lamebook.com