<p>Someone told my son this and we both found it surprising...not sure if its an urban myth or true. He told me son that plenty of admissions people go onto this site, to check the pulse of what is going out there with future candidates,etc.............does anyone know if this is the case? I would think if so, its a reminder to be vigilent in how you represent yourself, giving out your name, posting your essays,etc...........we were also told that they go onto facebook and can easily open an account and get a birds eye view into some of the students, again I have no idea if this is true though it seems like a sure fire way to know what a kid is really all about. It just also shows that you indeed have to be cautious when on the web, as you are more exposed than you realize.:)</p>
<p>I know that there is at least one haha sbuadmissions is an admissions officer at Stony Brook University. Seems like he answers questions and gives advice. How exactly would they be able to judge a person on the web if they don't have their name though?</p>
<p>I also have heard that many check myspace or facebook to see what a prospective student can be like.</p>
<p>That's why I tell my children not to throw caution to the web!</p>
<p>Scary, isn't it?</p>
<p>VERY! My sons friend whose mom is somewhat of a know it all, but she really does seem to get her info from a variety of sources:) was the one who told us that, that there are a number of admissions reps from various schools where they "case" the site, I am sure with good intentions but nevertheless it does remind you to be careful about what you say, reveal and share. Ditto for facebook which according to the little I have seen can be far more scathing.....glad my son rarely goes on either!</p>
<p>College confidential offers not only a wide source of information, but they also have a large # of subject matter experts in various fields. Not only do admissions officers read the site, some are actual posters and contribute to the discussion. </p>
<p>Like wdrmhbs mentioned, there is a rep from stonybrook who does contribute to discussions on CC, Some of the other college reps include: MIT (admissions & FA both post to this site) JHU, Bowdoin, Tufts (2), University of Chicago, Colby, student rep from Caltech, and a few adofficers who do not disclose their school's affiliation (sorry if I missed you and did not give you a shout). Michelle Hernandez also reads and posts to the parents forum. </p>
<p>There are also a number of parents/posters who work in various capacities at colleges and universities who also offer their insight should a question arise in their area of expertise in addition to college advisors, GC's, alumni interviewers, professors, News Editors (You would be suprised at the number of articles where some of the CC discussions show up at). The world may be a big place but the internet is shrinking the world every day.</p>
<p>I know the admissions reps at my daughter's college read the posts occasionally, but none are posters.</p>
<p>I'm an admission officer at the University of Richmond and a regular reader of the UR board. I've found that people post questions on CC that would be easily answered if they'd pick up the phone and give us a call or drop us an e-mail. But other students try to answer and sometimes get it wrong. I don't get involved in the commentary about Richmond--people are entitled to their opinions even if they are negative about my school. But I do try to answer questions about the process or things that are more factual in nature. I've had times when I've been able to sort out problems for families because I saw the post on here and asked them to contact me so we could sort it out privately. So I hope that my participation is not intrusive but instead helpful, and there has been some student feedback to make me feel good about being available to readers of the forum. If you don't tell me who you are, chances are very good that I'll never figure it out. Nonetheless, you are all right that students should learn to be cautious about the things they post on-line anywhere. I have never looked a student up on Facebook unless they friended me and I've never looked at a student's website unless they gave me the URL and said that working on it was among their primary extracurricular activities. I don't have time to go out looking for students to make mistakes--I have way too much work to do for that and I think most admission officers are in the same situation. </p>
<p>Admission people are generally nice people (I know I'm biased). We aren't out to get anyone. Most of us are motivated by a sincere desire to help students make good college choices and having good information facilitates that process. There are some unfortunate realities about the selection process that can be hurtful, but for most students there really are developmental lessons to be learned through this process that help them be more well prepared for college. Disappointment is a part of life and this is one of the places where some students begin to learn those lessons for good or for bad. </p>
<p>UR Admissions</p>
<p>Yeah- admissionsdaniel on the jhu board is pretty active.</p>
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I don't get involved in the commentary about Richmond--people are entitled to their opinions even if they are negative about my school.
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</p>
<p>That's a really professional attitude and a credit to your college. </p>
<p>To answer the OP's question, yes, for every admission representative who identifies as such on this board, there are quite a few others who silently lurk. It's ALWAYS that way on any online discussion forum--most users lurk and never post. You should assume that anything you post here might be read by any admission officer who will act on your application.</p>
<p>We know that in addition to our College Rep members who are identified as such, we do get plenty of lurkers. Mostly, I'd say, they are here to see what people are saying about their school and get a general sense of the state of mind of applicants.</p>
<p>It's a lot less likely that they are here on the off-chance that they will track down some of their 20K applicants among CC members.</p>