<p>The reason I ask is, students offer up a lot of information and in some cases (two recent threads) their circumstances are so unique that anyone reading that student's app would instantly recognize them. The student will ask for advice on what information to put in or leave out of the application, or their essay. Sometimes I cringe while reading the things that are posted. The student probably feels anonymous on this internet forum, but they would leap out at someone reading the application. I want to add to their thread, "You have posted too much personal information" but I am afraid that would only freak them out, cause paranoia and would not be a constructive addition to their thread. So if you tell me that admissions officers are too busy reading apps to troll this forum I will feel much better! :) I am sure there are dozens of cases where an applicant's identity could be guessed at, or discovered with a little detective work. I'm not even thinkng about that. The examples I am referring to are very obvious.</p>
<p>So kids, if you are a 7 foot tall albino, and you wrote a moving essay about how it feels to be a pale giant among Lilliputians, don't post the details of your criminal record and ask if you should include that information in your app!</p>
<p>(I know there are warnings posted at the top of some of the forums, but nobody reads those!!!)</p>
<p>Of course adcoms frequent these forums. That's just common sense. Parents, principalws, guidance counselors, one's worst enemy, alumni interviewers -- all kinds of people frequent this forum. </p>
<p>This doesn't particularly seem worrisome: "The student will ask for advice on what information to put in or leave out of the application, or their essay. " Adcoms know that students talk about things like this, and I doubt that it's a big deal.</p>
<p>What would seem problematic would be when students make fun of adcoms, interviewers at colleges where the students want to go, when students start concocting lies for their applications, and when students start discussing plans to back out of ED for flimsy reasons. There was a situation last year in which a guy discussed his plans to back out of ED in such detail that I would bet that the adcoms became aware of it because his situation was so unusual and he had given so many identifying details.</p>
<p>I am sure there are adcoms who frequent the forum. It is a COLLEGE information forum after all. And any time anyone posts anything on any public forum, it is a risk. Some of the stuff I see in Live journal and few of these other blogs that kids think are their private clubs, makes my skin crawl.</p>
<p>I always assume EVERYONE who knows me, or might want to know me for nefarious purposes, reads my online messages. As a parent posting here on CC, I try simply to be real (in my own mind) about my children's someday applications to college. If they pursue their passions, they may be too busy to post much here, and I can simply pass on information to them as they ask questions (if they ask ;) ) about where to apply. Maybe no admissions officer will see any communications from my children here, but I definitely assume admissions officers read these posts. </p>
<p>Far be it from me to say or do something that would hose my children's chances to gain admission at a college suitable for them. But, yeah, teaching my children basic honesty, kindness, civility, and honesty is my job even if they never apply to college, so I do look over my oldest son's shoulder sometimes when he is writing email or posting in a certain online forum that fits his interests. I do try to remind my son, and will eventually remind his younger siblings, that a lot of people read what he posts online, and he can't be sure what they all think of it. As he grows older, he'll have to learn for himself what kind of mature behavior makes a good impression on other adults. (I was very gratified to read in today's mail his course evaluation from his math course teacher. I guess he does behave well when out of my view.) </p>
<p>BTW, I royally freaked out a girl in my town, whose younger sister I know, when I mentioned to her on our first meeting that I had seen some of her CC posts. I later apologized to her publicly here for startling her that way. Marite kind of startled me when she mentioned that she "knew" me from elsewhere, because she and I both used different online names in the place where we "met." We just have to get used to the idea that lurkers might identify us. I'll try not to stalk any of you, and you would be kind not to stalk me :) but we can't control the behavior of third parties who read this forum.</p>
<p>I am sure college admissions officers frequent the forums, but I don't think it is reasonable for them to place much weight on what is said here. Even if they have the person "pegged", many people act differently on the forum than they would in real life - i.e. making fun of interviewers...I think it's more of a comic relief thing than anything else...I wouldn't take it to heart as an admissions officer. Plus, you never know who actually wrote what they did. Maybe the applicant's sibling, parent, or friend wrote it. You just can't take people too seriously on here!</p>
<p>I will also add that it is my belief that admissions officers are far to busy to investigate the postings of certain people around here. Any time I am in an admissions office, the officers are always incredibly busy - and I doubt they are hanging out on CC :) Plus, with the controversies with Princeton hacking in to another school's database and things of this nature, I don't think any college would want to jeopardize it's credibility by making a decision based on what they read on a forum.</p>
<p>"i would totally freak if a parent said she frequented these boards and actually recognized me. "</p>
<p>That's why I didn't tell the Harvard applicant from S's school that I had seen him and his stats on this board. That's also why I didn't tell the Harvard applicant whom I interviewed last year, that I had met him here. I also didn't tell a girl whom I know fairly well IRL that I have seen her on another college board.</p>
<p>I imagine there are people here who know me IRL, but haven't bothered to mention that to me. That's life.</p>
<p>my regional admissions officer at Uchicago says she has lurked on CC, so yes i guess some of them do it. CC allows AOs to lurk, but howcome the princeton review forum banned a brown university AO and warned future AOs against lurking/posting?
i don't think they can really hold the information we post on here against us because what we say on here is not official and AOs can never be too sure.</p>
<p>I have seen things posted on CC that if I were an AO I would certainly feel worth 15 minutes of my time to match up the application to the post, as overburdened as I was.</p>
<p>I am somewhat cautious in what I post but I know that I have been ID'd IRL by another poster at least once. </p>
<p>Best policy is not to post anything you wouldn't mind seeing with full attribution on the front page of the New York Times.</p>
<p>I think it is very likely that admissions officers peruse CC, esp. the posts pertaining to their particular colleges, and the individual college forum of whichever college they may be affiliated with.</p>
<p>Do you think that the admission officers actually use info found on this site to influence their admission decisions? I just can't imagine an AO sitting around discussing an applicant, and then citing a post on CC as the reason for rejecting him/her. </p>
<p>I guess, before posting, one just has to ask himself whether the possible great advice given on these boards negates the possible risk of being "identifiable" to admission officers.</p>
<p>"Do you think that the admission officers actually use info found on this site to influence their admission decisions? "</p>
<p>In most cases, the answer would be "no" because most posters aren't saying anything that would hurt or help their admissions chances. Most people are simply getting the kind of advice that adcoms know that everyone who's taking the app process seriously would be trying to get. </p>
<p>I also doubt that adcoms come on this site to try to find out their applicants' secrets. I think that adcoms probably come here to look out of genuine curiosity about how students handle and perceive the application process.</p>
<p>I think that behaviors here could influence adcoms negatively when people are very identifiable and are discussing things that are unethical or are just plain rude. An adcom who recognizes a student whom they have interviewed, and who sees the student describing the college and interview in disparaging terms is not likely to go out of their way to help the student get admitted. </p>
<p>An adcom who sees a student saying racist, sexist or downright obnoxious things to other posters isn't likely to vote for an acceptance, no matter how stellar the student's stats and ECs are.</p>
<p>Certainly an adcom who sees a student posting about doing unethical things (such as when students ask people to do their homework or when students ask how much lying they can get away on their applications or when students concoct excuses here to back out of ED acceptances) is not likely to want that kind of student in their college.</p>
<p>I do see a danger to the applicants ,from their posts and ours.Their statistics and life stories are unique, and coupled with published EC's could easily become an online fingerprint. I have thought before that at smaller schools, self-selecting schools especially, that it would be quite easy and not very time consuming for an industrious Adcom to devise a simple onlne fingerprint program. </p>
<p>Let's make it as simple as possible. Students or parents who mention their school, let's say Rose Hulman, as a school they have applied to or are likely to apply to are flagged. Data is gathered by search function and then they "match up" that data to application data as it comes into their office. The program uses the identifiers to match up similarities like they do on fingerprints. Seemingly random, rather innocuous data becomes the swirls and hooks that the program uses to narrow the choices down. For example -a female basketball player from a rural Texas public school , whose math is higher than her verbal, who lives and works part-time on a ranch. My kid is the ONLY kid who is going to apply at Rose next year that has those "identifiers". Guaranteed. And for those who are thinking ,"I didn't give up much data about MY kid". Do a search and see .It's not the specificity that does it. We all give out a little bit from time to time.We've all told something. And I didn't even bring into play her class rank or test scores or summer programs attended much less her high school's name or her ethnicity. At that point I might as well sign every post with her name.</p>
<p>As usual, I agree with TheDad. If you don't want to turn on the news and see a picture of your kid's shining face behind the anchor , don't post it.</p>
<p>Now I'm hooked on this .LOL. (Better to get it all out now. Please bear with me. All of my figures are wag's BTW.Too lazy to look them up.) Let's say D is thinking about Dartmouth. Let's say 10,000 applications. How many from females? 5,000. How many females from Texas? 200. How many Texas females from non-urban zip codes? 60. How many non-urban female Texans with math significantly higher than verbal? 20. How many non-urban female Texans with math scores significantly higher than verbal live on a ranch? 2. How many non-urban female Texans live on a ranch with math scores higher than verbal played varsity basketball? Bingo. Damn, this is a lot easier than I thought. Glad I knew that it would come to this before I ever posted a word.</p>
<p>Look, folks-I'm not trying to make anyone paranoid but everyone has given up something. Some of us are veritable gold mines. Like me. I guess I felt and still feel that I have to give out some data to gather the information I think I need. It's a trade-off. If I called the schools I'd give out even more. Sample- I've got some questions about summer programs? Well,yes sir. What can I tell you about it? Well, right at the get-go, just how much is it? We are broker than a stepped on light bulb. Can we send you a brochure on our summer program "The Religious Implications of Macrame' in the Developing World " ? Why yes,sir. That would be great. She likes all kinda Eye-talian food. 'Specially Pizza and she is a bit Church-y. And how old is your student? Uhhh, she's a junior. Darn, I mean -"it's" a junior. What's "it's" name? I'd rather not say. You know, privacy and all. Where should I send the brochure? Send it to me -Jeff Foxworthy, 102 Redneck, Pool Hall ,Alabama 56345. (Yeah. That would be a LOT better. LOL.)</p>