<p>I've heard some rumors that those in charge of admissions look at what you post on the internet, is this true? I have never posted anything obscene, so I don't have to worry, however it would be nice to know in case a friend tags me in some ridiculous post. </p>
<p>Also I was thinking of starting a youtube channel for music covers/advice, and maybe even parodies. Would this be looked down upon by med schools?</p>
<p>Thank you everyone :)
Your time is much appreciated.</p>
<p>Yes, adcomms sometimes do have an internet search conducted to see your public footprint. (And even private posting on things like Facebook, Twitter, etc.)</p>
<p>They are looking for inappropriate and unprofessional behaviors, or anything that would reflect negatively on the school or on the profession as a whole.</p>
<p>If you think your postings won’t veer into unprofessional/inappropriate, go ahead, but with the realization that the criteria for unprofessional behavior for physicians is much broader than it is for----say—college admission. </p>
<p>IOW, proceed with caution because whatever you post to the internet is there forever. Even long after you think you’ve deleted everything.</p>
<p>While I agree with the advice to proceed with caution, I harbor doubts that adcomms have a tool allowing them to see “private” (which I assume really means filtered-to-friends-only or secret group) FB activity. There’s some non-zero chance of exposure due to FB’s shifting morass of privacy settings, and a larger chance of exposure from “social engineering friending”, but if I post something to FB and set it as “only me,” the only people who see it besides me are the ones who hack my account or read over my shoulder.</p>
<p>I know Jenna marbles type videos would probably be considered unprofessional, but what else?</p>
<p>Facebook’s private postings really aren’t….Facebook changes its privacy setting rather capriciously and sells your private information to data miners. It appears that soon some"private" Facebook materials will be available to search engines.</p>
<p>[Facebook</a> privacy: Users should check these settings as new changes roll out - The Washington Post](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/facebook-privacy-users-should-check-these-settings-as-new-changes-roll-out/2013/10/11/4a3ef4e2-3274-11e3-89ae-16e186e117d8_story.html]Facebook”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/facebook-privacy-users-should-check-these-settings-as-new-changes-roll-out/2013/10/11/4a3ef4e2-3274-11e3-89ae-16e186e117d8_story.html)</p>
<p>Also the internet archive regularly crawls the WWW and stores webpage snapshots. So long as anyone has the original URL (yes, even of “me only pages”)–it’s retrievable</p>
<p>Potentially unprofessional?</p>
<p>Anything stridently & negatively political. (Like the XXX Party is ruining democracy in the US. Or Mayor Q is a crook and a liar.)</p>
<p>Anything racist, genderist, obscene (remember obscenity is in the eye of the beholder….), religionist, inflammatory. etc. </p>
<p>Anything that most individuals might find offensive–which could potentially include parodies. (Comedy is very tricky–and largely dependent upon the audience’s idiosyncractic response the the material.)</p>
<p>Anything negative about medicine as a profession. </p>
<p>Anything negative about individuals who are healthcare providers or may one day be healthcare providers. (You know, like that gunner in your OChem class you can’t stand.) Also potentially anything negative about about your past employers, past or current friends/acquaintances, current and past instructors at all levels. Anything that names names or is easily identifiable as a particular company, person or institution.</p>
<p>Anything that uses any kind of copyrighted material (articles, images, symbols, audio, video, some concepts/ideas) unless you have the express written consent of the the copyright holder or your use of the material fits into the fair use category. This means that most music covers are out–unless you have the permission of the copyright holder or/and have paid the copyright holder’s designated agent a licensing fee. Or the material is in the public domain.</p>
<p>See Fair Use :<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use</a></p>
<p>See Public Domain: <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain</a></p>
<p>Re-posting material [from other blogs or print or digital sources] is a copyright violation–again unless you have written permission from the original author.</p>
<p>Fanfiction and most homemade music videos that use images from other sources (like multiple 3 second video clips from a TV show or movie) are quite specifically copyright violations–and no amount of disclaimers are ever going to get around that fact.</p>
<p>I work with copyright issues each and every day on a professional level. The issues are confusing and often seemingly contradictory and/or arbitrary. It’s very, very easy to violate copyright without realizing you have done so. Tons of gray areas.</p>
<p>I don’t know how much internet sleuthing they do for med school admissions but everyone I know applying/who applied previously for residency had either deactivated facebook or drastically altered their name because it was a real concern that they would be looked up.</p>