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<p>You mean “subconsciously?” Yes, that’s always a possibility, but get used to it. For any position where you’ll actually get paid for the work you produce, whether in academia or in another professional field, you will be interviewed face to face. Welcome to life.</p>
<p>That’s true, Flowerhead. And I didn’t mean to portray myself as combative like the other poster. Still, I think that possibility will stem from having pleasant bone structure or makeup or clear skin or perhaps from looking like the reader’s daughter’s creepy boyfriend who stole his princess away, not from the student’s effort to send a pic and give a sincere smile. </p>
<p>Life is Not fair, and it happens face to face. But if admissions attempted to simulate the “real world” then we might as well judge openly by pictures, ask for height and weight, eliminate all financial aid. Even a corporation that says it doesn’t care about such things will certainly also not care if one plays the flute, is co-captain of the tennis team, goes to church, volunteers, went to mock UN, etc.</p>
<p>Ultimately though, it’s not a big deal, and I doubt it will actually derail many college aspirations.</p>
<p>I’m an international applicant (Singapore), and George Washington University requested a photocopy of my passport bio. As a safety measure I did it for all the schools I applied to.</p>
<p>And then I realised my passport photo is really, really bad. I wasn’t allowed to smile, I looked gloomy and tired and basically very uninteresting!</p>
<p>I could kill for a face-to-face interview right now. I hope my essays and recs do the job of erasing that visual aid’s impression. I don’t know if I’m just being silly, but I’m actually very worried about this.</p>
<p>Honestly, I hardly care about the morality of the issue. I’m more interested in if people actually do it or not, and whether it might be a good idea to include a picture. With that said, I haven’t got a lot of results here. Do a lot of people do this?</p>
<p>@flowerhead- Was there any correlation between those that submitted pictures and those accepted? Did you witness any instances of borderline applicants who otherwise wouldn’t have made the cut, but included a particularly good picture (not the most beautiful, but perhaps a very genuine smile or an inspiring candid photo from community service, etc) and was accepted? Did you feel any remorse denying applicants with great, ernest pictures but subpar stats because you had made a more “personal” connection with them?</p>
<p>If requested include one, if not - do not.</p>
<p>alf56 - BINGO! (in other words, just follow directions)</p>
<ol>
<li>flowerhead wins</li>
<li>the pictures might subconsciously help the applicant if he/she is more attractive than the less attractive applicants</li>
<li>putting a picture in an application will make yourself more memorable and give the applications officers somebody to associate with, which is in most cases a good thing</li>
</ol>
<p>What if the inclusion is optional? E.g., as in the Georgetown application?</p>