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What do schools know about our posts?

tkoparenttkoparent 439 replies10 threads Member
in Parents Forum
I was just writing another positive post about my son's school and it reminded me of a question I'd been thinking about. CC is a pretty powerful forum, and the schools must certainly want to know what we are saying about them here. They could just use the search function, I suppose, but that function doesn't necessarily work all that well in capturing references that are buried in the body of a message. I wonder whether CC or its parent offer some sort of clipping service - anybody know? There must be monetization going on somewhere. (Not that it's a bad thing, I'm just curious.)
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Replies to: What do schools know about our posts?

  • RichInPittRichInPitt 2281 replies36 threads Senior Member
    I don’t think it would a school more than an hour a day to find everything about them just by browsing. I wouldn’t be surprised if some have an intern or low level staff person responsible for periodically checking in.
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  • kiddiekiddie 3847 replies239 threads Senior Member
    Back a long time ago (when my daughter HS 2012 was applying), a few schools had an adcom who was active on their college's page. They clearly represented themselves as such. They were helpful answering questions about the school (what programs are offered, deadlines, requirements, etc.). Tufts comes to mind as one. At the time, that adcom also wrote an admissions blog on the school's website. Don't know if any schools still do this.
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  • skieuropeskieurope 40845 replies7592 threads Super Moderator
    edited February 21
    kiddie wrote: »
    Don't know if any schools still do this.

    MIT, UVa, UChicago, JMU, Pitt among several others. And all schools are welcome to have a vetted rep answer questions / provide info.
    edited February 21
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  • mommdcmommdc 11906 replies31 threads Senior Member
    When students list very specific scores, grades, EC activities they can identify themselves on this public forum.
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  • LindagafLindagaf 10848 replies588 threads Super Moderator
    edited February 21
    There are thousands of posts commented on every day here on CC. I’m sure there are reps for all kinds of schools who use this site to see what people say about them. But I don’t see why it matters. And I guess there is no such thing as bad publicity, but are colleges actually making money from this site? Maybe the ones who advertise do, but otherwise, I’m guessing any financial benefits are indirect. I.e., people say very positive or negative things about a school which helps boost apps, or the opposite.

    FWIW, other professionals in the higher education industry also come to this site. An ACT representative made a statement on the long running thread about being wrongly accused of cheating. They claimed in that post it will be their one and only statement on the issue, but you can bet they are still reading it.
    edited February 21
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  • greenbuttongreenbutton 2771 replies125 threads Senior Member
    I think it is entirely likely that schools have someone tasked with browsing their forum , if only to see where the miscommunications are, and what weird rumors and perceptions are out there.
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