<p>When I was still considering pre-law I learned that law school admission officers, like employers, often browsed through the internet (including message boards) looking for possible negative behavior exhibited by potential candidates to determine whether to give them the shoe.</p>
<p>Is this generally the same case for architecture grad school admission officers? I would like to hear verdicts from current Arch grad admission officers or from people who have done the job in the past. Should I delete any goofy or provocative stuff I have online that could potentially get me the boot, or do they mostly not care / not check?</p>
<p>I know that employers look for negative as well as positive information. Admissions reps could very well do so also. It won’t be stated anywhere as part of policy, but it’s done every day. And this goes for any profession. </p>
<p>Delete any suspect photos now. This is not a gray issue with points to discuss.</p>
<p>I don’t believe I have any suspect photos that would give me the boot.</p>
<p>I know that employers and admissions officers look for this kind of stuff from time to time, but to what degree do they tend to do this if they actually do this? Would they search for your real name and just quickly browse through the first few links that pop up? Or would they try to discover all of your many aliases and try to read through every single thing you have ever posted online, etc.? Surely they don’t have THAT much time on their hands and there would be a limit. It would also seemingly differ for the program and/or school. For some particular admission committees, it seems they barely spend any time looking for this kind of stuff online:</p>
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<p>I.e. “we didn’t give a crap and certainly didn’t waste our time stalking others”</p>
<p>When we hire folks we do not look for online stuff; we do a background check and a drug test. However it has amazed me to see some of the stuff people send when applying for a job; resumes with e-mail addresses such as ‘<a href=“mailto:easychick@”>easychick@</a>… or <a href=“mailto:bongobob@”>bongobob@</a>…’, and then I have called contact numbers provided on resumes and gotten recording machines with messages such as ‘we must be too stoned to answer the phone, leave a message…’ So just make sure you don’t overlook these kinds of items.</p>
<p>schiesser, You are not gonna get any information specific to arch grad school admission officers. I think the rule of thumb applies to anyone going into higher education and the professional job market. Your social site should have privacy settings where only your friends that you invite can view it. You also should not have any photos or unscrupulous stuff out there associated with your name. As far as alias names you use on message boards, that would be harder to discover and no, they don’t have time to search all that. But if you are serious about entering professional school and a professional career after that, you need to be aware of what you do have online. You also should use an email address that sounds professional (such as your name). This is not something where you take a chance. I am not an admissions officer. I do have a kid in Arch grad school. Her FB page has privacy settings and she doesn’t have anything remotely inappropriate about herself online. Even in my own line of work as a college counselor, I often google students’ names. Thankfully when I google my own kids, there are positive articles about them online that put them in a good light and nothing that is inappropriate. One who is not friends with them cannot view their FB page either.</p>
mathmom, what’s your verdict?</p>