Social Media and Applications How-To?

Corban S.

Hey there, folks! As I'm finally gearing up to send out my applications (fingers crossed!), I'd like some quick info on how to handle my social medias. Things like inappropriate pictures aren't a problem for me, but I was wondering about other small things which I ought to be showing/am better off leaving hidden or set to private.

Hopefully many 7sagers could benefit from this as well. For a couple specific questions to get things kicked off: I have a twitter, but I almost never tweet. When I do, it's almost always sports related as I'm a huge college football fan. There's no profanity or anything like that which would make it inappropriate, though. Keep it set to private? I'm about to graduate with my undergrad and I'm also engaged. Is this some info that I should display or am I better off having those things set to private? Does it matter?

So, assuming this hasn't been done before or there's no thread out there currently, what are some questions other people have and can anyone assist with some answers? What are some good tips? Really appreciate any and all discussion in advance!

DEC_LSAT

politics, religion, and things of that nature i would keep hidden. sports are fine. them finding out if you're married or single makes no difference either.

Alex

I'm deleting all my social media once I send in my apps.

Most social media networks have it so you can deactivate then, in the future, reactivate.
I don't think it is worth leaving anything to chance. I don't post anything lewd or that I wouldn't want an admissions person to see, but I do worry that if they found my page they might infer something negative based on my "likes" or someone on my timeline's profile picture... who knows. Every once and while someone posts something/ @ replies me some dumb meme and they might do it 5 minutes before and admissions persons looks at my page..... Better safe than sorry.

My best tip would be to just deactivate your accounts until your cycle is over.

Sprinkles

Yeah, I plan on removing my social media during my application submission process. If you don't have a Linkedin, you should probably think about making one too.

Alex

@montaha.rizeq said:
Yeah, I plan on removing my social media during my application submission process. If you don't have a Linkedin, you should probably think about making one too.

Good point, Montaha!

nessa.k13.0

Interesting--I'm wondering if beyond sanity, character and fitness type issues, do admissions committees really care? I'm thinking that they don't besides general rules of interview etiquette and decency (if you are applying to devoutly religious law schools like Liberty nvm delete it all). People on admissions committees have marriages, kids, and they also use profane language. People on admissions committees have social media accounts why would/should they expect you not to? (Obviously saying and doing stupid things is dumb and putting such stupidity out online forever is just as unwise.) You can benefit from the information law schools post on twitter, facebook, blogs etc. during different phases of your candidacy (like when law schools have webinars with people in admissions or google hangouts for applicants with law students in different student organizations). I see why someone who belongs to some extremist hate group or authors a conspiracy theory site would want to cover up their tracks but lets be real, with the information you give them, a basic google search could show a person in admissions additional information about you anyway. If your twitter, facebook, instagram, linkedin, or youtube channel makes you look like a raving mad lunatic then yeah I'd definitely put that away...forever. Personally, privacy settings in general seem like a wise thing to use.

Cant Get Right

That's an excellent question @"Corban S." . My accounts are still open, but I've pretty much been off social media for years. I hadn't even thought about this, but now that you mention it, I'll definitely be shutting mine down. I was on facebook back when you couldn't access without an active college email address. Needless to say, it was a very different place back then.

mcmlaw36

@montaha.rizeq said:
Yeah, I plan on removing my social media during my application submission process. If you don't have a Linkedin, you should probably think about making one too.

@"Alex Divine" said:
Good point, Montaha!

May I ask, why? I personally don't have one and am interested to know the benefits in regards to admissions.

Thanks!

Alejandro

I personally will leave everything open. If the adcom gets scared of me from looking at my social media then that probably means that we are not a good fit for each other.

Corban S.

@"Alex Divine" @"Cant Get Right" I do know many people who are going the "shut it down/hide it" route. I'm just wondering if that is truthfully the best idea in my case. I really don't feel as though I have anything to hide. Hiding my accounts, however, could tell adcoms that perhaps I do have something to hide. I just don't know how to read the situation haha.

Alex

@"Corban S." said:
. I'm just wondering if that is truthfully the best idea in my case. I really don't feel as though I have anything to hide. Hiding my accounts, however, could tell adcoms that perhaps I do have something to hide. I just don't know how to read the situation haha.

As I explained above, I don't have anything to hide myself. However, random do and can happen... One of my dearest friends got a virus that made him post porn on all of his friends Facebook walls... What if that was there during the 5 minutes an admissions person checks.

More importantly, think of it this way: With respect to law school apps what have you got to gain by having a Facebook.Insta.Twitter.? Answer: Nothing. What have you got to lose? I just think it is a worry and problem easily mitigated by clicking the deactivate button. Hell, it might do you some good to have some time away from social media for a bit.

Also no admissions person is going to think you have something to hide by deactivating your account. Almost every person I know who has applied and been accepted to grad school has done this.

tanes256

@"Corban S." Most of my social media accounts do not include my name, just Facebook and all of my accounts are private. You can easily change you profile name to a middle name or something. I mostly use initials only for my name. The only way my accounts could be searched is to drop one of my profile pics in the Google Search pic thingy, but who has time for all that? That time could be used typing up my scholarship offers! LOL I think it's best to delete them or make them undiscoverable. Who knows their criteria or if someone will be feeling pissy that day? And just as mentioned above, I don't want a "Like" to affect me negatively. Let's face it, they are a committee, but everyone has their biases. As far as LinkedIn, I kinda created one a few years ago. I don't use it at all. I created it in hopes of finding a cute guy that I was conversing with on a bus ride. True story! It worked, I found him! He then in turn found me on Facebook and we've been friends ever since! This whole thread reminds me of my Myspace account! Good Lord, who knows what's on that thing??

Alex

@tanes256 said:
This whole thread reminds me of my Myspace account! Good Lord, who knows what's on that thing??

Oh boy. Good call... Haven't been on MySpace since sophomore year of high school, but who knows what is on that thing. "Who are you interested in meeting? : Already met her<3"

Cant Get Right

MySpace, oh man, lol. I wonder how Tom is doing these days, haha.

Alex

@"Cant Get Right" said:
MySpace, oh man, lol. I wonder how Tom is doing these days, haha.

OMG! Tom!

inactive

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-IKJaEaE8GgY/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAC1is/dsAEPXN5WtI/s0-c-k-no-ns/photo.jpg

Cant Get Right

Oh Tom. Still lookin' good after all these years.

tanes256

@"Cant Get Right" Bwhaaaaa! Where are the emojis when you need them??! Who do I need to speak with to get emojis on 7 Sage?! Lol

nessa.k13.0

Haha wow Tom hasn't changed a bit!

Corban S.

Thanks for the responses, everyone! I end up agreeing with @"Alex Divine" and others in saying the best choice would be to hide my accounts! I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a death blow to hide my accounts thus causing some adcoms to wonder if I might have had something to hide.

Alex

@"Corban S." said:
Thanks for the responses, everyone! I end up agreeing with @"Alex Divine" and others in saying the best choice would be to hide my accounts! I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a death blow to hide my accounts thus causing some adcoms to wonder if I might have had something to hide.

Good choice! haha. It's only for a few months anyways. I might actually have to learn to talk to people while waiting in line, or, worse, make eye contact! ahhhhhh

Corban S.

@"Alex Divine" said:
Good choice! haha. It's only for a few months anyways. I might actually have to learn to talk to people while waiting in line, or, worse, make eye contact! ahhhhhh

Lol! I really didn't fear shutting down social media for boredom or social reasons! I hardly used it to begin with! I just didn't want to give anyone a reason to assume I was a miscreant or anything like that!

tofuspeedstar

All my stuff is on private so there's really not much they can find. Plus, I don't really have anything crazy on my social media pages either. If they feel the need to ding me for something they find on my social media page then it isn't really somewhere I want to spend 3 years of my life.

Alex

@"Corban S." said:
Lol! I really didn't fear shutting down social media for boredom or social reasons! I hardly used it to begin with! I just didn't want to give anyone a reason to assume I was a miscreant or anything like that!

Lol, yeah, I hear ya man. I don't use FB/Twitter much anymore, but when I'm bored online at the grocery I definitely am guilty of scrolling through instagram, lol.

Alex

@tofuspeedstar said:
All my stuff is on private so there's really not much they can find. Plus, I don't really have anything crazy on my social media pages either. If they feel the need to ding me for something they find on my social media page then it isn't really somewhere I want to spend 3 years of my life.

Yeah, there are ways to see private accounts though, unfortunately. There's an entire industry based on seeing private accounts and that type of things. Though they are used mostly by employers as far as I know, I still don't think taking the risk is wise for anyone.

I totally feel you on not wanting to be somewhere that dings you because of something so stupid. It isn't a place I want to be either unless it is HYS CCN, lol.

tofuspeedstar

@"Alex Divine" Yeah, I know. But, even if they see all my stuff there really isn't much to see, IMO. But, if they think otherwise that any normal 27 year old male doesn't enjoy live music, fine bourbon and posting too many pictures of his dog, they got problems.

Alex

@tofuspeedstar said:
@"Alex Divine" Yeah, I know. But, even if they see all my stuff there really isn't much to see, IMO. But, if they think otherwise that any normal 27 year old male doesn't enjoy live music, fine bourbon and posting too many pictures of his dog, they got problems.

So much this**

Sprinkles

@tofuspeedstar said:
Yeah, I know. But, even if they see all my stuff there really isn't much to see, IMO. But, if they think otherwise that any normal 27 year old male doesn't enjoy live music, fine bourbon and posting too many pictures of his dog, they got problems.

lol you may be good.