Social Media & Medicine Part Deux

Hey everyone! I've been doing a lot of research on this subject and came across these two extremely helpful articles talking about being involved with social media and applying to medical school. I think this subject is becoming more and more relevant because having an online presence can be a positive thing to include on applications but you have to be careful about how you present yourself. For example, we have all heard the horror stories of students kicked out of school because of inappropriate Facebook photos or graduates who couldn't get hired because their prospective employers were turned off by the obscenities they indulged in on Twitter. I have a Twitter account and every day I'm surprised to see little freshman and sophomore pre-med students with Twitter handles like "Pre-Med Partier" posting about red flag behavior like underage drinking. Obviously not everyone who applies to medical school is perfect all the time but that doesn't mean it's advisable or acceptable to post about one's foibles online! I think the problem is that, in our culture of casually putting everything personal out there on the web, younger people don't realize that the things they write on a social networking site like Facebook or Twitter are going to be there forever. They don't think about how a silly Twitter account can affect their future. On the other hand, having a professional Twitter, Blog, or Tumblr where you explore and talk about your interests and initiatives you are involved in can really help to show the world the kind of activities you are engaged in. The trick is to make sure you're doing it right and these two articles outline some helpful advice on how to do that so enjoy!

This article gives some fantastic guidelines for how to build your online image effectively and appropriately.

This article has more pointed advice on how to present your social media participation to an admission board and how to speak intelligently about it during a med school interview.