Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 100 posts

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#51

Post by gcb0 »

stfu wrote: post #47
clarkm wrote: post #6

The newsletter from The Fountain Hopper (who appears to have discovered this) has some more interesting details: When you apply to Stanford, your application gets assigned at least two admissions 'readers.' FoHo knows you get a third (specialized) reader if you're a legacy or a 'minority' (though we're not too sure how that's defined). We also think you get an additional reader if you're an athlete or development kid…

development kid (i.e. you donated $$$) Anyone got any numbers on that? What does it take to become a development kid...

if they get another reviewer for that category, i can guarantee you that all that person will do is open an excel sheet, order by donation amount per family, and write the position your family is at. So i doubt donating the minimum will do you any good.

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#52

Post by Shivetya »

jacobolus wrote: post #34

> At least one student has received the records, and said he was surprised by what he got back: several hundred pages, including a log of every time his electronic identification card had been used to unlock a door, [...] It seems totally unnecessary to indefinitely store every door swipe. Sure, store the swipes used to access the rare book room or the chemistry lab for 6 months or a year, but there’s no reason for e…

Look at it from this way, its probably more work to go back and delete entries that really don't take up much disk. Heck, collecting is easy, setting up periodic purges, archives, and such, usually gets pushed to another phase.... which may never come.

another side is, its both good and bad. You can see patterns and alert to changes. You could also use it to prove someone wasn't where others claim and so on. If your really creative you can mine it and try to figure out why so many students are making trips that take time and minimize it to put more time to learning than traveling. Like we route packages in shipping companies, load the truck properly for the route, get students into a route that minimizes travel from class to class

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#53

Post by kevinwang »

zaroth wrote: post #44
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #42

Is there a legal conflict here - do writers of letters not have any protections under the law to prevent the letter being made public, or passed on to third parties. Do you lose all legal rights and controls over letters once you mail them? The teachers maker recommendations clearly had an assumption of privacy in their communication? If the Uni chose to precis the letter - eg provide a score in its place - would the…

"On the Common App used by most top colleges, applicants are asked to check a box waiving their right to ever see the recommendation letters written by their high school teachers and counselors. But students who did not check the box can get copies of those, too."

although if I recall correctly, it seemed obligatory to check that box in order to get our recommendation letters sent through Common App.

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#54

Post by rickdale »

jacobolus wrote: post #34

> At least one student has received the records, and said he was surprised by what he got back: several hundred pages, including a log of every time his electronic identification card had been used to unlock a door, [...] It seems totally unnecessary to indefinitely store every door swipe. Sure, store the swipes used to access the rare book room or the chemistry lab for 6 months or a year, but there’s no reason for e…

When I was at college a friend of mine was being accused of a heinous crime. In the end, he used key card time slots to prove he was innocent. But even with the key card it was a matter of the incident happening like a single minute after he was there. Luckily, all of the key swipes were stored and it showed that shortly after he had already swiped his card etc. Anyways, long story short, it doesn't hurt to keep that kind of data especially on a college campus.

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#55

Post by wdaher »

MIT had the same problem in late 2003, and in the case of the college applications, solved the problem by simply destroying parts of the records when they were done with them.

(http://tech.mit.edu/V123/N53/53studrec.53n.html and http://tech.mit.edu/V124/N47/47e3.47n.html)

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#57

Post by daigoba66 »

Shivetya wrote: post #52
jacobolus wrote: post #34

> At least one student has received the records, and said he was surprised by what he got back: several hundred pages, including a log of every time his electronic identification card had been used to unlock a door, [...] It seems totally unnecessary to indefinitely store every door swipe. Sure, store the swipes used to access the rare book room or the chemistry lab for 6 months or a year, but there’s no reason for e…

Look at it from this way, its probably more work to go back and delete entries that really don't take up much disk. Heck, collecting is easy, setting up periodic purges, archives, and such, usually gets pushed to another phase.... which may never come. another side is, its both good and bad. You can see patterns and alert to changes. You could also use it to prove someone wasn't where others claim and so on. If your…

It's definitely easier to just never delete data (assuming storage capacity is not really a constraint).

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#58

Post by semperfaux »

rickdale wrote: post #54
jacobolus wrote: post #34

> At least one student has received the records, and said he was surprised by what he got back: several hundred pages, including a log of every time his electronic identification card had been used to unlock a door, [...] It seems totally unnecessary to indefinitely store every door swipe. Sure, store the swipes used to access the rare book room or the chemistry lab for 6 months or a year, but there’s no reason for e…

When I was at college a friend of mine was being accused of a heinous crime. In the end, he used key card time slots to prove he was innocent. But even with the key card it was a matter of the incident happening like a single minute after he was there. Luckily, all of the key swipes were stored and it showed that shortly after he had already swiped his card etc. Anyways, long story short, it doesn't hurt to keep that…

It didn't hurt in that particular instance, and that does not mean it couldn't have been turned on him if one of the readers had failed to record (or for any other reason gave ambiguity to his motions) and placed him incorrectly where the crime took place, nor that the practice is inherently good because it exonerated one person. Any more than potentially proving that you weren't at another crime scene makes storing all of your cell phone metadata inherently OK.

Yes, they have this potential benefit, but no, they should not be reviewed solely in that context.

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#59

Post by dom96 »

ig1 wrote: post #15

This is pretty much standard practice in Europe. If you're storing/producing an information about an individual as an organization you have to operate on the assumption that the individual has a right to read it as in most cases they do.

I currently attend a university in the UK and would like to request this information. But I'm not sure what the best way to do so is, who should I contact at my university (I presume the admissions department) and how should I request this information? Should I quote the Data Protection Act? Does anybody have experience doing this?

Re: Students Gain Access to Files on Admission to Stanford

#60

Post by tfang17 »

cjbarber wrote: post #30
tfang17 wrote: post #20

Current Stanford student here willing to answer any questions.

Just so you know, it looks like your account is shadow banned - all of your article submissions since 248 days ago show as [dead] (I have showdead on).

What does that mean?
Post reply on HN