Social Media and College Admissions

Social media, especially Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat have become an integral part of every high school student’s life. What many aspiring college students often forget is that college admissions officers consider Facebook and Instagram a means of getting a picture of what an applicant is like in real life. Often they check these accounts of prospective students. Even with the highest privacy settings, it’s likely that a search engine can still find some posts about you. With the new Snap Maps additions to Snapchat feature, anyone in the world can see the photos and videos being posted in any location.

When you go to post on your timeline or your feed, imagine what you are writing is going to appear on a billboard outside the admissions office. Do you really want the college admissions officer reading about the drama with your friend’s boyfriend? Remember, information you post on other people’s timelines or even about others can appear elsewhere, even if you have strict privacy settings. You also do not want your friends tagging you in pictures or posts that reflect poorly on you.

Additionally, you can use social media to your advantage by liking the Facebook pages and Instagram accounts of the colleges to which you are applying. Just like you want to show your best side on social media, remember college admissions officers and recruiters want to impress you as well with their posts. It can be beneficial to like and comment the pictures that your prospective colleges are posting.