The Universe (Brigham Young University): “Facebook can be damaging to college admissions”
The Tulane Hullabaloo (Tulane University): “Social media impacts prospective students”
The Montclarian (Montclair State University): “Who Else Can “Like” Your Status?”
ReadWriteWeb: “How High School Students Use Facebook To Fool College Admissions Officers”
The Daily Stat (Harvard Business Review): “College Admissions Officers Do Look at Facebook”
The Daily Tar Heel (University of North Carolina): “Social media profiles could affect admissions”
The Duke Chronicle (Duke University): “Duke admissions does not scrutinize Internet presence”
Firstpost: “Applying to a US college? Keep your Facebook image clean”
USA Today College: “Study: Admissions officer don’t ‘Like” your beaerstagram”
eCampus News: “Number of college applications affected by social media triples”
The Arizona Daily Wildcat (University of Arizona): “Trending Up”
Admit This!: “Exposing Yourself Online”
The Daily Cougar (University of Houston): “Pre-law students say ranking is most important”
To ensure that students are receiving accurate and up-to-date information on trends in the college admissions process, Kaplan Test Prep annually surveys admissions officers from the top 500 colleges and universities in the U.S.* The survey data collected helps guide the tens of thousands of college applicants Kaplan works with each year. The results from this year’s survey can be seen here. (Numbers in parentheses reflects the findings of identically-worded questions from Kaplan’s 2011 survey of college admissions officers.)
Among the highlights of this year’s survey:
Does your school require the SAT® or ACT®?
Is there any advantage to an applicant submitting both and SAT and ACT score instead instead of only one score, assuming both scores are strong?
Do you use Twitter for recruiting purposes?
Do you use YouTube for recruiting purposes?
Do you use Facebook for recruiting purposes?
Do you use Google Plus for recruiting purposes?
Have you ever Googled an applicant to learn more about them?
Have you ever visited an applicant’s social networking page like Facebook to learn more about them?
Have you ever discovered something online about an applicant that negatively impacted their application?
*Top 500 colleges and universities as compiled from U.S. News World Report and Barron’s. For the 2012 survey, 350 admissions officers responded to Kaplan’s telephone polling between July and September 2012. SAT is a registered trademark of the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse this product. ACT is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse this product
8 Comments
The Wall Street Journal: “Web Profiles Haunt Students”
Examiner.com: “Facebook and Twitter posts can impact teen’s future”
The Oregonian: “College applicants’ online reputations can hurt their admission chances”
All Facebook: “Questionable Facebook Content Hurting Chances At College Admission”
Ubergizmo: “Yes, college admissions officers are looking through your Facebook”
The Deseret News: “Some social media use can keep students out of college”
The Minnesota Daily (University of Minnesota): “Daily Digest: Alcohol pics hurt college applicants”
8 CommentsOver a Quarter of College Admissions Officers Today Include Google or Facebook in Applicant Evaluations; 35% Report Discovering Information that Negatively Impacted Prospective Students’
Admissions Chances – Up from 12% Last Year
Note to editors: Kaplan is a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO)
Russell Schaffer, russell.schaffer@kaplan.com, 212.453.7538
Carina Wong, carina.wong@kaplan.com, 212.453.7571
Twitter: @KapTestNews
New York, NY (October 4, 2012) – Results from Kaplan Test Prep’s 2012 survey of college admissions officers* show that schools are increasingly discovering information on Facebook and Google that negatively impact applicants’ acceptance chances. While the percentage of admissions officers who took to Google (27%) and checked Facebook (26%) as part of the applicant review process increased slightly (20% for Google and 26% for Facebook in 2011) from last year, the percentage that said they discovered something that negatively impacted an applicant’s chances of getting into the school nearly tripled – from 12% last year to 35% this year. Offenses cited included essay plagiarism, vulgarities in blogs, alcohol consumption in photos, things that made them “wonder,” and “illegal activities.” In 2008, when Kaplan began tracking this trend, only one in 10 admissions officers reported checking applicants’ social networking pages.
“Social media used to basically mean Facebook. But the underlying trend we see is the increase in use of Google, which taps into a social media landscape that’s proliferated to include Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, blogging and other platforms — and teens today are using all of these channels,” said Jeff Olson, Vice President of Data Science, Kaplan Test Prep. “Additionally, we’re seeing a growing cultural ubiquity in social media use, plus a generation that’s grown up with a very fluid sense of privacy norms. In the face of all these trends, the rise in discovery of digital dirty laundry is inevitable.”
Olson noted, “With regard to college admissions, the traditional application — the essays, the letters of recommendation — represent the polished version of an applicant, while often what’s found online is a rawer version of that applicant. Schools are philosophically divided on whether an applicant’s digital trail is fair game, and the majority of admissions officers do not look beyond the submitted application, but our advice to students is to think first, Tweet later.”
Kaplan’s survey also found that only 15% of colleges currently have rules regarding the checking of applicants’ Facebook or social networking pages – a percentage that has remained fairly consistent over the past few years. Of schools that do have a policy, 69% said the policy prohibited admissions officers from visiting applicants’ pages – still leaving the vast majority of admissions officers with the flexibility to act at their own discretion.
Students can learn more about how to better safeguard their digital footprints at www.kaptest.com/socialmediatips.
Far more common than the use of social media to evaluate applicants is its use in recruiting potential students. Kaplan Test Prep’s survey found that 87% of colleges use Facebook for this purpose (up from 82% two years ago); 76% use Twitter (up from 56%); and 73% use YouTube (up from 56%). College admissions officers have not, however, embraced Google Plus – only 9% are using it to recruit prospective students.
For more information about Kaplan Test Prep’s 2012 survey of college admissions officers, please contact Russell Schaffer at russell.schaffer@kaplan.com or 212.453.7538.
Kaplan will be releasing more results from its survey in the coming weeks.
* For the 2012 survey, 350 admissions officers from the nation’s top 500 colleges and universities – as compiled from U.S. News & World Report and Barron’s – were polled by telephone between July and September 2012.
About Kaplan Test Prep
Kaplan Test Prep (www.kaptest.com) is a premier provider of educational and career services for individuals, schools and businesses. Established in 1938, Kaplan is the world leader in the test prep industry. With a comprehensive menu of online offerings as well as a complete array of print books and digital products, Kaplan offers preparation for more than 90 standardized tests, including entrance exams for secondary school, college and graduate school, as well as professional licensing exams for attorneys, physicians and nurses. Kaplan also provides private tutoring and graduate admissions consulting services.
# # #
96 Comments