As a high school student, you may be surprised to hear that colleges are looking at more than you include in your application.
So, do colleges check social media?
This would be the first question that comes to your mind after reading the topic, and the answer is Yes.
However, for a college to be interested in your social media profile, they need to be interested in your application. In addition, the admissions office pays attention to personal statements, so you should write them flawlessly.
You may be scared and think to yourself, I need someone to help me write my personal statement. and it is okay to do that because most students seek cheap online services.
So they can hire professional personal statement writers who can help them and describe their strengths as best as they can.
Basically, college admissions officers look at the applicants’ social media profiles that they are interested in. They do so in order to learn more about them, which can either have a positive or negative impact.
Meaning your activity on social media can impact your performance in college admissions decisions.
Why Do Colleges Watch Student’s Social Media Accounts Upon Admission?
So, you may wonder how colleges find your social media, and experts have stated that most of the time.
Admission officers are looking at potential student social media because they included a profile link in their application materials. Meaning that they don’t spend time looking for it themselves.
But many British students choose to link their social media profiles because it is a good way to showcase certain skills and provide more information about themselves.
However, since colleges have a huge number of applications, they may not have time to check every single link.
But when they do check it, they are not looking for reasons to disqualify candidates but instead, they are looking for reasons to advocate for a specific student and see how that student really set themselves apart.
What Colleges Are Looking For In Students’ Social Media Accounts And How To Make Your Account More Attractive To Them
All colleges may be looking for different people with different skills, but when it comes to social media, they all want to see the same thing, the best version of their future students.
So, use the following tips to present yourself in the best light possible.
- The first thing that every college notices is the applicant’s profile photo. So, choose a nice and professional photo that will give a good first impression.
- Colleges love to see students excited about attending their school. So, it will be a great idea to follow the college social media account in which you are applying and engage with their posts. You can even announce your application online, as almost every other UK Student does.
- Writing your activities on your resume is one thing but showing how involved you are is quite another. So, posting about your activities will show the colleges how passionate you are about those activities and highlight your extracurricular involvement.
- Colleges want high-quality students who can make a positive impact. So, get away from negative activities online fast and try to make your posts as positive as you can.
- Ask your friends to assist you in deleting all the pictures that may negatively impact you or simply remove tags on your own.
- Don’t write inappropriate jokes on your social media because what may be funny to you may not be humorous to colleges, and they may end up seeing you as an insensitive person, which is a bad thing when you are looking for admission.
- Colleges also want to ensure that everything on your profile is legal, so don’t engage with dubious activities such as drugs or underage drinking.
Conclusion:
Social media platforms are constantly evolving, but so does the approach that both students on social media and college admissions officers have to take when determining how it can affect the academic experience.
And as social media becomes more normalized, the impact on the admission process becomes more significant for the outcome.
So, if you want to get accepted into your dream college, make sure that you think twice before you post and be mindful of how your activity can impact your future college goals.
