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Archive for: Facebook and College Admissions

Facebook and College Essays


There was an article yesterday in the newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania, “The Daily Pennsylvanian,” in which our Founder, Bev Taylor, is quoted that focuses on admissions officers disclosing on social media what is written in college essays. One admissions officer in particular, a former Penn admissions officer by the name of Nadirah Farah Foley blatantly violated the trust of the Penn admissions office by posting excerpts of applicants’ college essays on her Facebook page. Can you imagine? When applicants write essays, the good ones reveal personal anecdotes about who they are and what they’re all about. But what if applicants couldn’t trust that sentences from their essays wouldn’t end up on Twitter or Facebook.

FB and College Essays, Facebook and University Essays, Admissions Essays and Facebook

College admissions officers should absolutely not be sharing excerpts of college essays with the public. And they should not be offering public commentary on them.

According to “The Daily Pennsylvanian,” “In one essay, a student had written about his ‘long and deep’ connections to the University, citing the fact that he had been circumcised at Penn Hillel years ago. ‘I look forward to engaging in the academic, social and Orthodox Jewish communities on campus,’ the student wrote, according to Foley’s post. ‘Stop the madness,’ Foley said in response to the essay on Facebook.” Oy vey. And an appropriate oy vey! First, a student really wrote that in his essay? While it is quite funny, it’s not appropriate for a college essay unfortunately. But then this admissions officer posted these lines online? Double oy vey.

Deans of admission at highly selective colleges can make their staff members sign agreements of confidentiality all they want. The fact is that many college admissions officers are hired right out of college. Many work in admissions for years — don’t get us wrong — but there is still a sizable portion of the field that hails directly from college without passing go. It’s their first job. They’re going to make mistakes like this, especially in the age of social media. What do you think can be done to stop this from happening going forward? Let us know your thoughts on the matter by posting below!

Facebook Photos and College Admission


FB and College Admission, Facebook and Ivy League Admission, Ivy Admission and Facebook

Contrary to what Mr. Grove writes, showcasing yourself in a prom dress doesn’t paint you in a good light to college admissions counselors. Oy vey. This particular young woman went to prom in the 50′s, according to the Internet.

Allen Grove, writer of the “About.com” blog on college admissions recently posted about fifteen Facebook photos that will make you look good to admissions officers. While we typically enjoy his posts, we happen to think that this post is utterly ridiculous. Citing a 2010 Kaplan survey in which it was found that 82% of college admissions counselors use Facebook to recruit students, Grove goes on to describe the kinds of Facebook photos that can hurt and help your chances for admission to the colleges of your choice.

Don’t get us wrong — we’re lifelong students of social psychology — a first impression is an important one. This information primes someone with what they’re going to think about a person and how they’re going to evaluate them. And since some college admissions counselors do indeed look up applicants on Facebook, it is important that you don’t have a scandalizing photo. You don’t want a photo drinking beer (that would be illegal anyway for students in the United States under the age of 21 applying to college). You don’t want a photo displaying gang signs. That can certainly hurt your chances for admission should a college admissions counselor see these photos.

But Mr. Grove goes off the deep end big time when he writes that students should select a photo in which they’re posing with an award. That would be arrogant — and who likes arrogant people? Or a photo where you’re “the star of the team.” That’s narcissistic. Or “the world traveler.” In fact, Mr. Grove writes, “Part of being a well-rounded student is having a worldview that reaches farther [sic] than your hometown. If you’ve traveled across the U.S. or visited other countries, put some of those travel pictures in your Facebook profile. Read the mission statements of colleges, and you’ll often see an emphasis on global awareness.” Oy vey. And well rounded? Not exactly the phrase college admissions counselors are targeting. Contrary to what Mr. Grove writes, don’t emphasize how much you travel as you apply to college. That just means you can afford to travel — something college admissions counselors might be rather jealous of.

The silly photos that Mr. Grove suggests you showcase to admissions counselors don’t end there. He even suggests that a “prom goer” photo would paint you in a good light to college admissions counselors. Really? That’s just not the case. Just about every high schooler goes to prom. How does this paint you in a good light to an admissions counselor? The thinking here is: Just. Plain. Wrong.

While you’re here, check out this post on Facebook and College Admissions.

Social Media and College Admission


Facebook and College Admissions, Social Networking and College Admission, Ivy League Admission and Social Media

In this infographic from Coggno, check out the rising use of social media in the college admissions process.

Let’s talk about social media and college admission. It’s not something we haven’t discussed before. Check out our post on Facebook and college admission or our newsletter on social networking and college admission. But we thought we’d share with you some interesting data from Coggno that they’ve put together in a cool infographic. If you haven’t recently had Lasik surgery, you can check out their social media and college admission infographic for yourself on their site (or just click on the picture to your right).

So what are the key takeaways? Well, according to their data, 24% of college admissions officers are “watching you.” That means that 76% aren’t. We practically had to major in statistics to figure that one out. In 2008, 10% of admissions officers owned up to considering information on social media sites in making their admissions decisions. So the 24% figure marks an increase.

And what about the percentage of admissions officers who use Google to research students? 20% say yes, they use it. And 80% say no, they don’t. 8% of admissions officers say social media is “critically important” in admissions, 19% say it’s “important,” 43% say it’s “somewhat important,” and 7% say it’s “not important.” 12% say that social media has negatively impacted a student’s admissions decision, while 84% say it hasn’t (hey, there’s room for error in statistics so it doesn’t always add up to 100%).

Of those admissions officers who make use of social media in their admissions decisions, 66% say they use Facebook, 41% use college search sites, 41% use Twitter, 21% use YouTube, 15% use Ning, and 2% use MySpace. But what’s the funniest statistic of all? That would be that 80% of admissions officers report receiving a “Friend” request from an applicant on Facebook or MySpace. Oy vey! Don’t be one of those students! What are they thinking?

Harvard and Facebook


Everyone knows that Facebook was born in a Harvard University dorm room. But does everyone know which university has the most Facebook fans on its fan page? Yes, the answer is again Harvard. A few months ago, we wrote a post about which universities have the most Facebook fans. Topping the list was Harvard followed by University of Michigan, Ohio State University, Texas A&M, University of Texas, University of Florida, Penn State University, University of Alabama, Auburn University, and Michigan State University. No highly competitive school came anywhere near these universities in terms of Facebook fans on their fan page.

Harvard University and Facebook, Harvard and Social Media, Harvard Facebook Fans, Ivy League and Facebook, College Admissions and Facebook

Harvard University has reached the 500,000 Facebook fans milestone. Harvard is the first university to achieve this feat.

But now there’s a new milestone! Harvard and Facebook have a new connection…500,000 of them in fact. Harvard has indeed reached 500,000 Facebook fans, according to the “Harvard Crimson.” Marking the milestone, a post on Harvard’s fan page read, “Over half a million of you ‘Like’ this page! We’d like to thank all of you who have been following us here on Facebook for updates on teaching, research, life & learning at Harvard in Cambridge and around the world.”

Check out our blog on College Admissions and Facebook and take a look at the article in the “Harvard Crimson” on Harvard and Facebook.

College Admissions


Did you or your child Facebook friend their regional admissions counselors during the college admissions process? Did they send them a FB message or “poke” them? We hope not! We’ve previously posted about the impact of Facebook in the college admissions process and about social networking and college admissions. But today, we’d like to tell you about some statistics that amusingly depict just how Facebook is involved in the college admissions process. It should be noted that studies we’ve read and written about do not confirm this data. Most college admissions counselors still aren’t looking at Facebook profiles so we’re not so sure about the statistic quoted in a “Schools.com” infographic that 70% of colleges use FB profiles in the college admissions process.

College Admission, University Admission, University Admissions, Getting Admitted to College

If you don't want a college admissions counselor to see something you posted on FB, take it down. Why take the chance?

Since we’re skeptical about that statistic, we can’t help but be a little skeptical about the other stats but we’ll let you know them anyway. According to the infographic, 62% of admissions counselors say that FB profiles actually helped students gain admission. Uh huh. We don’t buy that for a second. 80% of colleges use social media in the college recruitment process. That we believe. Colleges are increasingly turning to social media as a way to appeal to the masses. And an astounding 80% of college admissions counselors have received a FB or MySpace friend request. Hilarious.