Social Networking Four in 10 admissions officers hit up the social media pages of college applicants. Most (89 percent) do so rarely, but more than 1 in 10 (11 percent) do so "often." At the same time, the practice of "Googling" has remained steady at 29 percent. While 37 percent of these institutional representatives reported that what they've found online has "positively impacted" a candidate's application, an equivalent number said just the opposite. Those findings come from a survey of almost 400 admissions officers by Kaplan Test Prep. Respondents told the test preparation company that certain triggers compel them to go online in order to enhance their understanding of applicants beyond what has already been provided, such as standardized test scores and grade point average. Reasons include: The positive findings that may surface include leadership roles or volunteer work that wasn't mentioned in the application. Negative findings might include photos of drug or alcohol use or some other form of inappropriate behavior. "The growth of social media hasn't made college admissions a whole new ballgame, but it's definitely impacted the rules," said Yariv Alpher, Kaplan's executive director and head of market research. His advice: "Think about what you share. When in doubt, the best strategy may be to keep it to yourself." About the Author Dian Schaffhauser is a senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal and Campus Technology. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @schaffhauser.
New findings from Kaplan have shown that around 40 % of American university admissions officers check students ’ social media pages as part of their admissions process . Furthermore , 29 % of the officers also admit to Googling students to gain a fuller picture of their lives before granting them admission to the school . " The growth of social media has n't made college admissions a whole new ballgame , but it 's definitely impacted the industry , " said Yariv Alpher , Kaplan 's executive director and head of market research . His advice to students : " Think about what you share . When in doubt , the best strategy may be to keep it to yourself . "