Social Media Tips To Increase Your College Admission  Chances

 

BY PAMELA CURRIER

Today, many students are applying to colleges online, and there are many differences between this and applying through the mail. For one thing, because online applications are so much quicker and easier, students are applying to more schools, thus increasing their chances of being accepted into their schools of choice. But, there is a lot more to it than filling out an application. If you are getting ready to apply to colleges online, here are some tips that are going to help increase your chances of acceptance.

• Post Only Good Information
  You are putting yourself out there, and you need to be able to show admissions officers that you are the type of student they are looking for. Don’t post photos and videos from drunken parties. Avoid posts that portray you as a bully or as having salacious behavior. While you don’t need to pretend you are something you are not, it is important to be able to convey a somewhat wholesome image. Look at it this way. If you wouldn’t want your grandparents to see it, you don’t want college admissions officers to see it either.
• Keep Info Consistent
  It is important to make sure that all of your social media profiles are updated regularly, and that the information on these pages match the information that you put on your college applications. If your application says one thing but your social media profiles say something else, you are going to greatly reduce your chances of being accepted into many colleges.
• Have a Website
  You can really give them an insight to who you are and where you are heading when you have a personal website. This is where you can really highlight your brand and show how truly unique you are. Having your own website shows that you are a creative thinker, and that you are articulate. “When you have your own URL and website, you have a fast way for college recruiters and admissions officers to find out more about you. It also makes it easier to find you when they search for you on Google,” says Dima Midon, search engine expert at TrafficBox.
• Have a Good Photo
  While your appearance shouldn’t make any difference, it often does, and if you do not have a professional profile photo across all social platforms, including Snapchat, your chances of acceptance could drop.  Don’t just get dressed up and take a selfie. Spend the extra money and hire a professional photographer to take your profile photo. It is well worth it if it is going to help you get into one of the colleges you have chosen to apply to.
• Untag and Unfollow
  It isn’t just your posts that admissions officers are checking out. If your friends have tagged you in posts that are inappropriate, you need to get right in there and untag yourself. It may even be necessary to unfollow certain friends. This doesn’t mean that you have to unfriend them. When you unfollow someone, you are still friends, but their posts do not appear on your pages. This is important in order to avoid inappropriate photos and content.
• Start a Blog
  College recruiters want to know more about you than just your academic history. They want to know who you are, what you believe in, what you are passionate about, etc. Start writing articles about the things that interest you, and set up your own blog page. You can put your blog right on your website or social media, or join a blogging community. If you don’t know how to start, take some of your best essays and post them as blogs. You will be showing your communication skills, and blogs are searchable, especially when you use SEO.

 

Pamela Currier helps recent grads land the jobs of their dreams, she is a career coach and educator.