October 10, 2012
‘Like’ It or Not, Study Shows College Applicants’ Social Presence Affects Acceptance
Teens, those Facebook messages about “borrowing†your classmates homework, weekend rendezvous with those classic red Solo cups and expressing yourself through profanities is going to cost you. A recent study released by Kaplan Test Prep shows that many times what an admissions officer finds on social media results in negative views of prospective students.
The survey polled 350 college admissions officers from the country’s top 500 colleges and universities, revealing that the percentage of officers who searched Google and Facebook inched up from 2011 to 27% and 26%, respectively. However, the number of searches that yielded something that negatively impacted an applicant’s chances for admission nearly tripled, from 12% to 35%, this year.
“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,†Jeff Olson, vice president of data science at Kaplan Test Prep, said in a press statement.