Watch What You’re Posting: College and Social Media

Konnor-Ashley Randlett

Everyone loves social media… until it gets you into trouble. In high school, we are told that negative comments made on social media can negatively affect you, but many are completely unaware how social media posts can impact where you go to college.

In this day and age, our lives revolve around technology and for teenagers, social media takes up a lot of our time… and colleges know this. Some colleges are now checking their prospective students’ social media, such as Facebook and Twitter.

Although not all colleges check social media and there really isn’t a routine, it is a very big deal that colleges are evolving in their acceptance techniques, but it is an even bigger deal that there is a chance that colleges could view your social media profile.

According to a study held back in 2013, of 381 colleges interviewed, 31 percent of those colleges said that they had visited a prospective students’ Facebook pages to gain more of an insight into the student other than what they put on their applications.

Since the study, the number of colleges has increased by 12 percent.  (This is with all colleges, not just the said 381). Colleges are beginning to use this more, and as technology evolves, colleges will begin checking the internet more frequently.

Of the colleges that check prospects’ social media, 35 percent said that when checking on a students’ social media pages, they found something that negatively affected the student and their application.

This information does not mean that you should not post anything other than what you think colleges want to hear, because the colleges are doing this to get an insight on the type of person you are. It just mean to be cautious of what you are posting. Before posting think, “Does this post properly represent the person I am?”