Did you ever consider that colleges are looking at your Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, or Facebook page? As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a more prominent tool for society, colleges are not taking a back seat to invest in some of these same technologies to assist with their admissions processes. Read on to learn more about - do colleges look at your social media?

Have you ever heard the phrase, "better safe than sorry?" This is probably a phrase you should continue to employ as you begin to package yourself as a strong candidate for the future career you are seeking out.
If your pages are on public, anyone can jump on and see what it is you are posting, especially if it's inappropriate. If your profile isn't public but you are saying hateful things, someone could potentially report you to admissions programs - which has happened at places like Harvard. In 2017, Harvard revoked admission to 10 students who were sharing inappropriate memes. As racial tensions have risen in recent years, many universities were forced to revoke admissions offers of students due to inappropriate postings on social media.
While you may argue freedom of speech is a fundamental basis for American history, Universities employ their own mission statements to maintain the student body and structure of their universities. If you post something that is not aligned with the mission you agree to when you apply or commit to a program, it could come back and haunt you later. If you don't agree with a specific University's stance or mission statement, it's probably safe to say it isn't a suitable program for you to attend.
While there isn't exactly data on admissions committees that review social media, we do know that universities spend billions of dollars a year to market their schools and programs. Universities have some of the most technologically advanced email marketing systems to see how students are engaging with emails. We also know universities invest their endowments to grow their portfolios, just like major investment banks and firms such as those on Wall Street.
As the competition grows more fierce amongst applicants and universities take on the role of acting more like a "business," I wouldn't put it past universities to start looking at social media accounts to differentiate some of the best applicants to make up their incoming class - especially if their applicant pool is around 40,000+ and they only have 2,000 spots for the very best students.
For more information on how you can stand out in a positive light on your college applications, reach out to us at info@hoosieracademiccoaching.com today!
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