Kaplan Test Prep Survey: Social Media Checks By College Admissions Officers Decline Due to Savvier Applicants & Shifting Atti...
November 27 2018 - 8:30AM
Business Wire
A new Kaplan Test Prep survey finds that for the third year in a
row, the percentage of college admissions officers who visit
applicants’ social media profiles to learn more about them has
declined, with only a quarter (25 percent) saying they do so, down
from a high of 40 percent in 2015*. One possible contributing
reason? They can’t find them.
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A new Kaplan Test Prep survey finds that
for the third year in a row, the percentage of college admissions
officers who visit applicants’ social media profiles to learn more
about them has declined, with only 25 percent saying they do so.
(Graphic: Business Wire)
Of the admissions officers who say they have visited applicants’
social media profiles, a majority (52 percent) say that students
have become savvier about hiding their social media presence over
the past few years or moving away from social communities where
what they post is easy to find by people they don’t know. According
to a 2018 report by research firm Piper Jaffray, about 85 percent
of teens say they use both Instagram and Snapchat -- two platforms
which make it easy to share posts with people you want and hard to
find for people you don’t -- at least once per month. This compares
to just 36 percent of teens who use Facebook once per month, a
decrease from 60 percent two years ago.
Another factor may be a shift in attitudes about checking social
media. While 57 percent say that it’s “fair game” for them to visit
applicants’ social media profiles like Facebook, Instagram, and
Twitter to help them decide who gets in, it represents a
significant drop from the 68 percent who held this view in Kaplan’s
2017 survey. Notably, students have been generally more accepting
of this practice than admissions officers; in a separate Kaplan
survey completed earlier this year, 70 percent said they believe
it’s “fair game” for admissions officers to check social media.
As one admissions officers stated, “Unless it's a matter of
checking on something that might be a hate crime or endangering
other people, then it becomes a safety issue, but otherwise it's a
privacy issue.”
Yariv Alpher, Kaplan Test Prep’s executive director of research,
who has been tracking this issue for a number of years, thinks many
factors explain the change of attitude and practice in admissions
officers. “We're seeing the result of combining trends here. On the
one hand, students are savvier. They are more careful with what
they post and are increasingly using more private social networks.
In some cases they also create fake accounts that they only share
with friends, but which are not easily attributed to them. On the
other hand, admissions officers are increasingly conscious of the
need to maintain students' privacy, and are more inclined to use
social media in a more targeted way. Regardless, social media
remains an admissions factor for a significant number of colleges,
so students should be mindful of what they share."
Alpher continues to advise students to be thoughtful about what
they post, like making a snap decision and posting an opinion that
others may find offensive. He also cautions about spending weeks on
perfecting a video library on YouTube in the hopes that admissions
officers will organically come across it -- he suggests applicants
call it out to them instead. “Even as technology has allowed
college admissions officers to discover more information about
their prospective students, it seems they are sticking with the
traditional elements of the application to help them make
enrollment decisions, like standardized test scores, GPA, letters
of recommendation, and personal statements. These factors
overwhelmingly decide applicants’ paths. Social media remains a
wildcard, though from our research, a somewhat diminishing one.
We’ll be tracking to see if this trend continues or reverses.”
To speak with a college admissions expert at Kaplan Test Prep,
please contact Russell Schaffer at russell.schaffer@kaplan.com or
212.453.7538.
*364 admissions officers from the nation’s top national,
regional and liberal arts colleges and universities – as compiled
from U.S. News & World Report – were polled by telephone
between July and August 2018.
About Kaplan Test Prep
Kaplan Test Prep (www.kaptest.com) is a premier provider of
educational and career services for individuals, schools and
businesses. Established in 1938, Kaplan is the world leader in the
test prep industry. With a comprehensive menu of online offerings
as well as a complete array of print books and digital products,
Kaplan offers preparation for more than 100 standardized tests,
including entrance exams for secondary school, college and graduate
school, as well as professional licensing exams for attorneys,
physicians and nurses. Among those tests are the SAT®, PSAT®, ACT®,
GRE®, GMAT®, LSAT®, MCAT®, NCLEX-RN® and bar exams. Kaplan also
provides private tutoring and graduate admissions consulting
services.
Note to editors: Kaplan is a subsidiary of Graham Holdings
Company (NYSE: GHC)
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Press:Russell
Schafferrussell.schaffer@kaplan.com212-453-7538
Twitter: @KapTestNews, @KaplanSATACT
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