Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Survey: Admissions Officers Check Social Media Pages, Students Don't Care

More college admissions officers are looking at applicants' social media pages, but students don't care, according to both admissions officials and high school students who responded to Kaplan Test Prep surveys earlier this year.

Kaplan polled 403 admissions officers last summer and found that 35 percent of those who responded said they had visited applicants' pages to learn more about them. That is the highest percentage since Kaplan started tracking the issue in 2008. Six years ago, only 16 percent of admissions officers who responded said they checked social media pages.

Meanwhile, a second e-mail survey of 520 students in October found that 58 percent of those who responded described their social media activity as "fair game" for admissions officers. More than a third said they thought their chances of getting into a college would be enhanced if admissions officers visited their personal sites while only 3 percent thought it would hurt their chances. Nearly two-thirds of the students who responded said it wouldn't matter much one way or the other.

Kaplan officials said the survey results indicate that, as social media use becomes more ubiquitous, there is a greater acceptance of it is as a tool by college admissions officers. At the same time, students are learning that they will be held accountable for the "digital trails" they leave behind.

In fact, 18 percent of the students surveyed said they plan to use their social media channels to enhance their chances of college admission.

Paralleling that survey finding is the discovery that only 16 percent of the admissions officers surveyed reported finding things that would negatively impact applicants' chances of admissions — compared to 30 percent last year and 35 percent two years ago.

Still, Kaplan Test Prep representatives said social media activity is not playing any kind of significant role in the decisions admissions officials make.

"Admissions chances are still overwhelmingly decided by the traditional factors of high school GPA, standardized test scores, letters of recommendation, personal essays and extracurricular activities," said Christine Brown, executive director of K-12 and college prep programs for Kaplan Test Prep. "The bottom line for student is that what you post online likely won't get you into college, but it just might keep you out."

The college admissions officers surveyed by Kaplan Test Prep were from colleges and universities mentioned in the U.S. News & World Report's most recent survey of higher education. Students surveyed had all taken Kaplan's SAT prep course.

About the Author

Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.

Featured

  • artificial intelligence on laptop

    OpenAI Plans to Combine AI Products into Desktop 'Superapp'

    OpenAI is reportedly developing a desktop application that would incorporate several of its emerging AI products into a single platform, according to reports, marking the latest step in the company's effort to transform ChatGPT from a standalone chatbot into a broader productivity and automation environment.

  • Engineering team implements digital guardrails on AI

    3 Starting Points for Integrating AI Guardrails in K-12 Districts

    As education leaders start to craft an AI policy that is both practical and flexible enough to evolve with this fast-changing technology, there is at least one principle that should be foundational: AI should serve to augment human critical thinking and creativity but never replace human interaction and decision-making.

  • abstract smartphone translucent screen displaying AI interface

    Apple Unveils Redesigned Siri AI

    At its recent Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced Siri AI, a redesigned version of its voice assistant that Apple describes in its own announcement as "a profoundly more capable and personal assistant." The update is intended to make Siri more conversational, more context-aware, and more useful across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro.

  • circuit patterns

    Anthropic Intros Lower-Cost Claude Sonnet 5

    Anthropic has launched Claude Sonnet 5, positioning the model as its most autonomous mid-tier offering to date and a lower-cost alternative to its flagship Opus 4.8 system. The company said the model can plan multi-step tasks, operate tools such as browsers and terminals, and complete agentic work at a level that previously required larger and more expensive models.