Searching for colleges you are interested in can be stressful. There are many factors to consider, and there are so many colleges to choose from.
There are also many ways to research colleges that you are interested in, and one of those ways is through social media! Here are some tips to help you navigate researching your college choices through social media, and how to make this a beneficial resource for you!
- Figure out what you are looking for.
In order to know what colleges to look up, you should have choices ready to make the process go smoother. To pick colleges you are interested in, some important factors to look into are location, demographics, popular majors, cost, and acceptance rates.
- Look up the colleges you are interested in on social media.
Now that you have schools you’re interested in, looking up the colleges that you are interested in is the first step in picturing yourself at the school. To look colleges up, I recommend using Instagram: it’s simpler in my opinion, and you can get a lot of information from this platform (story highlights, past posts, tagged photos, and so on).
When you look at pictures of the campus, student life, and classes, you can really get a lot of information from them; such as the type of environment the school is, activities the school likes to have, and other little details you might not get from their website. If you are interested in what you have found, follow them so you can get more information about the school as they come. You can also look at their tagged posts to see student life, announcements, and other useful posts.
- Look at who they follow.
Okay, this may sound kind-of creepy, but hear me out. The people they follow are most likely going to be official sports, clubs, programs, and student accounts, as well as other college’s accounts. Looking at these accounts can help you get a bigger picture on what life at the school is like. For example, if you are interested in one of the sports, you can look at their profile and explore more about that specific sport, rather than just the school’s main profile. Also, take a look at the admissions account. Most colleges have a separate undergrad admissions account, and they post more about student’s experiences as well as updates about admissions. Especially in these times, getting updates for admissions is extremely crucial for application preparation (standardized testing requirements, application deadlines, etc.). When you look into students’ main accounts, you can also get a feel for what real student life is like. And if you’re extremely comfortable, you might be able to message them and ask questions. Looking into the other colleges they follow could also be helpful, if anything they could be colleges close to them in location, or colleges that have similar offerings (majors, acceptance rate, sports, etc.). This could help you pick more options to apply to, since they are similar to what you are looking for.
- Look at their likes and replies (Twitter). Twitter is also a useful platform to use when researching and looking into different colleges. Twitter has a feature where you can see their replies to other tweets and likes. Looking at an account's replies, you might be able to find answers to questions that you have, announcements, and other information. The same goes for their likes. You can find more information and helpful tips about their applications and college life.
- Follow places around the college (coffee shops, gyms, small businesses, etc.) Following places around the college is beneficial as well. Getting to know the environment of the school and the location is extremely important, and you can feel better about going to school in the area since you would already know about it.
- Follow/look into companies the college associates with. You might not realize it, but looking up and following companies that the college associates with is a great way to gain more information about life at college. The companies the college associates with will probably be companies/businesses that offer internships, jobs, and mentoring programs to students. Looking into these businesses and companies can help you see the opportunities they offer for students attending that college. Social media is such a beneficial tool to take advantage of, so use it! Take a few minutes out of your day to look around, gain information, and even motivation to find your dream colleges. I wish you tons of luck on your college search; hopefully you find your perfect fit!
