3. Using social media can increase your admissions chances and your merit awards.

Old Way

Many admissions counselors and college planners are unaware that social media can be used in a proactive way. When social media is mentioned, it’s usually as a warning comprised of two major viewpoints: 1. Don’t do anything stupid 2. Run away and hide. We do not see the value of social media and rely instead on the college essay and transcript and test score to tell our student’s story.

Old Result

We rely on magazines, online ranking lists, internet forums (a.k.a noise) for our “college research.” Family’s insights into the colleges are fragmented, conflicting, and limited. Our students get “lost in the stack,” with no options to set themselves apart other than tired essays, subjective grades, and arbitrary test scores.

New Way

We leverage social media as a tool rather than a toy . Using social media, our students and parents get “real time” and useful data that is arguably unattainable through other means, even through a college visit. Social media allows a student to tell their story on their terms. Our students develop lifelong skills that will serve them beyond college and into their careers. Our students are not limited to 500-700 words on an essay, a GPA, or a test score.

New Result

With better data, our families and students make smarter decisions. Our students tell their story with a broader canvas, increase their visibility to the colleges and receive greater merit scholarships.

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Social media is the most misunderstood and underutilized tool in the college planning process that can increase your admissions chances and your merit awards.

We find that LinkedIn is one of the most effective tools to learn about colleges and careers.

Did you know that every college has a LinkedIn page? There is a wealth of information available to enhance your college and career search. If you major in X at college Y, you can get a job at company Z.

Social media increases your student’s visibility.

What if social media isn’t just a toy but an essential tool to tell your unique story?

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Which story do you want to tell?

GPA: 3.95

SAT: 1350

or...

More college admissions officers consider applicants’ social media profiles “fair game.”

The percentage of college admissions officers who believe that incorporating applicants social media pages into their decisions is “fair game” continues to trend upward reaching 65% in the 2020 survey of over 300 up from 59% in 2019 and 57% in 2018. - 2021 Kaplan Survey

If someone sends us a link of any kind, it doesn’t have to be from some company or some organization, if it seems relevant to making the best possible case for that person’s admission, we will certainly take a look at it ."

-William R. Fitzsimmons, Harvard’s Dean of Admissions

Over 75% of colleges monitor social media as part of their admissions & merit aid decisions.

AACRAO.ORG July 2017 (American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers)

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Danny discusses social media in an article he authored in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

This is Matthew Martratt, one of our students featured in the NY Times. The article talks about how he used social media as part of his college planning strategy.

It all started in late 2013 when a student was telling me about her visit to Elon University. She said that she tweeted about her visit and that the college tweeted back. She asked me what she should do and I did not have an answer.

I did not even know what a tweet or a hashtag even was. I did some research and realized that there was ZERO meaningful guidance when it came to social media and college admissions. We eventually cracked the code. We’ve been sharing what we know about social media since 2014 and we continue to educate our families on the latest developments.

To this day, several years later, so many in Higher Education have yet to catch on.”

Danilo Umali - Co-Founder & Principal of Game Theory College Planners

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FAQ

Isn’t it safer to just stay away from social media altogether?

Colleges are not looking at social media to find reasons to reject your student, they are looking to learn more about your student. Therefore, if your student does not have a discoverable social media presence, they are missing a golden opportunity to showcase their talents, skills, and accomplishments to college decision makers.

I don’t believe in social media for my student. There’s a lot of garbage out there and it’s dangerous.

We believe that social media education should be taught earlier rather than learned the hard way later on. The best defense to the dangers of social media is awareness. Social media isn’t some trend that is simply going away. A developed social media skillset is essential in the college search and eventually the career search.

How does my student create a LinkedIn page? They haven’t done anything yet. They don’t even have a job.

As adults, we use LinkedIn to show what we’ve done. High school students can use LinkedIn to show the colleges who they hope to become and an opportunity to give the colleges insight into their character.

Can the principles learned here be used for the parent’s own professional and career development?

Now you are getting it!

So what you are basically saying is all that I need is a LinkedIn page?

Not at all. We are simply using LinkedIn as an example. Many social media platforms can be used this way, depending on the type of career field a student pursues. Twitter is a great way to follow influencers in certain fields or related organizations. Students considering more creative careers can use Instagram or a YouTube channel.

Are colleges really looking? I can’t believe they have time to do all of this.Here

Yes. Colleges really are looking. Some colleges take a proactive stance with social media. On occasion, our students who leave their phone numbers in the “contact” section of their LinkedIn page get phone calls from the colleges. Other colleges take an approach where if “you engage us, then we will engage you.” In addition, automation and AI have allowed colleges to become more efficient with evaluating social media.

My student does not want to change their social media accounts. How will this help?

The plan is not to change their personal social media, unless we have concerns about specific and questionable content. The actual plan is to create a discoverable and professional social media presence (for colleges and future employers to have ready access) that co-exists with their personal social media accounts.

My student is not on social media. How can this help?

At the very minimum, your student will need a professional social media footprint to engage colleges and open lines of communication with future employers.