Social Media and Admission Decisions

Social Media and Admission Decisions April 29 The Director of Ivy Coach is quoted today on the pages of the University of Pennsylvanias newspaper. Brian Taylor, Director of Ivy Coach, is featured today on the pages of The Daily Pennsylvanian, the newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania. In the piece by Caroline Simon entitled Social media plays increasing role in admissions, Simon writes about how admissions officers are increasingly turning to social media to do their own form of background checks on applicants. This can include perusing an applicants Facebook page, Twitter handle, you name itthey can check it. So, it should go without saying, be mindful of what you choose to post on social media as you apply to college. As quoted in the piece in The Daily Pennsylvanian: Brian Taylor,  director of The Ivy Coach, a New York-based college consulting firm,  said that although the majority of social media accounts are not checked due to time constraints, admissions officers will investigate if any concerns are raised about a particular applicant.  For example, if a jealous student at an applicant’s high school contacts the admissions office of the school that the applicant is hoping to attend with information about an offensive post that the applicant made, the admissions office will examine the social media accounts of that applicant. The article goes on to quote Brian as follows: If there’s ever a red flag raised, if they’re ever tipped off by someone about something, they will of course check that out — they have obligations to do so, Taylor said.  Although checking social media accounts is more common for admissions to graduate schools, particularly law schools, Taylor said that  it happens on the undergraduate level as well. He suggested that students ensure their accounts are clean before they begin applying to college. Don’t have open access, don’t have racy language, don’t have racy photographs, he said. Everything that goes up in high school is still going to be on Google come the time they’re [applicants] applying for jobs, Taylor said.  He added that certain violations on social media have the potential to completely end an applicant’s case for admission. If they write something racist, that’s the end of that, he said. We happen to agree. Oh wait. It seems were agreeing with ourselves. Naturally. While youre here, read about Googling and College Admission.