More students utilize social media for information about colleges, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Earlier this month, the publication reported that the number of students using social media websites and applications to learn about colleges has more than doubled in the last four years.
The Art and Science Group, a higher-education consulting firm, conducted a survey in November and December of 2012 and found that 44 percent of prospective college students had used social media sites as an aid in their college searches—an increase of 26 percent since 2008.
Thomas Griffin, director of Undergraduate Admissions at N.C. State, said social media is a tool a lot of people are investigating. According to Griffin, social media websites are necessary because students want to receive information from multiple channels.
“Students are consuming much information from multimedia nowadays,” Griffin said.
In times without social media, it was more difficult for students and parents to find out about universities, Griffin said. It was also harder for representatives from admissions to spread the word about their colleges.
“We still get people who call on the phone and use more traditional outlets, but social media is one more way to communicate—one more way we have to reach out to students,” said Griffin.
The Art and Science Group reported that more students utilized social media during their college search to learn about a college’s scene and student body rather than its academics and reputation.
To help spread the word about N.C. State, Griffin said the admissions department uses Twitter. The account @ncsuadmissions has more than 1,800 followers and informs followers about student life and campus events.
Griffin said the department also blogs. Collegebound.net recently rated the N.C. State Undergraduate Admissions blog one of the top 22 college blogs to read for its “informative and entertaining reads.”
Students such as Will Sutton, a sophomore in agriculture business management, use social media to stay informed about events at N.C. State. Sutton said he uses Facebook and Twitter to keep up with college meetings and recreational events.
“Social media informs you of important events that go on throughout campus,” said Sutton.
However, not all students use social media to inform themselves about colleges or college events.
Jessica Goolsby, a senior in criminology, said she uses Twitter to follow sports fan pages, which keep her updated on games and scores. But she didn’t use social media to research the University. Goolsby said she only used Google to research N.C. State before choosing to apply.
Likewise, Tera Thompson, a freshman in First Year College, said social media did not play a role in her decision to attend N.C. State. It was only after she officially chose N.C. State that she began using social media as a resource to keep up with university events.
The Art and Science report was based on a random national sample of SAT takers planning to attend a four-year college. Thirty-nine thousand prospective students were asked to take the survey and 1,138 contributed.
