HOW HIGHLY COMPETITIVE COLLEGES ADMIT THEIR STUDENTS A typical admissions committee at a highly selective college meets throughout March to evaluate each applicant's record: (a) high school transcript (b) standardized test scores (Over 800 colleges and universities nationwide have eliminated or de- emphasized test scores in the admissions process because, according to a report published by the Educational Conservancy, “Test scores do not equal merit” and “high school achievement is paramount in the admissions equation.”) (c) recommendations from high school counselor, teachers (d) statement of primary interests and goals; student essay (e) student’s extracurricular activities (f) personal qualities as reflected in a college interview and through essays and recommendations (g) a student’s demonstrated interest in the school The application is generally read by three members of the admissions committee. The student, for example, may be rated on a scale of 1 to 5 on academic quality, personal strengths and extracurricular commitments, with 15 as a perfect score. In terms of academic quality, they want to know: can this person do the work here? What will this person contribute in the classroom? Has the student taken full advantage of the academic program at his/her school? Academic quality is the FIRST thing an admissions officer looks at when considering a candidate. Personal attributes are harder to measure. The admissions committee wants to determine what the student will contribute outside the classroom and how he/she stacks up on initiative, achievement, interests. Often the needs and priorities of the particular college carry considerable weight. Certain groups receive special consideration: athletes who are talented enough to play at the college level; minority students; and alumni children. In some cases, the children of blue-collar families, especially those with no college background and from geographical areas that add diversity to the campus, get preferential treatment. Special attention may also go to school leaders, students with special artistic or musical talents, and children of V.I.P.s. Schools are looking for heavy involvement in one or two areas rather than for meaningless membership in half a dozen clubs. Ultimately, colleges want to see students who have pursued their interests and used their time in a meaningful way. At competitive schools many of the applicants are rejected after the first three readings. The most qualified are accepted without further discussion. The majority are discussed one by one and voted upon. Usually one member of the admissions committee presents the applicant and acts as his/her advocate. Yes, College Admissions Officers Do Look at Applicants' Social Media, Survey Finds Education Week Digital Education By Alyson Klein on January 13, 2020 5:12 PM Guidance counselors often warn their students that college admissions officers may be taking a peek at their social media accounts. And a new survey confirms their cautions. More than a third of the nearly 300 college admissions officers surveyed by the Kaplan Test Prep company say they have visited sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube to get more information about a prospective student. That's up from 25 percent last year, but down a bit since 2015, when 40 percent of admissions officers said they used social media to inform admissions decisions. However, only 1 in 5 admissions officers say they look at social media profiles "very often" or "somewhat often." About 80 percent say they do it "somewhat rarely" or "very rarely." And what admissions officers find is just as likely to help a student as to hurt them. In fact, 37.9 percent of admissions officers say they found something in an applicants' social media profile that helped the prospective student's cause, compared to 32.3 percent who say they found something that hurt an applicant. So what helps? Volunteer work. Awards. Performances. And what hurts? Unsurprisingly, photos or evidence of a student underage drinking, partying, or sharing offensive thoughts can hinder an applicant's chances. Case in point: In 2017, Harvard University withdrew admissions offers to at least 10 students who traded sexually and racially charged memes in a private Facebook group. The name of the group: "Harvard memes for horny bourgeois teens," according to the student paper, the Harvard Crimson. The memes and messages traded by students in the group included ones that made fun of sexual assault, the Holocaust, and the deaths of children, the Crimson said. Similarly, Harvard also yanked an admissions offer for Kyle Kashuv, a conservative activist and survivor of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., when it became clear that he had sent racist Tweets. Interestingly, the majority of students—70 percent—think it's OK for college admissions officers to check them out on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. But only 59 percent of admissions personnel say that those sites are fair game, according to the survey. By contrast, 41 percent of admissions officers say that it's "an invasion of privacy that shouldn't be done." So should students spend hours tweaking their social media presence so that they look like the ideal applicant? No, SAT and ACT scores, grades, extracurriculars and essays still matter far more, Kaplan says in a video. "We continue to believe that applicants' social media content remains a wild card in the admissions process," said Sam Pritchard, director of college prep programs at Kaplan Test Prep, in a statement. "Our consistent advice to teens is to remain careful and strategic about what they decide to share. In 25 years, you'll definitely remember where you graduated college from, but you'll unlikely remember how many people liked that photo of what you did over winter break." Image: Getty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1bYdw4LjyY Kaplan Survey: Percentage of Admissions Officers Visiting Applicants' Social Media Profiles on Rise .