As social media becomes an essential part of modern life, college admissions offices have started to use it in the college application process. While prospective students' Twitter and Instagram accounts are not being examined by Tufts admissions officers, the admissions office is actively using social media to engage applicants.
According to Lee Coffin, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions, Tufts' admissions officers are required to refrain from considering applicants' social media profiles during the application process.
According to a survey from Kaplan Test Prep, in 2016, 40 percent of college admissions officers across the country viewed applicants’ social media profiles. In comparison, in 2012, Kaplan found that only 26 percent of 350 admissions officers surveyed visited an applicant's Facebook page. That year, only 15 percent responded that their school had official policies about assessing applicants' social media pages.
Coffin said Tufts' officers are not among them.
"Tufts admissions officers are not permitted to examine the social media pages of an applicant," he said. “If a college wants to consider social media profiles and behavior as part of the admissions process, the college should include a question about it in its application ... To me, a student’s social media profile is a personal space.”
Having worked on his school’s admissions team, Santa Clara University sophomore Kevin Xiong said that even though Santa Clara does not prohibit admission officers from viewing candidates’ social media sites, the admissions team rarely does so. When it comes to admissions, he said that content from social media is largely insignificant.
“Examining applications is very time-consuming; rarely anyone would have time to check [an applicant's] Facebook on a regular basis,” Xiong said. “[When] we do look at social media, it is usually because the student’s application appears special – such as exceptional talents and so on.”
Xiong also said that his university does not have a history of reconsidering candidates based on compromising material they might find on social media.
“We don’t usually look at social media proactively,” he said.
While Xiong has considered the possibilities of his own social media pages being viewed during an application, he is not overly concerned about what might be found there.
“They can look at it if they want to,” he said.
Zhujing Wang, a first-year student at Tufts, said that she wasn’t too worried about her social media profile being examined along with her application.
“I think [the admission officers] were too busy reading application materials,” she said.
To her, the high number of admissions officers who check applicants' social media is a surprise; Wang believes that her social media profiles will likely be more important in her future job applications than in her college admissions process.
Not only do college admissions officers increasingly use social media to learn about applicants, but prospective students are also evaluating colleges through schools’ social media accounts. Tufts has been steadily expanding its influence and engaging future students on its rapidly developing social media platforms. In 2011, Tufts was nominated by USA Today as one of the 20 colleges that make the best use of social media, a June 28, 2011 Bostlnno story said.
Though the original USA Today article no longer exists, it is clear that Tufts continues to be at the forefront of social media use among its peer universities: last semester, Tufts promoted its new Snapchat account via Twitter and through word of mouth around campus. Tufts attracted national attention - including a Feb. 22, 2010 article in the New York Times, when it became one of the first colleges to accept YouTube videos as a part of its application packages.
While Wang was applying last year, she gained information about Tufts through its Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts.
During an interview for eCampus News in 2012 Daniel Grayson, then the Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Tufts, said that “vibe” is critical to the images Tufts tries to present on its social media platforms. Though "vibe" is difficult to express in concrete terms, Grayson believes it is often a deciding factor in prospective students’ application choices.
As an Early Decision (ED) II candidate, Wang said that what she saw on Tufts’ social media influenced her decision to apply to Tufts.
“From their posts, I got a sense that Tufts is very vigorous,” Wang said.
From the release of ED I results to the start of fall semester, Tufts admissions also engages incoming Jumbos through its official Facebook Class pages, in an attempt to create a community before college life officially starts.
This year's admissions results are now rolling out, and the Facebook group for the Class of 2020 is already actively welcoming a new crop of Jumbos to the Hill.
Wang said she first heard about the Class of 2019 Facebook group through the hyperlink provided in her acceptance letter, and considers her participation in the group a positive experience.
"[It was] good to know some of [my] classmates beforehand," she said.
As social media expands, Tufts admissions avoids examining applicants' profiles
