- Social Media Sites helping Students to choose colleges and universities in a big way
- Posted By:
- Kathy H
- Posted On:
- 02-Oct-2012
-
The number of students opting for higher education has not been very inspiring in recent years, as far as our country concerned. Our nation is facing an issue with more students either opting to drop out of education or not taking it up in the first place.
Although, the issues do not seem to be very alarming, it could well turn out to be a headache if certain creative and innovative steps are not taken soon. Fortunately, many universities and colleges have been successful in coming up with some fantastic ideas that eventually inspire students to take up higher education.
Many of these higher education institutes are making use of social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter with great effect. Students all over the nation are connecting with universities and colleges via messages and blogs and this ploy certainly seems to be working real well at the moment.
These social media platforms are not only influencing students to go for higher education, but also playing a vital role in the selection process as far as colleges and universities are concerned. More often than not, students are confused between two or more institutes. Social media accounts are helping students to make the right choice.
Admission counselors all over the country are recruiting students on social networks that are very famous. Colleges that are able to successfully engage students in Twitter conversations, video chats as well as Facebook contests are pulling more students. According to a recent survey, more than half the students agreed that they were very much influenced by active social media presence to make a decision on choosing for a certain educational institute.
Students like the fact that they are able to connect with the educational counselors while sitting in the comforts of their house. These counselors are providing them with all the knowledge regarding the course, college, campus, fellow students, faculty and much more. Study reveals that students feel good to know so much about the college even before enrolling into it. This influences their decision making in a long way.
With the help of using social media platforms, students not only get to connect with the counselors and faculty members, but with other students as well. For example – a university can simply put up details of an upcoming athletic event in their campus onto popular social media sites. Potential students who are into athletics would also like to be a part of the event. These students, once enrolled for the event would invariably get a chance to know fellow students. This further increases the bonding between the potential student and the institute.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University are the three most social media savvy educational institutes in the United States. Campus events photographs, outstanding research developments and team highlights and many more such details are often shared by these institutes on social media platforms.