Recently I was invited by Himanshu Dev, Head, Middle East, Admissions Consulting Services, The Princeton Review to deliver a presentation on how Social Media nowadays plays an important roles in college admission process and how it can also help students portray their true self which goes beyond State of Purpose essays! Share will be highly appreciated :)

1. T H E R O L E O F
S O C I A L
M E D I A
B Y S U M I T G U P T A
I N A D M I S S I O N P R O C E S S
W W W . S U M O N I . C O M

2. O V E R V I E W
The Admission Process
Social Media
Why Social Media?
Do's
Dont's
Takeaways

3. WHO AM I?
I am a Master's student at the United States
top Information School, Syracuse University
pursuing my major in Information
Management. I have Bachelor degree in
Computer Engineering from Mumbai, India
and. Before I joined Syracuse, I was one of
you who was contemplating day in day out as
to how do I stand myself out!
W H O A M I ?
S U M O N I G U P T A
S U M O N I G U P T A
S U M O N I G U P T A
One of the ways I knew was utilizing my
social media contacts and creating a strong
influencer network which will teach me the
nitty gritty of what foreign life is all about.
SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILES:
S U M O N I G U P T A

4. T R A D I T I O N A L W A Y
Prepare for Competetive Exams
Research College
College starts accepting applications
Send Test Scores
Write Statement of Purpose/Essay
Submit Letter of Recommendations
Submit any extra curricular
certificates
Send the applications
Wait for acceptance
Traditionally Students follow these steps
for applications

5. But wait. Did we miss something?.
Y E S !
B E F O R E S E N D I N G T H E A P P L I C A T I O N D E C I S I O N S , C O L L E G E S
N O W A D A Y S A R E R E S E A R C H I N G Y O U R P R O F I L E / B A C K G R O U N D

6. College Admissions Officers Today Include
Google or Facebook in Applicant Evaluations;
1 in 4
S T A T I S T I C S

7. Social media is community­
based content sharing,
communication, interaction
and interaction tool of this
millennial age
Profile on social media
reflects applicants true
personality which usually
cannot be gauged just by
reading SOP and Test Scores
W H A T I S
S O C I A L M E D I A ?
W H Y I S I T
I M P O R T A N T ?
W H A T A N D W H Y ?

8. of Report Discovering Information that
Negatively Impacted Prospective Students’
35%
S T A T I S T I C S

9. Admissions officials are
looking at your online
profiles to get a sense of who
you truly are, so don’t hide
your interests or personality
—show them.
Admission officers don't
want someone who keeps
complaining about his/her
homework. They want
someone who is positive and
optimistic about his progress
B E
Y O U R S E L F
B E
P O S I T I V E
D O ' S

10. If there are things you don’t
want the public or
admissions officials to see,
use the privacy settings to
restrict access to a full
account or to specific posts.
If you are underage, avoid
uploading pictures where
you are participating in
behaviors that could be
perceived negatively by
colleges
U S E P R I V A C Y
S E T T I N G S
A P P R O P R I A T E
P H O T O
D O ' S

11. Almost all good colleges
nowadays have a group
created either on Facebook
or LinkedIn for potential
students to ask questions or
get their doubts cleared. Be
active in those groups
You'd be surprised to unearth
some interesting pages about
you when you google your
name. You wouldn't want
admission officer to read a
comment you left on some
random blog ranting about
something
G O O G L E
Y O U R S E L F
P A R T I C I P A T E
I N O N L I N E
G R O U P S
D O ' S

12. Underage drinking,
smoking, or worse will put
a definite damper on your
future plans

13. Using F words in our posts
sounds fun but it's never
suggested to abuse or use
curse words online. Respect
your friends/colleagues
online
Everyone has that one
friend who keeps on tagging
you in an inappropriate
photos which you won't like
to be seen on your feed/wall.
de­tag yourself from such
posts
N O C U R S E
W O R D S
D O N ' T S T A Y
T A G G E D
D O N T ' S

14. Everyone on Social Media
thinks they are Lawers,
Economists, Decision
Makers and start ranting
about any changes made in
their country. There should
be a method to the madness.
Give constructive opinion,
but don't rant
You'll at times find yourself
in hot waters where the best
way out is to insult or bully
the guy to shut him up. Play
it safe, you don't have to post
anything on his wall, take it
on personal message
D O N ' T
R A N T
D O N ' T G O
O V E R B O A R D
D O N T ' S

15. If you wouldn’t say
something in front of your
grandmother, don’t say it
online.

16. WHICH SOCIAL NETWORK
IS THE BEST?
For this webinar/discussion, out of all the
social network mentioned on the right,I
prefer LinkedIn over any other social
network for following reasons
Its professional network
High probability of finding admission
officer or professor of the university on
LinkedIn
More Impactful
Insightful
Alumni Connections
W H I C H I S T H E B E S T ?
W H A T A R E M Y O P T I O N S ?
Linkedin
Facebook
Twitter
Quora
Youtube
Snapchat

17. You'd ask, how to find the
admission
officer/professor on
LinkedIn?
L E T M E S H O W T H E D E M O F O R Y O U

18. T A K E A W A Y S
Social Media is now integral
part of College Admission
decision­making
1 in 4 College Admission Officer
nowadays include social media
for application evaluations
Do's: Be yourself, positive,
participate in college groups,
review privacy settings
Dont's: Rant, risk too much, use
curse words
LinkedIn is the best network for
increasing your reach for
admissions

19. SHH?
Questions?

20. Connect with me
S U M O N I G U P T A
S U M O N I G U P T A
S U M O N I G U P T A
SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILES:
WEBSITE: WWW.SUMONI.COM
EMAIL: MAIL@SUMONI.COM
S U M O N I G U P T A

21. T H A T ' S A L L F O L K S
T H A N K
Y O U !
S U M I T G U P T A
W W W . S U M O N I . C O M