students-choose-college

5 new ways students are choosing their colleges and universities


Survey reveals social choosing habits of graduating high school students; gives advice to colleges and universities

students-choose-collegeGone are the days when students chose their postsecondary education institution based off of U.S. News & World Report publications. In this mobile-enabled culture, today’s students are redefining how colleges and universities should market their offerings by using diverse online resources and social media word-of-mouth.

The 2014 Social Admissions Report, a survey of college-bound high school students, is designed to identify trends in digital, social and mobile tools represented in a student’s college search and enrollment process.

“Year after year new tools are created to help us organize, share and collaborate online,” said Uversity—a platform for social networking and higher education. “Inevitably when these tools hit the mainstream the debate begins as to the impact of these networks on the college search and recruitment process. Through thousands of student surveys and national focus groups, the Zinch, Chegg and Uversity teams have collaborated to complete the third installment of The Social Admissions Report.”

The report aims to discuss trends in student use of social media and other digital tools throughout their college search and admissions process; how students perceive their online identity relative to online expression engines; and how the latest digital trends, such as mobile, impact a student’s impression of an institution.

Survey invitations were emailed to Zinch and College Prowler high school students, includes data from 2012-13, and the 1,800 surveys completed include students that graduated in 2012-13 (40 percent) and students that will graduate in 2014-15 (60 percent).

Notable findings of the report include five ways students are redefining their college and university selection process, as well as key actions postsecondary institutions should take to help their student recruitment process:

(Next page: 5 ways students are choosing colleges and universities)

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