I have hit the recruitment road once again. Currently I am up in New England and will be here for the next 16 days. I will blog about my recruitment travels sometime in the near future, and I also plan to a post a two-part re-cap of my NACAC Conference experiences later this week. So stay tuned.
For this Friday Favorites post I have a couple of interesting articles to share. This past week the Baltimore Sun posted an article entitled "College Learn to Live With Social Media" which featured quotes from yours truly and some of the Hopkins Interactive students. Click here to read the full article. An excerpt:
For admissions counselor Daniel Creasy, that story sums up how social media have changed the way colleges recruit, enroll and orient new students.
"Before they ever get to campus they can put their shoes into what it feels like to be a Hopkins student," said Creasy, who steers the university's use of Facebook, Twitter and other social media in admissions. "I hear from people all over campus that with every progressive year, the newest class is the most together and connected group that has ever showed up. They've already known each other for months."
Facebook and other social media sites have invaded college admissions in a big way. But the great rush to use social media also raises questions about privacy and appropriate relations between administrators and students. Desperate applicants might attempt to improve their admissions chances by "friending" counselors. Conversely, counselors might use social media profiles to search for red flags on certain candidates or to assemble information for targeted recruiting pitches. In 2008, a company created false Facebook sites for many universities in hopes of grabbing personal information for marketing purposes.
In my opinion, this article is one of the better ones published recently about how colleges are using social media to connect with prospective, admitted, and enrolled students -- and I am not just saying that because they interviewed me.
The other article I wanted to share is a recent New York Times piece about Admissions Student Blogging. Though it doesn't feature any details about the amazing Johns Hopkins blogging program -- Hopkins Interactive -- it is a good piece that discusses how blogging can help an admissions office recruit. The article entitled "M.I.T. Taking Students Blog to Nth Degree" is a good re-cap on how one school is using blogs and raising a number of questions including whether blogger should be paid. Click here to read the full article. Discussion on this piece continued on the New York Times Educational Blog "The Choice" with this posting: Student Bloggers Find an Unlikely Home, on Their College Web Sites.
Enjoy these articles, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on Admissions blogging in the comments section.
As I wrap-up this entry, I must fulfill a promise I made to some of the students who volunteer for me. More will be explained about this infamous picture in my coming entries about the NACAC Conference. For now just enjoy this embarrassing picture of myself:
Thanks for the articles.
Posted by: Emilee | October 15, 2009 at 06:07 PM