Almost all college students use Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Typically these sites are used for entertainment and social reasons, but they can be used for your grad school search as well.
Last week, U.S. News & World Report published an article titled, "Graduate School Applicants Use Social Media to Bypass Admissions Offices."
This article explains that prospective graduate school students are turning to social media websites to find out about programs and schools from current students and alumni. Many prospective students are more likely to trust what these people have to say about the program than the school itself.
I think current students and alumni are good people to talk to when you have questions about a program, but don't limit yourself to social media. Taking a tour of the campus and the program's facilities and meeting people in person and listening to their experiences at the particular school will always be more beneficial than reading a Tweet about the school or program.
Try talking to as many people as possible, including the director of the program, faculty members and current students. All of these people will give you insight to what the school and program are really like.
Now, go ahead and get back on Facebook, but use it to help you with your grad school search.
I like this. It reminds me of how a lot of students here at MU use Rate My Professor to find out not only about the teacher for each class but also the class itself. Also College Prowler is used too. I used to use these sites a lot and have begun to recommend them to my younger cousin and siblings in their UNDERgrad search. However I agree, using all of this online media can certainly limit the experience, and a campus visit, tour and interview is one of the better options so that the true feeling of the atmosphere is captured.
ReplyDelete