Social Media and College Admissions:
The First Longitudinal Study

Conducted By: Eric Mattson, Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D.

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research recently conducted one of the first statistically significant, longitudinal studies on the usage of social media by college admissions offices. The new study compares adoption of social media between 2007 and 2008 by the admissions offices of all the four-year accredited institutions in the United States. The colleges and universities were identified using a directory compiled by the University of Texas.

This study revisits the admissions offices at institutions of higher education approximately one year later in the first longitudinal study on college admissions and the use of these new technologies. Given that a detailed wiki and a new longitudinal University of Massachusetts study now show that 13% of the Fortune 500 and 39% of the Inc. 500 currently have a public blog, it is interesting to note that college admissions departments continue to lead the pack with blogs at 41% of US colleges and universities.

There is evidence of enthusiasm and eagerness to embrace these new communications tools but there is also evidence that these powerful tools are not being utilized to their potential. Schools using social media must learn the “rules of engagement” in the online world in order to maximize their effectiveness.

A further summary and an executive summary of the data are included in the downloads listed on this page.

Downloads

• Social Media and College Admissions: The First Longitudinal Study (PDF)
• Social Media and College Admissions: The First Longitudinal Study (DOC)