Social media can be a very valuable and beneficial tool in connecting with important people across the country. One positive thing that social media can provide for high school seniors getting ready to enter college next year is to find alumni from the college students will be attending.
It is a good idea for high school students to speak to recent graduates of the college they will be attending. These alumni can provide you with the most up-to-date information about a college or university.
You can connect with recent alumni as most colleges maintain a Facebook group for alumni. In addition, LinkedIn can also be a great platform. Its search tools allow you to narrow your inquiries so you can actually find those exact alumni who have interests that align with yours.
For example, you can contact an alumni in your major and find out specific information that you would like to know. Many colleges have alumni organizations through social media so you just have to do the research and try to connect with someone who you believe will be beneficial to you.
Remember that most alumni will probably be more than happy to discuss their alma mater and they will also be excited to find out that you are seriously thinking about attending the college where they had such as great experience.
If you are going to use social media to make contact with an alumni, make sure you have a legitimate profile so the alumni you are attempting to contact can see who is trying to contact him or her about the college.
If you attempt to contact an alumni, you may have to make several attempts to find someone who will speak with you so don’t get frustrated and keep trying.
Another thing to remember is that most alumni will be somewhat biased, but that is fine. Your goal is to discover what life is like at a specific college, what a particular program is like, or what it was like to focus on a specific major.
When you have the opportunity, ask questions, such as, “What is your favorite memory of the college?,” or “What do you wish the university did differently?”
Once you are able to speak with an alumni, have a list of questions ready that focus on what you would really like to know about this college that you will be spending the next four to five years attending.
Ask about the academic and social aspects of the college and focus on questions that you would not be able to find just by looking at the college website.
Contacting alumni will allow you to share their wealth of information.
If you have any questions, just give us a call.