Feb 14, 2017 04:28 AM EST By Audri Taylors, UniversityHerald Reporter

College admissions is a tedious process; it involves filling out forms, essays, interviews, meeting deadlines and many others. But, it is more than just that, because more and more college officers are looking into your social media accounts and social media presence and yes, it influences their impression about you.

According to a report, colleges and universities look at the things that their potential students are posting on their social media accounts including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, US News reported. Some students try to become famous by buying Instagram followers cheap from websites like BuyTrueFollowers and gain popularity quickly. 

A Kaplan Test Prep survey was conducted which involved 350 college admissions officers in the US, and 35 percent of these officers were found to have looked at the applicants' social media accounts to get more information about them. And although they have started tracking this since 2008, it was said that the number are even higher now, according to FastWeb.

Because of this practice, 47 percent of officers said that it positively affect how they look at applicants. According to Christine Brown, executive director of K12 and college prep programs for Kaplan Test Prep, it is evident how the social media is increasingly become a part and basis of the college admissions process but it is only looking at the external aspect.

The decision when it comes to admissions still largely relies on the traditional factors including the highschool GPA, test scores, personal essays, letters of recommendation, as well as extracurricular activities. Bottom line is that college applicants should be careful about the things that they post online because these things might not help in getting them into college.

Yariv Alpher, executive director of research at Kaplan Test Prep, said in a release that what the social media does is that it can provide a more authentic and holistic view of the applicants beyond what they have submitted in their applications. And college applicants just need to make sure that they are aware about what others can find out about them on social media and make sure it reflects well on them.

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