Hi there, I'm Luna.
I'm a bit like an AI, except instead of making pictures of people with 16 fingers, I can help you find the perfect course and uni.
Would you like some help in your search?
Social media can affect how you’re perceived by friends, family and crucially, university admission departments, who ultimately have your future in their hands. So, here’s why and how you should clear up your social media before sending off your uni application.
First of all though, let’s address that burning question we know you have…
Do universities actually check social media?
Annoyingly there isn’t straight forward yes or no answer to this question.
However, just like an employer or your nosy Auntie Jean, universities do have the right to look if they want to, after all, you posting it made it accessible to anyone, including them.
And they’ve got every reason to be snoopy. Checking through your helps admissions teams learn more about you before they make their decision. Hence why you need to be cautious about what you choose to post.
Your social media presence can affect your application, in both positive and negative ways. So, it’s better to not take the risk and delete anything you think can hurt your application. Don’t let all your hard work go to waste.
As a student, you'll be representing your university and you'll have a student code of conduct to adhere to, which includes social media usage. While no university is going to expel you for posting a bad selfie, they may get involved if your posts reflect badly on the university. They may also choose to not make you an offer if they check your social media and see things that would go against the code of conduct.
Not sure what’s out there about you? It might be worth doing a quick web search of your name and see what comes up.
How to make your social media better
Check your privacy settings
This is one of the best and easiest things you can do for your social media presence. By changing your privacy settings, you can control what others will be able to see and what you want to hide. From restricted profiles which only reveals certain aspects of your profile to anyone you haven’t friended, to making your page completely invisible unless you choose to add someone, there are many ways to make your accounts private to people you don’t know. You can often also change your settings around who can tag you, and whether tagged posts will appear on your profile.
Using suitable privacy settings means you can post silly photos, ranting tweets and have fun without living in fear that the admissions team might stumble across that terrible outfit of you in a giraffe onesie.
Clean up your profile
This involves deleting anything that can be deemed as inappropriate. You’ve probably had Instagram in particular for a very long time, so now’s the time to search through your backlog of old photos and make sure none of them could be considered unsuitable. Basically, if you wouldn’t want your parents to see it, delete it.
Be aware that a simple google search of your name can be used to find your social media accounts too.
Have a professional email address
When applying to UCAS, use an up to date email address to register, ideally using your own name. While a quirky email address might not necessary get your admission straight into the bin, it certainly wouldn’t do any harm to make it professional, especially as you’ll probably use it in the future to apply for jobs.
Be careful with your comments
While you should always try and be kind when it comes to commenting on people’s profiles and pictures, whether it’s your own, your friends or complete strangers, it’s also worth watching what you say in case admissions teams read it. They may not see the funny side of rude remarks, even if your friends do.
And it’s not just worth cleaning up your social media presence for university admissions team, it’s simply just a good time to start. As your get older, your behaviour on social media becomes increasingly important, with many tales of employers hiring or firing based on staff’s social media presence. Be the hire, not the fire.
