However, a new survey of aspiring b-school students in the US has revealed the majority of applicants feel they have little to fear when it comes to reviews of their posts on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok.
Among the 306 prospective students who were surveyed during the Manhattan Prep/Kaplan study, two-thirds said their chances of success would not be impacted if an admissions officer reviewed all of their social media posts.
Many ambitious professionals use social media to build their professional brand and a further 22% of survey participants said full access to their social media would actually help their chances. Some admissions candidates did express concern, however, with 12% saying it would hurt their admissions prospects.
“The vast majority of today’s business school applicants are millennials and Gen Zers who grew up on social media, regularly using it to tell stories, share, and express themselves, so it’s not too surprising that most are comfortable with admissions officers evaluating them on the content they post,” said Stacey Koprince, director of content and curriculum at Manhattan Prep.
“It is notable that some respondents told us that they are concerned their political views shared on social media might be held against them,” she added.
When quizzed if they would take action to delete social media posts and scrub their profiles before applying to business school, just 3% of participants responded with “definitely”, while 10% said “probably” and 35% said “probably not”. An additional 13% of prospective students were unsure.
Asked whether they felt it was fair for admissions teams to review social media posts as part of the application process, 59% felt it was while 41% said it shouldn’t be done due to concerns over privacy.
