Will being active on social media lower my chances of acceptance?

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

Hello all,

I’d like to pose an interesting question just to see what some people think. It’s 2015, and many American teenagers are actively present on social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

However, many of those networks have privacy options that can be enabled in order to “hide” from schools (Although how much you can really hide is up to debate).

But what about social networks where the goal is to reach as many people as possible? I’m talking about YouTube here. By enabling privacy settings on YouTube, you defeat the whole purpose of the site.

The reason I’m asking this is because I have personally been interested in two possible prospects, and I wanted to hear some opinions on them:

  1. I want to start a history podcast. I want to do this for two reasons - namely, to provide a combination of entertainment and knowledge to those lulled by traditional methods of teaching history, and to put it on my college application. I personally don’t know anyone who’s done anything like it, and I think colleges would appreciate the singularity of that feat, especially if I was able to get a reasonable viewer base (in the thousands, ideally).

  2. I’d like to make gaming videos. I’d like to do this simply because I enjoy gaming as a hobby, and I really enjoy talking about video games with other people. Unfortunately, however, popular culture seems to reject gaming as a form of media for geeks with no talent. I’m worried that colleges would follow that trend.

So there’s that. The question here is, what would colleges think? Is there any reason why they wouldn’t like the notion of a history podcast? If they discovered an applicant’s gaming channel, would colleges reject the applicant for his seemingly frivolous use of time?

At the end of the day, I’ll make my own judgements about the issues presented above, but I’d like to hear what others have to say.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post.

2

Do what you want with your time. I see no reason why they wouldnt like the idea of a history podcast, though I would not do it for the sole purpose of college apps. If you are worried about the association with gaming, you could make two separate channels, which would probably make sense given the different fanbases anyway. I seriously doubt colleges have the extra time to look up youtube channels of their applicants nor would it be easy to identify if you dont use your real name.

3

I doubt that, even if colleges should look, they would find anything wrong with the things you mentioned. Just don’t post nude pics of yourself or videos of you smoking weed or something stupid like that. And like @shawnspencer said, I doubt colleges would -or even could - look up youtube channels of applicants.

4

@Logic0629‌ I doubt it would lower your chances. A history podcast would definitely be very cool (if you end up going through with it, let me know, because I’d love to watch it!)

Gaming’s probably fine too. Like @albert69‌ said, it’s not like you’re posting videos of you doing illegal stuff or anything. FWIW, there was a guy who got into Stanford and one of his main ECs was the Neopets fansite he started.

5

The only way it will impact addmision is if you are on it constantly and it affects your grades.

6

I’ve debated starting a youtube channel and honestly, I would put that on a college application as a job/E.C. I mean, the only social media thing colleges care about is how you present yourself on it, like posting pictures of alcohol, drugs, etc. If you spend a bunch of positive time on it they do not care, you just need to make sure it doesn’t effect your grades. YouTube is a great creative outlet, I say go for it! Best to you :slight_smile: