1 The Role of Social Media in College Choice Among First Generation College Students Nicholas G. Guldin A Capstone Project Presented to the Faculty of the School of Communication in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts in Public Communication Supervisor: Professor Feldman April 25, 2013
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The Role of Social Media in College Choice Among First Generation College Students
Nicholas G. Guldin
A Capstone Project
Presented to the Faculty of the School of Communication in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts in Public Communication
Supervisor: Professor Feldman
April 25, 2013
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Professor Lauren Feldman for her guidance, professional insight and enthusiasm throughout the capstone process. I would also like to thank Jill Heitzmann, Isaac Agbeshie-‐Noye, Aysha Puhl, Jonathan May and all others from both American University and George Mason University for dispersing the link to my survey and my contact information to all of the first-‐generation college students. Lastly, I would like to thank Professor Joseph Erba who helped me in discovering my capstone topic.
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Copyright
Nicholas G. Guldin
2013
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Abstract
There are more first-‐generation college students (FGCS) moving on to higher education than ever before. Various studies have been conducted on this unique group of students and the barriers they face in their college careers, but few focus on the issues they come across during the application process. FGCS do not have the resources or guidance that non-‐FGCS do; so, where are they going to gather information? This study set out to assess if FGCS are turning towards social media in an effort to find information about higher education and specific colleges they may be looking to attend. In-‐depth interviews were conducted with FGCS from American University and George Mason University to discover if social media had any effect on their decision-‐making process to go to college as well as where to go. Surveys were also distributed to FGCS at these two institutions. Results showed that social media was used by these students in various ways to learn more about the schools they currently attend.
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Table Of Contents
Introduction & Overview 6
Literature Review 7 Social Media Habit of Young People 9 Challenges Faced By FGCS 11 FGCS Social Media & Social Capital 16 University Outreach & Student Decisions 17 Theory of Planned Behavior & Situational Theory of Problem Solving/Publics 18 Methodology 22 Qualitative Results 23 From Awareness To Action 23 Sources Used In College Research 24 Were FGCS Using Social Media In Their College Research? 25 Impact Social Media Played In Decision-Making Process 27
juniors and 31 percent seniors. Students took it upon themselves to share the link
with other FGCS they knew. Basic questions were asked about the college decision-‐
making process in general. Then more specific questions were addressed to
diagnose the impact social media played. Other questions also looked to identify the
specific types of social media these FGCS used.
Qualitative Results
From Awareness To Action
Currently, these FGCS are considered internal publics because they are students at
their respective universities. In order to obtain the necessary information, these
FGCS were asked to think back to when they were external publics beginning their
journey towards college. Out of the nine interviewed FGCS, six claimed they always
knew they were going to college. Many said something similar to one of the male
respondents from GMU. “It wasn’t a decision. It was more of a fact, like the way
you’d go to elementary school or high school. That was my parents’ outlook from the
beginning.” A female student from AU claimed, “I always knew I was going to go to
college. It’s what my parents worked for. Like my purpose was to go to college.”
The other three students were always aware of college but didn’t make their official
decision to pursue it until middle school. A male FGCS from AU said, “I decided I
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wanted to go in 8th grade of middle school. I came to the conclusion that no one
would pay the rent for me and I would have to pay for myself.” The other two
females from GMU had similar situations since they were a part of a program called
the Early Identification Program (EIP), which is a preparatory program of GMU that
provides educational resources for middle school and high schools students in
Northern Virginia. One female said, “I decided I would go [to college] around 7th
grade when I was introduced to the Early Identification Program. I’m the first in my
family to even try to go to college. This was an opportunity to talk to people who
actually knew how to get there and what steps I needed to take.” This shows that all
of these FGCS were active publics by the end of middle school in terms of their
decision to go to college.
Sources Used In College Research
As active publics, these FGCS were beginning their decision-‐making process on
where to go to college. What resources did they use? Out of the nine interviewed
students, each student claimed they exhausted many options online such as College
Board, College Prowler, The Princeton Review and individual college websites. One
student said, “I found out about AU just from searching midsized colleges and AU
popped up and websites like College Prowler and College Board were really helpful.”
Another FGCS said, “I used to use College Board a lot! Just searching and doing the
searches where you put what you want and like certain things come up.”
A few FGCS also utilized personal connections to current or previous students as
well as others at AU and GMU. “My absolute best friend growing up, her cousin went
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here [AU] and graduated last year. Also my boyfriend in high school’s dad is an AU
alum and he was going to AU and he applied early decision. So that was also
someone else who I heard about it from.” Another student from GMU made
connections through the EIP program. “I was connected with some of the other
students in EIP and some older Mason students,” she said. Students explained that
these resources were more effective than others because they trusted these
connections. Hearing positive details about each campus from someone else had
more of an impact than other resources.
As discussed before, a small group of students also received help from government-‐
funded programs like EIP and Upward Bound. These programs helped them
throughout the college research process and provided them with mentors to guide
them along the way. “The connection with EIP helped me to connect with some
outside resources as well as scholarships I applied for with all my credentials.” The
student who was a part of the Upward Bound program said, “I did have Upward
Bound which is a federal program that’s for low-‐income or FGCS so the coordinator
did help me.”
Were FGCS Using Social Media In Their College Research?
All but one of the FGCS that were interviewed claimed that social media played a
role in their decision-‐making process. Facebook was the leading site in student
research. “I looked at AU’s Facebook page and I checked out their Greek life. I
definitely did that. I looked at any people that I knew who went to AU,” one female
student said. Another FGCS claimed that “just by looking at the 2015 AU Facebook
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page and looking at who was on it and seeing who was writing on the wall, it was
very easy for me to get a grasp of what kind of school it was.”
A male FGCS from GMU was impressed with the schools use of social media. He said,
“I would say from what Mason had to offer on their Facebook had an impact as well.
Obviously, it wasn’t as big then as it is now but once again the ambassadors did a
great job of posting pictures on Facebook and what not. They were on top of the
social media.” Another GMU student utilized Facebook to connect with others. “I
would send them [GMU students] a message basically out of curiosity just asking
about their major and do they like it [GMU]. What can you tell me about it? Could I
stop by sometime for you to give me a tour?” Another female student from AU
messaged a student over Facebook as well to get information about Greek life. She
said, “I did talk to someone from AU on Facebook, this girl who went to AU who lives
15 minutes from my house. She is a Delta Gamma here [AU].”
A female student from AU discussed how she used Facebook to socialize and
interact with others. “I ended up using it a lot,” she said. “I talked to a lot of people
through there and discussed all the random stuff like what are you bringing and
what do you need. Stuff like that.” Another FGCS had a similar experience; “They
[AU] have this Facebook page for prospective students so I was able to talk to a lot
of them. I got a great feel for the students.” Another AU student claimed she didn’t
even use Facebook until her college search. “I didn’t ever use Facebook until right
before I went to school. The first thing I did on Facebook was join my AU class
group. I found all these girls that I would become friends with later on there.”
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A few FGCS did use different types of social media beyond Facebook. Three students
used YouTube to find information. One male said, “I went to YouTube and looked at
college tour videos and interviews with professors.” Another female student said,
“They [AU] had one thing that I specifically remembered and that was their videos.
AU had great videos of students and professors and I thought that was really cool.”
The last student said, “You could see some pretty goofy videos of prospective
students submitting their video applications. You could see real time who your
incoming classmates would be. It’s a great way Mason connects with prospective
students.”
Another FGCS even went as far as using Instagram for her college research. “I would
look up different hashtags on Instagram like American University hashtags or
student hashtags to see a students perspective of like pictures and the social scene.”
Impact Social Media Played In Decision-Making Process
Seven out of the eight students who used social media claimed that it had a
substantial impact on their decision of where to go. “It was pretty impactful,” one
FGCS from GMU said. “In the group, everyone’s posts were like very exciting about
being a Patriot. I was in a triple so I reached out to my roommates. We were always
communicating and we were always really friendly. It made me want to come and
enjoy myself. Those positive posts made me more optimistic about being a student.”
Another student from GMU said, “Yes, because it allowed me to get a better
understanding of the campus as well as the student body that I was not able to get
from advertisements of other universities.” He then added, “I don’t remember any
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social media from any of the other institutions but I do remember what I saw from
Mason.” A FGCS from AU said, “I think social media impacted my decision a lot. It
was just nice to have that community there on Facebook.”
Two students interviewed were from out of state and claimed that YouTube and
Facebook allowed them to see the campus when they were financially not able to
visit. One of these students said, “I did go on YouTube though and looked at college
tour videos and interviews with professors. I looked at every school I applied to
online just so I could see what it looked like.”
Another student claimed, “It had a good and a bad influence. I just kind of compared
everyone who was on this page to my friends from home and it was just completely
different. I was just making generalizations but that’s what I was getting from it.
These kids are very wonky.”
Quantitative Results
Fifty-‐five FGCS responded to the survey. As expected, 80 percent of the respondents
use Facebook on a daily basis followed by YouTube at 56 percent and Twitter at 40
percent. When asked what they use social media for in this multiple answer
question, 80 percent said to socialize, while 48 percent of the respondents said to
keep up with the news, to find information about organizations and to pass the time.
When asked how they found out about the college they currently attend, 40 percent
said from a family or friend followed by 28 percent who said the college website.
None of the surveys students discovered their college over social media but this
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doesn’t mean it didn’t impact their decision-‐making process later on. When asked if
they discussed college details with friends over social media, 52 percent said they
did, while 48 percent said they did not. When asked what topics they discussed,
some said classes, finances, the college reputation, applications and school visits.
When asked if they felt social media played a role in their decision-‐making process,
32 percent said yes, while 68 percent no.
Discussion
As you can see, the findings from the quantitative survey contradict the results from
the qualitative interviews. Seven out of the nine interviewed FGCS believed social
media had an impact on their decision-‐making process, but only 32 percent of
survey respondents agreed. Over half of the surveyed students did claim that they
discussed college related issues with friends over social media, which may have
impacted their decision in some way. One possible explanation for this is that the
survey did not convey the various ways social media could have impacted their
decision well enough for the respondents to understand. Those interviewed were
able to elaborate on their answers giving them more time to think about the
question. Later on in the interview, they realized social media played a more
significant role than they originally thought.
Consistent with the situational theory of publics, all FGCS were active in their search
for information once they made the definitive decision that they wanted to go to
college. In addition, consistent with the situational theory of problem solving, the
information FGCS acquired, which in many cases came from social media, helped
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them in making their final decisions. Finally, as would be predicted by the theory of
planned behavior, once FGCS obtained enough information, they made their final
decision to go to either AU or GMU.
These FGCS used social media in many different ways to learn about each particular
school. Many used Facebook, which the survey showed as the most used social
media site by FGCS. These FGCS joined “prospective student” pages and “accepted
student” pages to interact with students and look at pictures of the students and the
campus to see if either AU or GMU was a good fit for them. A few FGCS also used
Facebook to message students they have never even met just to ask them about
their college experience thus far. Others messaged students to talk about what to
bring, what they may forget and different activities on campus for prospective
students.
Other FGCS used YouTube, which the survey showed as the second most used social
media site by FGCS, to view video tours of the campuses and interviews with current
students and professors. GMU posts the video applications of prospective students
onto YouTube giving others the opportunity to view them and get an idea of the type
of students that go there, which is something that at least one FGCS claimed was an
effective way for GMU to interact with prospective students. Another student
claimed Instagram played a role in her decision-‐making process. She used hashtags
like #americanuniversity and #AU to see pictures of the campus and also students
who were taking pictures of themselves and their friends. This helped give her an
idea of the types of students that attended AU.
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All prospective students, not only FGCS, may be using social media in similar ways,
but the previous example is unique in regards to FGCS. As previously stated, three of
the FGCS that were interviewed were from out of state and claimed that YouTube,
Facebook and Instagram allowed them to see the campus when they were
financially not able to visit. Examples like this show social media may be helping to
bridge the gap between those financially well off and those who are not, who are
typically FGCS. They took advantage of social media as a visual resource and it
played a significant role in their final decision.
Four of the FGCS that were interviewed also discussed connecting with current
students at either AU or GMU over social media to get their personal opinion of the
school. This is another great example of the difference between FGCS and non-‐FGCS.
Since non-‐FGCS are not the first person in their immediate family to go to college,
there is someone close to them who they can go to if they have questions. FGCS do
not have this luxury; so, these four students made the effort to reach out to people
over social media in order to find some answers.
Colleges and universities must take note that social media allows them not only to
connect with FGCS in ways that were not possible before, but also allows to aid
these students who are in need of help. By using social media, outreach programs
have the opportunity to interact with students in a forum where they are
comfortable. They must realize that FGCS are utilizing social media to learn more
about the schools’ students, campus life, programs and professors. By uploading
pictures and videos onto various social media sites, creating Facebook groups and
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appointing current students to be available for questions, certain schools will gain
the upper hand in acquiring more prospective FGCS.
What should they bring? How should they apply? Who can they call to ask about
loans or scholarships? All of these are potential questions that FGCS may be asking
themselves. By placing information on social media, this will greatly help FGCS
throughout this process. Based on the results of this study, outreach programs can
create a social media strategy to target FGCS and increase their chances of having
these students enroll at their schools.
Despite the important contributions of this study, there are some limitations that
should be kept in mind. Specifically, this study used a convenience sample of
students from American University and George Mason University for the both the
qualitative and quantitative research. With a larger and more representative group
of respondents, a researcher will gather more definitive results. Thus, an important
direction for future research is to replicate this study with a larger, more
representative sample drawn from a wider variety of college campuses.
Conclusion
Social media was not the only information source these FGCS used by any means,
but overall it is clear that it did play a role in their decision-‐making processes. Their
familiarity with the social media sites pushed these students to discover its uses
beyond just socialization. They began to use it to seek out information. As one
student put it, “It’s almost like if you’re not finding information at home you’re going
to go elsewhere. Social media is the place to go.”
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Many of these FGCS were determined to find answers and they exhausted all
options. Social media was one of those options and, in the end, most of them had
used it in some way even if they didn’t realize it. Even those students from GMU who
were involved in the government funded EIP program, which helped them greatly,
found ways to utilize social media to help them connect with others. Colleges and
universities around the world have an opportunity to utilize a free resource to
connect with not only FGCS but all students. Prospective students, especially FGCS,
are seeking alternate resources to find information about college. By taking
advantage of this tool, colleges and universities can reach many more prospective
students and help those who are in need of information.
This study shows Facebook is the most used social media site by FGCS and it should
be treated as such by colleges and universities using it as an outreach tool. Schools
should continue to create Facebook pages and groups, but they should also have
current students available to chat with prospective students, especially FGCS who
are seeking guidance. They should post pictures and videos to provide visuals for
these FGCS who are not financially able to visit. YouTube would be another great
place to post these videos and it would also provide a link, making it even easier to
share with others. Even sound slideshows, which are very easy to produce, could be
an effective way to provide visuals for FGCS.
The ultimate goal for a college and university is to provide FGCS with as much
information and interaction as possible on a platform where they feel comfortable.
The results from this study show that social media is that platform. The few schools
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already doing this, like AU and GMU, have successfully helped those FGCS struggling
with their decision-‐making process. By getting active on social media, other colleges
and universities can make a difference and help FGCS succeed.
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APPENDIX
Interview Questions 1) When did you decide that you wanted to go to college? Why? 2) Did anyone have a strong influence on you when you were deciding to go to
college or not? 3) Are a lot of your friends in college as well? 4) How did you hear about Flagler? 5) Why did you decide Flagler was the best place for you to go to school? 6) Did you hear about Flagler online or through social media? 7) Did you visit Flagler while you were deciding where you wanted to go? 8) Did anyone from Flagler reach out to you to inform you about certain
programs they had and such? 9) Was your decision process hard or easy? 10) Did you find a lot of information about Flagler online? 11) What attracted you the most about Flagler? 12) What social media sites do you currently use? 13) Which social media site do you use the most? 14) Did social media help you connect with anyone from Flagler while you were
deciding if you wanted to go there? 15) Did social media play a role at all in your decision making process? 16) Do you use social media more for entertainment, connecting with friends,
finding information? 17) How often are you on social media everyday?