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How to Use Pinterest for College Prep

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pinterestSince May 2011, visitors to Pinterest have increased by 2, 702.2% and with over a million visitors every single day, it’s an excellent source for information. If you’re not using Pinterest during the college prep process, you’re neglecting a valuable tool.

Pinterest’s search tool allows you to organize articles and all kinds of information by creating boards for each topic. It’s one way to keep all your resources in one place and revisit when you need to reread the information or delve deeper.

Here are just a few ways you can use Pinterest for college prep:

Use it to keep information organized

As a parent, you’re invested in helping your student along this journey. Along the way you will be searching for all types of information about college visits, financial aid, choosing the right college, standardized testing and college applications. You can use Pinterest to organize all the information into topic specific boards as you search and learn. When you read an article that is helpful or a blog post, pin it to an appropriate board. How much simpler could that be?

Research colleges

Many colleges are creating accounts of their own (including Yale University, Drake University, University of Michigan and Texas A&M University). Some schools have multiple accounts for different departments and programs. Browsing through a college’s boards is a great way to get a candid look at the campus culture, school traditions, and student involvement. Many colleges are also adding parent-focused boards as well.

Start with some searches

If you haven’t already begun, you’ll need some place to begin; and what better place to start than with a few simple searches. Just as you do with any search engine use it to find boards that interest you and provide you with relevant material.

Here are just a few searches and look at all the information they provide:

http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=scholarships (scholarships)

http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=college%20prep (college prep)

http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=colleges (colleges)

http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=college%20search (college search)

http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=college%20visits (college visits)

Follow some boards (and or people)

Once you’ve set up your categories and begun to get organized, follow some boards. These boards will appear on your home feed as items are pinned and you can choose items to repin onto your boards. Need some help to start? Here are just a few to follow:

Suzanne Shaffer http://www.pinterest.com/suzannemshaffer/

Wendy David-Gaines http://www.pinterest.com/pocsmom

Monica Matthews http://www.pinterest.com/aidscholarship/

Gyan Devi (Scholarship Opportunity) http://www.pinterest.com/gyandevi/

Jodi Okun http://www.pinterest.com/jodiokun/

The amount of information you must assimilate during the college prep process can be overwhelming. Pinterest is another social media tool you can use to gather information. But what makes it unique is that you can organize the information and easily find it when you need it.

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Colleges and Pinterest

 

I’ve been out of the loop for more than a few months but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been listening to the buzz about Pinterest. I’ve stuck my feet in the water and have determined that it’s a visual social site. It’s all about the pictures and the action those pictures invoke, resulting in “pins” on boards. It’s an interesting concept that seems to have taken off and is boasting the title of “the fastest growing social media site”.

It’s no surprise that colleges have jumped on the bandwagon, posting pictures of their campuses to attract incoming students. However, collected data from comScore shows that the average 18-to-24 year old college student is not listed at the top of the list of visitors using Pinterest, falling behind the age group of 25-to-34 years. That hasn’t stopped colleges from getting on board and “pinning” everything from student activities to dorm room photos.

Here are just a few examples of some colleges who have taken the plunge:

The University of Washington’s Athletic Department has their own “Huskies” account, pinning everything from “The Best 4 Years of Your Life” to “Party Like a Husky” to “Huskies in Hollywood”.

Rutgers University has an account specifically directed to the interested applicants. Some of their boards include: Rutgers Traditions, Where “R” We?, Study Abroad and Notable Alumni.

 

University of South Carolina appears to be relatively new to Pinterest, but has started with pins related to their campus, sports activities and South Carolina events.

 

My personal favorite, however, was passed along to me by the parents of an incoming freshman to the University of Wisconsin. That college has set up a page for parents, perhaps the smartest use of Pinterest to date by a university, especially since a large number of Pinterest users are the parents (moms) of those college-bound teens.

 

If you’re interested, take a peek at these colleges and do your own search for the colleges that interest your student. Whether you like Pinterest or not, you have to give kudos to the colleges who are embracing this new technology. Only time will tell if it’s an effective tool to attract new students and/or inform parents.