Imagine how much easier life would have been your last few months in high school without your parents nagging about which college you were going to attend.
You probably spent hours in your room “researching” various colleges, a task otherwise referred to as “playing on Facebook.”
Now there is an app on Facebook called “AdmissionSplash,” which basically gives you your chances of being accepted into the college of your dreams.
Up until just recently, though, there was no way of knowing if your grades, SAT scores and extracurricular activities would be enough to get you accepted into a university.
By collecting your grades, activities and college goals, the app promises to give you a score as to whether or not you will be accepted into the school or schools you choose.
The likelihood ranges from “very poor” to “great,” depending on what the AdmissionSplash app believes are your strengths and weaknesses.
The company, Splash Networks, has set the goal of making choosing a college easier on prospective students and ultimately hopes to save them money on the application fees which typically range upwards of $45, per university.
If a student has a “very poor” chance of getting accepted, based on their grades and other statistics, then it is probably not the best idea to spend the money and all the time that is required in writing the individualized essay.
The University of Tampa is a university supported by AdmissionSplash, so I decided to try it out on myself.
I first was asked to enter my unweighted high school GPA, choose the tests I had taken (out of the SAT, ACT, PSAT and TOEFL), then I entered my scores for each section of those tests, entered my anticipated major and some personal information, including my name, high school graduation year, gender and email address.
A tab at the bottom will let you enter in even more information to give you back the best results and these questions range from your ethnicity, religion, your involvement in clubs and sports in high school and then your planned involvement once you enter college.
I received the score of a “great” chance of being accepted to UT.
This prompted me to do some research and ask my fellow peers and admissions staff what they thought about Splash Network’s latest app.
Stephanie Bihr, admissions counselor and social media counselor, had a few things to say.
Having heard about it before our interview through National Public Radio, she thought it was interesting, but was concerned as to where they get their information.
“Private schools are very different from public schools and most schools have specific admissions criteria, which is not typically posted,” Bihr said. She went on to say that UT has a holistic approach to admitting students.
They look at each student’s information individually and they don’t look at each major the same.
“The University has a lot of different majors. Bio chemistry is different from an art major, because there are different requirements and criteria for each,” Bihr said.
Bihr said that the AdmissionSplash app is a great resource, but not a definite answer as to whether a student should apply to a certain school or not.
Bihr even went on to say that UT is looking at integrating more technology on campus and said an “admissions” app should be available by next summer, giving students the ability to take a virtual tour of campus and even talk with other perspective peers before the start of their first semester.
In development tests, the AdmissionSplash app has success statistics upwards of 85 percent, where the app said they would be admitted and where they actually went.
Currently, Splash Networks has over 1,500 colleges and universities around the U.S., programmed to give the student their results back immediately.
The app could also be used as a great resource for students continuing their education, looking for a graduate program, and students looking to transfer.
Students around campus had other ideas about the app. Danny Ritter, a freshman, said, “It sounds like a cool idea, but Facebook stuff is usually shady and I don’t put information like that in [apps].”
Ariston Carter felt almost exactly the same way.
“I’m not sure, I rarely use apps on Facebook. I think I would be especially hesitant about that one,” Carter said.
Mackenzie Parish on the other hand said it would have been “really helpful [during] senior year of high school.”
Todd Sanborn can be reached at todd.sanborn@spartans.ut.edu.