College application season is underway. The 2026–27 Common App opened Aug. 1, giving students access to the current application as they encounter a steady stream of admissions advice across TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, and other social platforms. Common App had already released its official 2026–27 essay prompts in February.
Social media is also part of how some students research the admissions process. Lisa McLaughlin, a longtime admissions professional, told Town & Country in an Aug. 4, 2026, report that students she asks about admissions information increasingly point to TikTok and Reddit rather than the previous year's graduating class.
That observation does not establish how many applicants rely on social media or how TikTok compares with counselors, search engines, or college websites. A 2025 peer-reviewed content analysis does, however, describe TikTok as functioning as a search tool for Gen Z users, showing how the platform can shape the information young people encounter.
Social media can surface useful ideas and firsthand experiences. But when a claim could affect where, when, or how a student applies, the next step should be verification.
Why students turn to social media for admissions advice
College admissions content fits naturally into short-form social media. Students can search for essay ideas, campus experiences, scholarship information, application advice, financial-aid explanations, and personal accounts from people who recently went through the process.
It is also available when a counselor or admissions office may not be. Hollee Becker, a New Jersey college admissions coach, told Town & Country that her own children encouraged her to begin posting on TikTok before she expanded to Instagram. Audrey Wisch, founder of the student-mentoring platform Curious Cardinals, described college content as especially suited to social media because admissions combines students' hopes with their anxieties.
That personal perspective can be useful, but it is not an official policy.
One student's experience at a university cannot establish another school's requirements. An acceptance or rejection video cannot reveal every factor admissions officers considered. Advice that worked for one applicant does not become a rule because a video received thousands of views.
Claims about deadlines, testing requirements, application materials, scholarships, costs, or admissions policies should be checked against the institution or organization responsible for them.
What research says about college content online
Research from College Access: Research & Action (CARA) found differences in how young people encounter college information on social media. Students who deliberately searched for college content could find useful information and perspectives, while students who did not actively seek it out were more likely to encounter the most viral material, which researchers found was overwhelmingly negative.
Social media can therefore expand access to college information, including for students who may have fewer sources of guidance through family or school. But useful information can appear beside incomplete, inaccurate, or oversimplified claims.
Negative college content is not necessarily inaccurate, either. Sentiment and factual accuracy are separate questions.
In an analysis of roughly 13,000 online conversations about the value of college during the second half of 2023, Campus Sonar found that only 7% were positive. The findings describe public sentiment about higher education, not the accuracy of individual social-media claims about admissions, scholarships, or costs.
Students may already have difficulty sorting reliable college information from biased information. A 2023 NACAC/Harris Poll of 1,010 U.S. residents ages 16 to 22 found that 68% had difficulty finding unbiased information about colleges. The same survey found that 62% associated selectivity with quality and 65% believed earning a college degree was worth the cost.
Because that survey was conducted in 2023, those findings are best treated as a snapshot of attitudes at the time rather than a measurement of how students feel in 2026.
How to verify TikTok college admissions advice
Start by identifying exactly what a video claims, then check the source with the authority to confirm it.
Admissions chances and testing policies
Claims such as "this GPA will get you in" or "test optional isn't really optional" should be checked against the college's current admissions website.
Look for its testing policy and, when available, an admitted-student profile for the relevant application cycle. Published GPA or test-score ranges describe students who were admitted; they do not establish guaranteed thresholds.
Suppose a video claims that a 1350 SAT score guarantees admission to a university whose published middle 50% range is 1280 to 1420. A 1350 would fall within that range, but it would not guarantee admission. The profile also cannot show how every part of an individual applicant's file affected the decision.
Application requirements and deadlines
Check the college's current admissions page and application portal for deadlines, supplemental essays, required materials, and available application plans.
Do not assume a deadline or requirement mentioned for one college applies to another. Early Decision, Early Action, Regular Decision, supplemental essays, recommendation requirements, and testing policies can differ by institution.
Application platforms can confirm their own materials, but individual colleges remain responsible for their institutional requirements.
Scholarships and financial aid
A video promising a "hidden scholarship" or quoting a specific award amount should lead back to the scholarship provider or the college's official financial-aid page.
Students should also distinguish a school's advertised price from what they may actually pay. Federal Student Aid recommends using net price when comparing schools and reviewing the financial aid included in each offer. Its guide to evaluating financial-aid offers explains how to compare costs and aid between institutions.
Eligibility requirements, deadlines, grants, scholarships, and institutional aid vary by student and school. Someone else's award amount cannot substitute for an individual financial-aid offer.
Student loans and college costs
Viral stories about unusually high student debt need context.
Before comparing another student's borrowing with your own situation, check the person's degree level, institution, financial aid, amount borrowed, and whether the figure represents the school's published price or what the student actually paid after grants and scholarships.
For your own estimate, start with the college's cost of attendance, net-price calculator, financial-aid information, and available borrowing data. Those figures are more useful than another student's best- or worst-case experience.
Verify before an admissions claim changes your plans
There is no reliable national figure showing what percentage of college applicants rely on TikTok for admissions information. The available research supports a more limited conclusion: social media can fill information gaps, but the advice students encounter may lack the context needed to make an application or financial decision.
That does not mean students need to avoid TikTok, Reddit, Instagram, or admissions creators. Personal experiences can reveal useful questions to ask, show what campus life looks like, and introduce students to parts of the application process they had not considered.
The line to watch is the one between experience and fact.
An acceptance statistic, testing requirement, application deadline, scholarship claim, or cost estimate can be checked against the college, application platform, scholarship provider, or government source responsible for it. If a social-media claim could change where you apply, what you submit, when you apply, or how much you expect to pay, verify it before making the decision.