? 1. Confirm your search status: If you just started searching, this may not be a good time to contact alumni. After all, there are thousands of potential colleges and universities to study. However, you can collect school-specific insights from websites such as Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr. Pay attention to the tone and intonation of the online conversation between students and alumni. Once you have compiled a short list of universities, it's time to find a more personal account for each school.
? 2. Pay attention to contact with the nearest alumni: the purpose is to talk to the fresh graduates first, and they can provide you with the latest college or university information. Social media is usually a good place to start a search. Most schools have alumni Facebook groups, and LinkedIn is also a particularly useful platform. Its search tool can help you narrow down your query, so that you can find alumni who meet your interests. For example, if you plan to get a science degree, business school graduates may not be able to provide the most relevant insights.
You may find that not everyone is excited to talk to you, or not everyone has time to answer your questions. If you want to avoid this possibility, you can contact your alumni organization.
For a primary school far from home, you may not find anyone who can pick you up in person. Instead, you may find online contacts who are willing to answer your questions through email or video chat.
? 3. Work out your method: Most alumni associations are happy to discuss their alma mater. For many people, college is a wonderful experience, and they are glad to welcome you to join us. Having said that, we live in an era of online fraud, and individuals may be vigilant when strangers on the Internet approach. If you use social media to communicate, please make sure that you have a legitimate profile so that your potential contacts can see who contacted him or her.
Your first comment should be very short. This is the template you can use:
"Dear [name], I am a high school student, and I will start college in [year]. I saw you attend [school] on [LinkedIn/ Facebook]. I am studying my college candidate list, and I wonder if you would like to answer some short questions about your experience in [school]. "
Never mind, you may need to send messages to several people to find someone to talk to.
? 4. Seeking truth from facts: The purpose of contacting alumni is not to get objective information. Alumni, doing their best, will be biased. That's good. Your goal is to understand the life of a specific university, even the life of a specific course or major. Ask some open-ended questions, such as "What is your favorite school memory?" Or "What do you want the school to be different?"
Pay special attention to alumni's views on your most important academic and social aspects, but this usually does not appear in official university publications. After all, no school will promote a dangerous crime-ridden community a few blocks away, or a social culture that is difficult to learn on weekends.
Although most alumni associations become supporters of their schools, they still share a lot of information that you can't find anywhere else.