Updated 9.5.2025
One phrase we see all the time in social intelligence research about college admissions is “chance me.” It appears on Reddit and College Confidential when prospective students ask other students to evaluate their academic and extra curricular record alongside a potential college list and speculate on the original poster’s (OP) chances for admission.
These posts reveal the level of anxiety applicants feel about the “black box” of college admissions and the lack of understanding that not all admissions are competitive, but also the value students put on opinions from peers—even if these peers are strangers on the internet they’ve never met.
In the last ten years, peer-to-peer online conversation about admissions has increased more than 10x. Peers are your students’ most trusted source—using the information and advice from forums to drive decisions. Chance Me posts are an example of how students crowdsource information. They share their academic merits, demographics, test scores, extracurricular activities, awards, letters of recommendation, etc., then ask: “What are my chances of getting in?”
Students write Chance Me posts hoping to find stories and insights from others with similar backgrounds and aspirations. In doing so, they reveal just how many different journeys and backgrounds are represented in the admissions conversation.
- Students planning for college since freshman year of high school, such as this rising eleventh grader with what many consider a competitive "portfolio.”
- Successful students who think they are average or below average (according to commenters) because they’re intimidated by the stats they see from others.
- Students typically thought of as over-achievers but still told they have "no shot" at their dream school—UNC in this case.
- International students, like these from Egypt and India, who want to apply in the U.S.
- Students waitlisted or rejected and desperate for additional schools to apply to.
- Naysayers with first- or second-hand insight who disagree with the general consensus that a poster's stats are impressive.
- Rural or first-gen students who want advice on where to apply.
- Parents who want advice on target schools for their children.
With the increase in peer-to-peer conversation, what students say online is just as important as what they don’t say. If campuses notice a pattern where prospective students don’t consider their institution even with strong alignment, it could indicate low brand awareness.
The rise of r/ChanceMe
r/ChanceMe became an official subreddit in June 2014, but growth was slow and many Chance Me posts occurred on College Confidential or the more popular r/ApplyingToCollege. But like other higher ed-focused subreddits, it grew exponentially beginning with the start of the 2017–2018 recruiting cycle—partially fueled by r/ApplyingToCollege removing Chance Me posts in 2017. The subreddit now has 112,000 members and is in the top 2% of subreddits, but it’s still unknown to many admissions professionals, student success, and marketing staff.
Professionals who are aware of the phenomenon are often dismissive of the practice because of the nuances involved in admissions decisions—no one outside of an admissions office can predict the outcome of an application. This sense of misaligned expectations was part of the decision to ban Chance Me posts from r/ApplyingToCollege. There’s also a concern that students with life experiences and applications that might appeal to admissions become discouraged from applying based on responses to their Chance Me posts. This hasn’t stopped students from posting Chance Mes, or using peer responses to inform their decision making.
Some prospective and admitted students also dislike the idea of Chance Me posts because they see the practice as a request for validation. But responses can also include pep talks from peers and encouraging advice from parents.
Opportunities to leverage forum posts
Forum posts offer an incredible opportunity for market research and competitive intelligence. And prioritizing forum spaces in outreach strategies increases the likelihood that questions are met with informed, accurate responses.
Discover Market and Competitive Intelligence
Threads from forum posts often provide insight to how audiences perceive and talk about your campus. Reviewing these spaces enables you to confirm the accuracy of information, inform brand awareness and insights, and gather information on your competitive set.
Campuses often want to know, ”What are our competitors not hearing that we’re hearing first?” Leveraging Reddit conversations to learn directly from prospective and current students about competitors is an opportunity to gain insight and further differentiate your campus. The findings can inform program positioning and brand messaging, and may even offer solutions to common pain points.
- Prospective students often share perceived competitors when they discuss their enrollment decisions, like in this example. Track these institutions to compare against your internal list of competitors to identify trends. The mentions can highlight marketing opportunities for your programs to increase differentiation.
- Chance Me posts for medical or law schools often include an expansive list of campuses. Use context to understand your positioning compared to others on the list, then refine your strategy and position accordingly. Then use the insights to ensure your messaging and positioning work to your advantage. Knowing your position in the market helps you confidently put resources toward attracting the right-fit students for your institution.
- Think about your differentiators and what’s not mentioned along with your campus, then deepen your understanding of student perspectives so you can better clarify your differentiators. If you’re a liberal arts college, but students continuously overlook your right fit university, consider how you can develop content and messaging to highlight your liberal arts lens via your owned channels.
Deploy Your Student Ambassadors
Students use Reddit to seek community, information, and advice from people who live and look like them. Leverage student ambassadors as storytellers who can discuss their personal experiences. Authentic stories impact awareness and allow prospective students to be well-informed about how and when to ask for help or assistance finding their community.
- Activate current students, formally or informally, to share insights in forum spaces and bolster perceptions of programs, colleges, and related opportunities. Ensure online ambassadors have access to accurate and up-to-date information to hold credibility with audiences and encourage them to engage with prospective students in your subreddit conversations. When an accepted student wanted to know more about a masters program at NC State, an ambassador offered a helpful response with more details, career opportunities, and support.
- Forum engagement isn’t just for admissions teams and enrollment managers. Encourage other key departments to listen in these spaces to help build a sense of community. International students often look for guidance online, and acknowledging them in virtual spaces can help them start feeling more connected to the university.
Evaluating the conversations that come up in these spaces can shape communications strategies, allowing you to deliver more targeted messages that resonate with timely needs. Get insights and trends from a decade of social intelligence research on the college admissions decision.
