1. International Student Recruitment

 University of Edinburgh vs. Michigan State University

According to Top Universities, the University of Edinburgh is the first ranked university in Scotland. The university is located in the heart of downtown Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the 6th oldest university in English-speaking Europe. It has been established in 1583. 

The University of Edinburgh is known for its original medieval    architecture. Edinburgh receives more than 60,000 undergraduate applications per year. It has about 35,375 students, as of 2019-2020. Edinburgh has three different colleges, arts, and social science, medicine, and science engineering. It offers guaranteed housing for first-year undergraduate students. Another incentive they offer is a free 6-week introductory Gaelic class. Edinburgh is known in the science community for being the first institute to successfully clone a mammal, a sheep named Dolly. 

The University of Edinburgh is ranked #32 in Best Global Universities, #6 in Best Global Universities in Europe, and #5 Best Global Universities in the UK. When it comes to their subject rankings their Arts and Humanities program is #7 and their Public, Environmental, and Occupational Health program is ranked #14.

One thing that makes the University of Edinburgh stand out is its presence on social media. The only reason I know about them is because of the TikTok hashtag #edinburghuni. The first video I ever saw of the campus immediately captivated me. Like I mentioned earlier, Edinburgh is known for its beautiful, original architecture. One famous Edinburgh student on TikTok was @maddiespostcards. She just moved from Edinburgh to London, but her old content showcased the charming campus. The Edinburgh campus doesn’t have an official TikTok account, but students do an amazing job at sharing their dorms, classes, and lives on the app. 

@maddiespostcards Reply to @noadavii 🏰❄️ #maddiespostcards ♬ all too well dolby atmos - Taylor’s left toe (real)

The school has Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Their Instagram is used mainly to announce clubs, events, and notable achievements of students. They also use their Instagram to advertise their programs. The University of Edinburgh Twitter page posts the same content, but in addition, they post research and studies their students have found in the different departments. Just recently, they posted a link to an article that was written about a study done about asymptomatic viral infections in newborns. Their Facebook page posts the same things like their Twitter. Their website seems a little outdated. It has everything that the website needs, but that is pretty much it. It mainly has the same content as the social media pages, and then more information about the school, how to apply, and its academics. The only problem is it's not organized very well and it is hard to navigate. 

When choosing an American college to compare to the University of Edinburgh too, I knew I wanted to choose a school that was roughly the same size. After some research, I found that Michigan State University has about 38,500 students. MSU isn’t quite as old as UoE, it was established in 1855. The school started as an agriculture school but has since expanded and offers a lot of different programs.

According to U.S. News, MSU is ranked #83 in National Universities and #33 in Top Public Schools. Their Supply Chain Management/Logistics program is ranked #1 in the US and their Study Abroad program is ranked #11 in the US. 

Michigan State University has a TikTok account but they only have one video and haven’t posted since 2020. There is a hashtag for the school called #michiganstateuniversity. The vibe of the MSU’s student TikToks are very different compared to UoE’s student’s.

@wellzberry those sunlight hits different tho (ft. @lelekrispy) #fyp #IISMA #MSU ♬ blackbird plus birds brianrossiscool - brian ross

MSU has a very strong social media presence. They have a main MSU page that posts announcements, achievements, and notable events similar to Edinburgh’s socials. What sets MSU apart from Edinburgh is that they also have an Instagram account for all of their clubs. A few of those club pages include MSU’s College of Human Medicine, MSU Men and Women’s Golf Team, the MSU SVRC, and they even have an account for the W.J. Beal Botanical Garden. These are just a few of their accounts but they have so many more. If I listed them all they would take up the rest of my required word count. The MSU Twitter account similarly posts the same things as the main Instagram, but also they retweet police updates. I think this is resourceful for students who don’t always check their emails. I think it should be noted that the MSU account has almost double the number of Twitter followers compared to UoE.

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A post shared by Michigan State University (@michiganstateu)

The MSU Facebook page is interesting because they don’t post all of the same content as the other two accounts like you see with UoE and other college accounts. The MSU website compared to the UoE website is out of this world. It is super organized and easy to navigate. It also features extra content about what is currently going on on campus. The school art program holds a weekly virtual program for kids ages 9-12. They showcase the students' artwork on their website weekly. 

When comparing the two schools, MSU has the better social media presence of the two. Despite that, the University of Edinburgh has more applicants than Michigan State. I’ve learned that a school doesn’t have to have a strong social media presence to be the number one choice of thousands of students. Not to say that MSU isn’t a great school, I just think that, ultimately, students care about the quality of academics the school offers.