Over the past few years, social media has emerged as a powerful tool to express one's feelings, especially those of the students.
By collecting and analyzing 100,000 tweets that cited universities' Twitter handles and were posted between March and April this year, CollegeStats.org examined what students are tweeting to gauge their feeling towards their institutions based on the predominance of positive and negative words.
The research calculated sentiment in a range from -1 to 1, and deliberated a score between 0 and 1 as positive sentiment.
Schools that boasted the highest average Twitter sentiment include Virginia-based Old Dominion University and James Madison University, Temple University in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Syracuse University in New York, and Villanova University in Pennsylvania. Tweets aimed at these universities trended more positively rather than trending negative or more neutral.
By logging into Twitter, prospective students can keep a tab on what's happening in the school and administrators, on the other hand can join in to address concerns or simply to appreciate the kudos.
Institutions that boasted the most positive words per tweet include Gonzaga University located in Washington State, Earlham College in Indiana, Illinois-based Bradley University, Juniata College in Pennsylvania, and Drury University in Missouri.
The schools that weren't as much popular among their students include West Virginia-based Glenville State, University of Missouri, Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, Bowdoin College in Maine, and Washington University in St. Louis.
The report does not analyze the possible reasons for the positive or negative results. While there is no confirmation whether there is a room for a causal relationship, at least two of the institutes that garnered the most negative word counts - Bowdoin College and St. Louis-based Washington University - have faced negative press over the past few years, US News reported.
For instance, St. Louis-based Washington University have been nagged at for being among the least economically diverse in the entire U.S.
However, the institute has worked out a few amendments in a bid to change that.
As far as Bowdoin College is concerned, members of the student body have been labelled racially insensitive citing a few theme parties: a "tequila party" where several students donned sombreros; a gangster party where a few students flaunted baggy clothes, cornrows and gold chains in style; and Cracksgiving party, where students posed as Native Americans in order celebrate Thanksgiving.
Universities are well-acquainted with social media, and so are their students. While some institutes garner loads of love from their students on social media, others don't quite get that kind of attention.
