Today, I decided to look at the LinkedIn alumni groups of the Eight Schools Association. I wanted to evaluate and compare the schools on how well they utilized LinkedIn to connect their alumni.
I pulled the numbers of people in the alumni group for each school from LinkedIn and the numbers of current students from Wikipedia. With this information, we can create a ratio of LinkedIn alumni members to current students (it’s harder to find information on total living alumni which would be more accurate). This number lets us compare the schools in terms of their LinkedIn alumni connectivity.
Here’s the ranking by LinkedIn alumni group membership / current students:
1. Deerfield Academy: 1.587
2. Choate Rosemary Hall: 1.513
3. Phillips Academy Andover: 1.449
4. Northfield Mount Hermon: 1.346
5. Lawrenceville School: 1.31
6. St. Paul’s: 1.248
7. Hotchkiss School: 1.12
8. Phillips Academy Exeter: 1.050
I promise I didn’t fudge the numbers to put my alma mater at the top of the list. Better luck next time, Choate—Go Big Green!
I’ve only recently begun using LinkedIn seriously. But I’m beginning to realize how important it can be. It seems like a no-brainer that a school would want to connect their alumni as well as possible on LinkedIn. Alumni networking can be incredibly helpful each other in their careers while maintaining a sense of community throughout their professional lives. What better way to stimulate donations than for the school to become a focus of their alumni’s professional networks?
As a recent alum, I certainly see the benefit of joining an alumni group on LinkedIn. I joined the Deerfield group and I plan to use it to connect to old classmates and alumni with similar professional interests.