Merit Pages FAQ

What are the benefits of Merit?

University verified achievements 

Individual Merit pages give you a powerful, positive online identity endorsed and managed by the university. Plus, Merit helps Lawrence share your accomplishments beyond our immediate community. 

Achievements created by the Office of Communications will be posted to these pages as accomplishments verified by the University. In addition to these verified achievements, you can add a profile photo, short biography, work experience, organization affiliations, and other campus activities to your personal Merit page. This helps you highlight curricular and co-curricular success in one place and expand your profile. 

Easily share achievements with networks

Share your Merit page with your social networks, and give friends and family the chance to see and learn about your accomplishments as a Lawrentian. You can even customize your page URL to include a resume to share with potential employers or graduate school admission counselors.

How is this different from LinkedIn?

Think of your personal Merit page as a Lawrence portfolio, highlighting university-verified curricular and co-curricular experiences and achievements in a single location. Merit Pages are not meant to be a replacement, but a compliment to your LinkedIn profile. Connect your Merit page to LinkedIn to create a more robust presentation of your educational experience.

How are my achievements created?

The Office of Communications identifies potential stories and work with relevant offices and departments to generate a list of students who participated in the achievement. 

Once the story is written, it is published through Merit Pages and shared automatically with you. If you've opted-in to the program, the accomplishment will be added to your individual profile and shared with your families, high schools, government representatives, and hometown newspapers. Shared content will only include information about you that is designated as “directory information” under the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), or has already been published by the university in another context.

How does Communications determine where to send my stories?

Merit Pages achievements are sent to your university email address. They may also be shared with family member email addresses that you've provided as part of the Admissions process.

Hometown newspapers are determined based on the zip code associated with your permanent address. High schools and government representatives are based on information you provided on your admission application. 

Most of this information can be updated in your Merit profile. To view and make changes to which addresses are on file for your individual student account, login to Merit and go to “My Account.” From there, click on “Privacy.” 

How can friends and family receive updates about my achievements?

Receive automatic updates

If you opt-in to Merit, family members whose email addresses are on record with the university will automatically be alerted each time a new story is posted. You can also add family and friends to your distribution list by going to the “My Account” section of your individual Merit page.

Create an account

Interested parties can also visit the Lawrence Merit Page, search for you, and click the “follow” button. They'll be prompted to create an account that allows them to follow students’ achievements.

Opting-out of sharing

If you would prefer not to share these stories with family members or other individuals associated with your account, simply remove those email addresses from automatic distribution by logging into your Merit account, clicking on “My Account” and then clicking “Privacy.”

What about privacy?

We value your privacy. Your Merit pages are set to private by default and are not searchable on lawrence.meritpages.com or indexed by search engines like Google unless you click the “make page searchable” button.

Merit stories containing the student’s first and last name will continue to be automatically shared with family, hometown news outlets, government representatives, and high schools. Your first name and last initial will also appear in this list on Lawrence’s institutional Merit page, but there will be no link to your personal profile. 

To view and make changes to who receives your Merit updates, click on “Privacy”  in their Merit account. Changes to privacy settings will not be overridden by new data uploaded by the university.

How do you opt out?

Opting out not only removes your page from the university’s institutional Merit page, but also prevents the university or any other participating Merit organization from being able to publish your achievements on Merit Pages in the future.

When you first visit your Merit Page, you have the option to click the “opt out” button right away. You can also click the “opt out” button at the bottom of your welcome email. If you decide to opt out later, click “my account,” “privacy,” and then “opt out” or contact Communications at communications@lawrence.edu to be removed.

Can I opt back in once I have  opted out?

Yes. Contact the Office of Communications at communications@lawrence.edu or email Merit directly at help@meritpages.com to participate in the program.