Merit Pages

Merit Pages creates an institution-verified digital page for each student that showcases their achievements while at UB. Student pages are built automatically as the university shares success stories, creating a digital newsroom that students can share with family, friends, employers, mentors and others.

Student pages are automatically private unless a student chooses to make theirs public. Stories are automatically shared with students, high schools, hometown newspapers and state legislators. It also makes it easy for students to share their customized stories on social media. 

University Communications first identifies potential stories and works with relevant departments to generate a list of students who participated in the achievement. Once the story is written, it’s published through Merit Pages and shared automatically with students, high schools, hometown newspapers and state legislators. 

UB will only include information about students that is designated as “directory information” under the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), or that has already been published by the university in another context. 

Additionally, all student pages are automatically set to private but can be made public at any time in Merit account settings.

UB is currently in its pilot program with Merit Pages. At this time, we're only publishing select achievements for undergraduate students.

Information from Merit Pages is sent to your university email address.

If family members create an account and follow their student, they will also receive an email allowing them to share their students' achievements on their own social media channels. Students can control who follows them in their Merit account settings.

Hometowns and state legislators are determined based on the zip code associated with the student’s permanent address, and high schools are based on the information students provided on their admission application.

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

Please note that if you update your information in Merit, that information will override data imported by the university. Students who update their Merit data are responsible for maintaining this information.

Updating your data in Merit does not automatically update your data in other university systems including, but not limited to the HUB Student Center.

Merit distributes press releases about student achievements to hometown papers based on the data provided as part of the admissions process. It is then up to the individual media outlets to determine whether or not they publish or share these stories. 

If a student shares their Merit profile with family and friends, those individuals can click the “follow” button and create an account that allows them to follow students’ achievement.

If a student would prefer not to share these stories with specific individuals, they can remove those email addresses from the automatic distribution by logging into their Merit account, clicking on “My Account” and then clicking “Privacy.”

Once a student is recognized for an achievement in Merit, they will receive a welcome message to their UB email that includes a link to their personal page, along with a temporary username and password that can be changed once the student has logged in.

Students can also visit the Merit Pages website and click “sign in” on the top right corner to follow the “forgot password” steps to log in with their UB email address.

Students don't have to maintain their Merit page; it is created and updated automatically by the university. Students can, however, enhance and add to their pages if they desire. Merit allows students to customize their Merit page URL and add a profile photo, bio and other activities or work experience.

Please note that if you update your information in Merit (ex. first name), that information will override data imported by the university. Students who update their Merit data are responsible for maintaining this information. Updating your data in Merit does not automatically update your data in other university systems including, but not limited to the HUB Student Center.

Student pages are automatically set to private, meaning that their pages are not searchable on our Merit website or indexed by search engines. Profiles can be made public at any time in account settings.

UB uses the preferred/chosen names on record with the Office of the Registrar for Merit stories and profiles. However, students are able to log into Merit and change their name. 

Please note that if you update your information in Merit (ex. first name), that information will override data imported by the university. Students who update their Merit data are responsible for maintaining this information. Updating your data in Merit does not automatically update your data in other university systems including, but not limited to the HUB Student Center.

The stories already published and any press releases sent to the media would still use the old name. We can update online stories published by the University at Buffalo with the new name upon student request. We can also ask media outlets to update stories upon student request. Please use the contact form on this page to request an update.

Opting out not only removes a student’s page from meritpages.com, but it also prevents the university or any other participating Merit organization from being able to publish achievements about that student in the future. When students first visit their Merit Page, they have the option to click the “opt out” button right away or they can click the “opt out” button at the bottom of the welcome email they receive. If they decide to opt out later, they can click “my account,” “privacy” and then “opt out” or they can contact Merit to be removed.