Zinch
| Zinch logo | |
Type of site | College Admissions website |
|---|---|
| Owner | Zinch, Inc. |
| Employees | 15 |
| URL | http://www.zinch.com/ |
| Registration | Free |
Zinch is a community-based college admissions portal. It combines a variety of Web 2.0 and Web syndication tools in an attempt to help colleges and students more easily find one another.
On the site, students create profiles which in many ways resemble hyper-linked college applications. Using these profiles, they then "shout out" to colleges that they are interested in, hoping to begin a dialogue. Colleges also have the ability to search through these profiles to reach out to students.
In addition, the site gives away a variety of scholarships which are judged by the site motto: "You are more than a test score"
History
Zinch started out as a research project at Princeton University in June 2006.[1]
You Are More Than A Test Score
The site's motto, "you are more than a test score," refers to the commonly accepted practice of colleges purchasing large lists of names, often selected only by SAT and PSAT scores, from The College Board and NRCCUA.
Criticism
Colloquial Writing Style
Zinch employs a writing style often verging on slang, and includes a number of words in its navigational structure which are not intuitive to non-teens.
Examples include:
Wizards: Tools for participating colleges to reach out to students
Shout Outs: Mechanism for students to express interest in a particular college
The Love: Internal Messaging system where students receive mail from colleges
The Word: Message board, primarily for college admissions discussions.
Admissions Use of Social Networking
Due to the overwhelming popularity of social networking sites like myspace and facebook, a debate has begun around the degree to which admissions officers should be allowed to view the private information of prospective students. While Zinch is not a social networking site, it does offer access to the personal side of a student life, and has thus come up a number of times in the controversy [2]
Notes
- ^ Princeton School of Engineering, http://engineering.princeton.edu/news/en
- ^ Yale Daily News http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/21289