<p>Whew, it's random, I'll probably post towards it then.</p>
<p>If this was merit based - this would probably be the most competative scholarship ever(based on CC member's credentials).</p>
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<p>Yeah, that aspect was worrisome... :)</p>
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<blockquote> <p>I have visited one college, but it isn't on CC. Can i still report on it?</p> </blockquote>
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<p>If the college you want to report on isn't in the selections when you are starting to post your report, you can click the "Suggest A College" link. If it seems like a reasonable addition, we should be able to have it up in a day or two.</p>
<p>thank you!</p>
<p>"There are lots of merit scholarships -- look around."</p>
<p>Yes, there are---but not all colleges give merit scholarships. So, just because a kid has worked hard, been disciplined, earned stellar grades, and aspires to attend an Ivy-level school and comes from a family that also worked hard, utililzed financial aid opportunities, used their educations wisely, and were able to make a good-living those kids should be closed out because they don't qualify for 'need-based' scholarships or financial aid, even though the expenses are still a stretch for their family? </p>
<p>There are also many more 'need-based' scholarships and financial aid opportunities.</p>
<p>But, we digress into childish one-upsmanship and debate. Once again, I applaud CC's willingness to encourage and generate thoughtful college visit reports by any means.</p>
<p>treemaven makes a good point.</p>
<p>I live in silicon valley and because of this my parents make substantially more than those anywhere else in the country with comparable jobs. Because of this I don't qualify for financial aid, but my family isn't rolling around in cash. Housing out here is ridiculous and a house for my entire family to fit in and still go to good schools leaves expenses pretty tight around here.</p>
<p>OOo free CC gear! This sounds like fun :) I wonder if they let you visit colleges during TASP...probably not. Hmm hopefully I can convince my parents to do a few college visits in the summer :)</p>
<p>Wow, I like this scholarship!! Ever since it was announced, there have been way more reports posted!!</p>
<p>Thank you for this--this might get my daughter to post reviews of the schools she's seen, particularly BU since noone else has done so.
By far the funniest review is Amwidkle's for William & Mary--check it out!</p>
<p>hey, roger, could this be the cc equivalent of a Revealed PReference survey? :)</p>
<p>I'm an international student, and have never visited Oberlin. Can I write a visit report during orientation?</p>
<p>Nice idea... But how about offering two awards: one for a state university visit, one for a private school visit? I think you'd get many more and varied entries.</p>
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I'm an international student, and have never visited Oberlin. Can I write a visit report during orientation?
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<p>??? Wouldn't that be a visit?</p>
<p>It is a visit, but it's not like "I'm looking for a college" visit, it's like "YESS! I DECIDED ON A COLLEGE! I TOTALLY LOVE IT! I'M IN!" visit. It would be slightly biased :P.</p>
<p>You could always have the CC people or who ever is managing this, each read a collection or reports. Then they could select some favorites. This would go to the overall pool of 25 or however many visit reports. Then it could continue as is from there. I just really don't like the idea of random selection, not that I am even eligible.</p>
<p>Hi Roger_Dooley:</p>
<p>In the first post you mentioned that "duplicate reports" will be removed from consideration. I made a college visit report that I think was very helpful and descriptive back in April. If I resubmitted it so that it would be within the competition's time limit, would that be considered a duplicate report and therefore ineligible?</p>
<p>I scratched my head over the random - merit- random process, but I've come to see it as sort of an evil genius effort. (And I'm a big fan of evil genius, so that's intended in the nicest possible way.) </p>
<p>The first group will be pulled out randomly, which means everyone's reports have an equal chance of winning. But the next step is a selection that determines which are decent reports, the kind that would prove to be valuable. So, you can't just throw in garbage and expect to win. But the next step doesn't seek the very best of the lot. For if it did, then people who don't write the absolute best reports -- or just feel that their's are average -- might not be inclined to enter. In the end, if you can deliver a report that's worth someone else's time to read, you can win. This isn't a contest for the very best. It's a random way to pay back people for adding to the wealth of valuable information here.</p>
<p>And, as I noted before, the aggregate value of the many reports submitted in hopes of winning the prize will -- for the consumers of these reports -- far exceed $1,000. If just 20 families save $50 of travel time/expense (that's a tank of gas and a cup of coffee) due to reports submitted in hopes of winning the prize, the $1,000 has done its job.</p>
<p>By limiting the prospect of winning to the cream-of-the-crop reports or only to financially needy families, there will be fewer reports submitted. The real value of this contest is not the prize itself. It's the savings and economies delivered here by having as many useful reports as possible available to many consumers/readers.</p>
<p>If you save yourself a trip or can make your travels a little more efficient because of information gleaned from school visit reports here, then you're one of the true beneficiaries of this scholarship and ought to thank CC for what they're doing to get the school report you relied on posted for your consideration.</p>
<p>Roger, I don't think you need a FAFSA evaluation to understand that overall, financially challenged families usually/often cannot afford college visits, esp. very far, requiring expensive plane fare, overnights, etc. What I'm saying is, summer visits by definition exclude the most in need of that opening $1K to pay for books.</p>
<p>Better quality college reviews = more visitors?</p>
<p>D'yer Maker said it all.</p>
<p>I've filed three reports today from previous visits. Have two more we can do.</p>
<p>Even if we don't get $1,000, the information we get in return is worth the effort. That's the beauty of a community.</p>
<p>Great idea! This will undoubtedly increase the number of college visit reports. Kudos to CC!</p>