<p>Anybody have any links to others beyond <a href="http://matt.mitblogs.com%5B/url%5D">http://matt.mitblogs.com</a>
I think these are really helpful and interesting and wondering if anyone knows others.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.olin.edu/blog%5B/url%5D">www.olin.edu/blog</a></p>
<p>That one is written for an audience, so it's not an "inside-scoop" type of thing.</p>
<p>I found this one as well:</p>
<p><a href="http://markbutt.blogspot.com/%5B/url%5D">http://markbutt.blogspot.com/</a></p>
<p>Matt McGann (whose MITblog is mentioned in the first post here) had a blog entry just today about other Admissions blogs! He cited the Olin blog also, and one from Bryn Mawr (<a href="http://www.brynmawr.edu/admissions/blog/%5B/url%5D">http://www.brynmawr.edu/admissions/blog/</a>).</p>
<p>Note that 3 members of the MIT Admissions staff maintain blogs (Matt McGann, Ben Jones, and Bryan Nance), along with the Director of Student Financial Aid and 9 current students (whose entries are not vetted by the Admissions office: they are free to write what they want). This innovative approach to humanizing admissions has been very well received, from all accounts. I hope more schools will follow their lead!</p>
<p>Assumption College:
<a href="http://blogs.chatuniversity.com/assumption/index.php%5B/url%5D">http://blogs.chatuniversity.com/assumption/index.php</a></p>
<p>interesting survey results piece on the subject of college "e-recruitment":
<a href="http://www.noellevitz.com/NR/rdonlyres/B161BA60-E3C9-425C-9964-FB1026D68AC3/0/EEXPECTATIONS_paper_0705.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.noellevitz.com/NR/rdonlyres/B161BA60-E3C9-425C-9964-FB1026D68AC3/0/EEXPECTATIONS_paper_0705.pdf</a></p>
<p>blogging as technique is only tangentially mentioned. I'd bet blogging has substantial potential for communicating with prospective applicants.</p>
<p>Brian Nance's (Dir. of Minority Recruiting at MIT) admissions advice is priceless (oops - I just did one of the Donts): <a href="http://nance.mitblogs.com/archives/2005/10/ive_got_99_prob.html%5B/url%5D">http://nance.mitblogs.com/archives/2005/10/ive_got_99_prob.html</a></p>
<p>Some great examples: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>The "Every Important Lesson I Learned in Life, I Learned From Wolverine" essay has been tried. (Feel free the ask the author how he's enjoying his PG year.)</p></li>
<li><p>Never quote the MasterCard commercial that ends with the word PRICELESS.</p></li>
<li><p>NEVER CUT AND PASTE BETWEEN COLLEGE ESSAYS. If we receive an essay that states, "...and that's why Harvard is my dream school" WE'LL TRY REAL HARD TO MAKE YOUR DREAM COME TRUE.</p></li>
<li><p>Don't spend your entire essay telling us about what you want to be after you leave MIT. Instead tell us what you want to do at MIT.</p></li>
<li><p>Don't let more than three people critique your essay. If you do, you'll get conflicting messages and your voice will be lost forever.</p></li>
<li><p>Do not have your parents call on your behalf. Enough said.</p></li>
<li><p>Don't spend your time looking for the Admissions back door. No matter what you read on College Confidential, it doesn't exist. There is only one entrance to the Infinite Corridor, and that's through the admissions committee.</p></li>
<li><p>Don't use canned essays... if you do, we'll use canned rejection letters.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My favorite:</p>
<p>Avoid slang. Use "street cred" on your own time. If you want to "keep it real" get an "A" in Calculus. That's hot!</p>
<p>---you made my day! That was hysterically funny!</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr: <a href="http://www.brynmawr.edu/admissions/blog/%5B/url%5D">http://www.brynmawr.edu/admissions/blog/</a></p>
<p>He mentioned College Confidential</p>
<p>LOL this man makes me want to go to mit...</p>
<p>my fav
Think carefully before quoting music lyrics. If you must do it, Gwen Stefani's chorus is "I ain't no holla' back girl" NOT "I ain't no Harlem Black Girl."</p>
<p>My favorite on Brian Nance's list of don'ts is number 16.</p>
<p>
[quote]
LOL this man makes me want to go to mit...
[/quote]
I might be pointing out the obvious here, but... that's the whole point.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins just started a set of Admissions and student blogs today.</p>
<p><a href="http://apply.jhu.edu/hi/%5B/url%5D">http://apply.jhu.edu/hi/</a></p>
<p>This is fascinating.</p>
<p>I did a google and came up with this "official" blog from Assumption College: <a href="http://blogs.chatuniversity.com/assumption/index.php/admissions%5B/url%5D">http://blogs.chatuniversity.com/assumption/index.php/admissions</a></p>
<p>I was surprised to see how many of the law school and mba programs allready have "official" blogs. It seems that the undergraduate admissions officers are "latecomers" to this game. I wouldn't be surprised to see the number of such blogs increase in the coming years.</p>
<p>There is a subtle difference, I think, between an "official" blog put out by the entire admit staff at a school and a blog put out by an individual admissions officer. The first seems to be more of a "canned" document (similar to a viewbook or prospectus in that it is what the college wants you to see), although with interesting details that are overlooked by other kinds of publications.</p>
<p>See also this site where they discuss freshman blogs as "marketing tools" for admissions offices. This is a bit of a different slant than the type of blog originally cited on this thread.</p>
<p>I don't think we've seen the end of blogs yet!</p>
<p>P.S. Here is yet another blog from an admissions officer at Dickinson College:
<a href="http://itech.dickinson.edu/blog/index.php?cat=157%5B/url%5D">http://itech.dickinson.edu/blog/index.php?cat=157</a></p>
<p>that new JHU web site is worth a look.....Q&A with the admissions staff on a board very similar to CC</p>
<p>That Brian Nance blog is fantastic! Of course, now my son has to throw out any mention of Fountainhead and Halo, lol! Wait, he's not a math/science guy, he's not applying to MIT! But, assuming the advice goes for all great schools, it's amazing how many mistakes you'd make if you didn't read it. So funny!!</p>
<p>If you want insight into the "marketing" strategy behind admissions officers blogs, here's one site - there are several other companies offering to help do these:
<a href="http://www.targetx.com/blog/%5B/url%5D">http://www.targetx.com/blog/</a></p>