<p>If people haven’t seen this, you may want to check out </p>
<p>[The</a> Bruin Club - Chat With A Student](<a href=“http://students.brown.edu/bruin/aim.php]The”>http://students.brown.edu/bruin/aim.php)</p>
<p>HOLY CRAP, awesome. I’m definitely gonna abuse… errr… no, I mean utilize… this service.</p>
<p>If I went on there, I’d…probably freak out the guy typing. Too much passion for one session.</p>
<p>So those people are online 2 hrs a week…(different people taking 2 hr shifts at all times)</p>
<p>Guess how often you can click the running man next to my name and talk to me, and I’m not constrained by being an official university rep…</p>
<p>The people online actually aren’t “official university reps”, they are regular students who volunteered to do AIM networking.</p>
<p>You’re right, however, just like tour guides and info session people, etc, those people go through training, we’re told what is appropriate or not appropriate (and really, screened to see how well we understand that line before hand), etc etc.</p>
<p>They are seen as representatives of the university in that capacity and can lose their position if they’re saying things that are deemed inappropriate-- sometimes this is an obvious line, sometimes that line is drawn where candor can be quite valuable. I should know, I’ve give 150 tours.</p>
<p>I still think it’s quite useful and a great service and I’m glad you’re advertising for the Bruin Club on here, I just think that CC people have a few students here posting that are readily accessible by the same means and they can see exactly where we come from, etc, and may be more helpful for them specifically than the general AIM networking.</p>
<p>Just MO, YMMV.</p>
<p>I get a few people through the AIM networking, but I feel like I can help out more/talk to more students, which is how I ended up here and why I posted it. I guess I can talk to students in both capacities… Have you done that?</p>
<p>I don’t do AIM networking only because I get 2-3 IMs a week off of this site already + I do science and general tours. So, I feel like between contributing here, the IMs here, and the tours, I cover both capacities pretty well.</p>
<p>To be honest, I think that most of the Bruin Club/Admissions guidelines are not a big deal though, I was just more trying to say-- hey look at the running men most of us have under our names here already. I think that Bruin/Admissions are dead on about not directly comparing to other schools because I personally feel that we’re not equipped to do that meaningful and I hate when pre-freshman actually think I can have unique incites about somewhere that’s not Brown. When that’s possible for me is rare with only a few schools in the country and it’s the same for most of us other than baseless conjecture, so those questions which sometimes seem most pressing to prefrosh are most meaningless to students.</p>
<p>Anyway, carry-on. Bruin Club is great. I’m filling out my ADOCH form right now.</p>
<p>I’ve done the Bruin Club chat before! Good times, but in my experience there were definitely several times when there was no one online.</p>
<p>
This is actually not true. I do AIM Networking because I’m lazy and it’s an easy way to be helpful / reminds me of 8th grade. There was no screening process, and we were never trained; we (or I) pretty much say whatever comes to mind, which doesn’t always reflect well on the university. </p>
<p>The way it’s set up is stupid, though, and volunteers often neglect to go online during their assigned time. It would be relatively easy to rework the website, using our own screen names and a brief bio, with screen names worked to show who’s online. That way you can IM someone who has relevant interests, or add them to your buddy list if they’re not online at the time.</p>
<p>Exactly, poubelle. Maybe it was different before, and that’s what modestmelody is talking about? I’m not sure.</p>