<p>This article has comments about how the Yale admissions office and Yale students view College Confidential:</p>
<p>As a parent of a student who attends a large urban public high school, I have found cc invaluable. It may well take a year of two for Yale, and other top tier Universities, to see the value of participating in a blog such as this site. They may well decide it is not a financially sound way to spend their budget monies....not enough bang for their buck....or...with discussion, they may decide it is worth their participation...time will tell</p>
<p>Wow, this is creepy. So Yale does actually read threads in this forum. Another good reason not to post any confidential details about oneself.</p>
<p>Ivy admissions folks have been reading us for years... I'm happy that some colleges have decided to participate in a positive manner.</p>
<p>Roger,
I agree with the benefits you're quoted in the article with citing. I do believe those high-schools do the best they can but they really are ill-prepared to deal with the handful of kids who aspire to or would benefit from top-tier colleges and universities. In my case, I find your site very useful since, as a parent of three kids in a rural school system, the reality is I'm my kids' college adviser. Our HS generally places a few kids in HYP each year but the counseling ends with the recognized top schools. There is very limited knowledge about LACs or alternative universities available from the guidance department. While my kids don't seem to have any interest in reading forums or blogs on the subject, I find it is very helpful in my role as a parent. I also trust myself to separate the wheat from the chaff on this site. </p>
<p>There is even a wealth of input from actual college-admissions deans and other professionals that I appreciate. That they can still take the time out even during this busiest-of-all seasons to offer help, advice, and even consolation is a testament to their dedication to these college-bound kids as well as an endorsement of the service your web site provides. </p>
<p>Thanks, and keep up the good work; I've got one more D to go!</p>
<p>I agree, this is far better than nothing. For those of us who have neither counselors nor parents to turn to it's far easier having a whole forum of people somewhat familiar with the system to ask than it is trying to tie separate resources together for an answer.</p>
<p>I personally hope that as more stories such as this hit college newspapers or even the national news (Washington Post article: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=304486%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=304486</a> -- sorry had to put in a plug) more admissions professionals will consider expanding their outreach to include Admissions blogs, University message boards, student blogs, and College Confidential. </p>
<p>As I explained on the thread about the Washington Post article there are some issues I have with College Confidential -- but I also see some wonderful positive aspects of the site. But that is the same with all online communities, the good comes with the bad.</p>
<p>Since becoming part of College Confidential in late 2005 as an official "College Rep" I feel as Johns Hopkins has reaped the benefits of my work in answering questions on the Hopkins threads. At the same time we launched our Hopkins Interactive site and my Admissions blog the Hopkins Insider and the benefits have been many. We have begun to dispel many of the myths about Hopkins, we have been able to provide our prospective students and applicants with more timely and correct information about the admissions process, and we brought a bit of fun into the process. For the most part, I feel the students and parents have appreciated our efforts, and the "transparency" aspect of what we are doing has to a small extent alleviated some of the stress.</p>
<p>I do and will continue to encourage more schools from the "Ivy League" to the local community college to consider embracing these forms of communication for any number of reasons. In the end, the more credible information out there and the more Admissions professionals acting as counselors, the more students and parents can calm down a bit and understand this unique process.</p>
<p>Just my two cents...</p>
<p>For the admissions reps: Bravo for your efforts. Transparency is transforming all kinds of organizations.
For the students (and parents): Indeed, be careful about personal details in postings. As you apply to schools and jobs, remember You Will Be Googled. And checked on Myspace and Facebook.
Google "You will be googled" to read more.</p>
<p>I agree... CC has been the most valuable source of information on admissions I've had. My counseler hasn't exactly been helpful, and books on the topic at the library are often several years old, so I rely on CC for most of the information.</p>
<p>CC has been THE most valuable source for college admissions for me.
I'm an international student, living overseas, with no guidance counselor, where no one know of the process of the admissions to the colleges in the states.
I dont know where I would be without cc..</p>
<p>As a parent, I have found CC to be a great asset. Our high school guidance department is not very helpful to put it nicely. At CC, I have been given help from what hotel to stay at while visiting a school to what symposium a college may offer that an prospective applicant might find helpful. Yes, I must admit I have come across a person whose mission seems to put down other students and just sarcastic. But he was the exception, and CC eventually stops those kind of posters. Most people are anxious to help. I received great advice on the financial aid forums that I know I could not have received from our guidance office. Also, the posts from actual college students are particularly appreciated. Yale should be proud of the posts I have read from their students, who really go out of their way to answer your questions and be friendly. Also, alumni who post on the Yale threads (ie AdmissionsAddict) act as great ambassadors for their college, calming applicants and giving invaluable advice. So, hats off to CC and the great family of posters who have helped me so much!</p>
<p>I am a local interviewer for my alma mater (not Yale) and I have "lurked" at CC to get a sense of both interest held and anxiety experienced by candidates in any given interview season. I have generally found the information exchanged to be surprisingly correct and the group support to be refreshingly healthy. More schools seem to be moving to support a blog of some sort, whether it be their own or here at CC. Now that my own son is looking at schools (Yale included), I now "lurk" with more personal interest. My unsolicited vote is that CC does a good job. Best wishes to all.</p>
<p>as i read the news article about yale, i was wondering if it was possible for admissions officers to use CC "negatively" to identify students...?</p>
<p>Hence why you don't put down your name or specific details about your stats</p>
<p>BingCold anyone ever hear of the McCarthy hearings. These admissions officers are getting a little carried away in their investigations arent they-facebook, blogs, google? I mean we are kids. It's no wonder parents are preparing their kids for college in pre-k. We cannot make one wrong move or else? How would the Admissions people feel if they were examined like this? What exactly are the perks for their jobs? Who are they? More transparency might be a good idea. And I think CC is the greatest!</p>
<p>Mallomar, I agree with the name part, but... don't the stats profile and what are my chances threads allow easy ID by admission officers?</p>
<p>"While Yale does not maintain its own blog, the admissions office does keep tabs on College Confidential?s forum traffic to observe discussion about Yale, Brenzel said. </p>
<p>?We occasionally review online discussions of admissions to better understand how applicants are feeling about the process, but we do not post to the online forums,? he said. </p>
<p>Creasy noted the ability of a site like College Confidential to build community and distribute information, but said students should take their online peers? opinions with a grain of salt. </p>
<p>Rhody Davis, college counselor at the Latin School of Chicago and former admissions official at the University of Chicago, said she also has found that the information on the sites can be misleading. </p>
<p>?I used to read those [forums] now and then, and there was bad information in some of those chat rooms,? Davis said. ?I encourage students to check on the source of the information.? </p>
<p>Dooley said that while some of College Confidential?s users may offer incorrect information, this can happen in almost any online setting. </p>
<p>Yalies expressed mixed opinions about the site. While many said it offers another perspective on the admissions process, others were less enthusiastic. Johnny Cantalino ?10 said College Confidential?s greatest strength ? and its weakness ? is the volume of opinions posted. </p>
<p>?There was good advice on the site, but the students had so many varying opinions that it was hard to really grasp,? he said. </p>
<p>Cantalino also recalled that forums such as ?What Are My Chances?? were discouraging. "</p>
<p>There's nothing "creepy" about the fact that sites like this are read by admissions officers. Anything posted on line can be read by anyone, which is why one should be cautious about revealing personal information.</p>
<p>I frankly would have no problem if colleges looked at my son's facebook. Let's see...they would find out he is an Obama supporter, likes to listen to Green Day, etc. If a particular college has a problem with what they see, then they aren't a good fit. However, for those kids who pretend on their applications to be one way and then their facebook shows a completely different side that the kid might be hiding, well, that is that applicant's problem. For instance, what about an applicant who purports to be a good humanitarian in his application, and then somewhere on the internet, he is posting words of hate for particular groups in society based upon their ethnic, political, religious, sexual origins...I think colleges have every right to consider what they find out.</p>
<p>I think the Internet and sites like CC have served as a valuable counterweight to the USNews. Too bad CC didn't exist twenty years ago, a lot of good colleges (like Oberlin, Reed, Bryn Mawr and others) would be ranked much higher today.</p>
<p>CC can be quite scary and build unrealistic expectations and burdens. With the mass of kids here having extremely high stats, it gives people such as myself last year a...pause to apply to such universities.</p>
<p>It's biggest strength is information. The biggest weakness is the unrealism of making it seem everybody is applying to Yale with a 2400.</p>