Jun 7, 2008

Online profile may help college-bound

By Jason Katz / Daily News columnist

Q: Some of my friends are beginning to create profiles on Zinch.com. What can you tell me about this Web site?

A: With the growing popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, and the belief that admissions officers are looking at their applicants' profiles on these sites, a few sites have begun that are specifically designed for students to create profiles that are to be viewed by colleges Some of the more popular sites include Cappex.com, EdSoup.com, and Zinch.com. In order to answer your question, I interviewed Mick Hagen, Zinch.com's president and co-founder.



Jason Katz: For those of my readers who aren't familiar with Zinch, could you please give an overview of the site?

Mick Hagen: It's simply a place for high school students and colleges all over America to connect, interact and communicate. For decades, the only way that a high school student could be discovered and a university could discover was through standardized tests. We've created a platform that allows the high school student to be seen for more than just a test score, and the college to be seen for more than just a ranking.



JK: How many colleges and how many students are using Zinch? Does it cost anything for students and colleges to use the site?

MH: More than 400,000 students are using Zinch. More than 550 colleges are using Zinch. We have schools like Yale, MIT, Stanford, Columbia, Claremont McKenna and UC-Berkeley. We also have a lot of smaller liberal arts schools, big public schools, and community colleges as well. Zinch is completely free for students. There is a subscription fee for colleges.



JK: What are some differences between Zinch and Cappex or EdSoup?

MH: EdSoup is mainly for adults looking to pursue higher education (whereas we focus on high school-aged students). Cappex is dealing more with for-profit schools and online schools.



JK: Do you have any way of tracking whether your site is helping students get admitted to colleges?

MH: The success stories are already starting to come in. We've been live now for just over a year, so we are just starting to see some of the results. Many colleges have said that they discovered students who they normally wouldn't have discovered. And students are saying they discovered colleges that they wouldn't have discovered. The student is still going to have to apply to that school like everyone else. However, using Zinch, students are able to learn about schools and interact with schools that normally they would have never even thought of. We humanize and bring transparency to a process that sometimes seems so unexplainable, mysterious.



Jason Katz is an independent college counselor and is founder of JKatz College Counseling in Redwood City. E-mail Katz at jkatz@jkatzcollegecounseling.com.