Say Hello to U Advisor

U Sphere, Inc. is sending out this press release this morning. We thought that our blog readers would appreciate a sneak peek.

USphere.com Launches U Advisor – An Individualized, Affordable, Confidential and Timely College-Planning Service

Web 2.0 Service Assists College-Bound Students and Their Parents

EVANSTON, Ill. – November 29, 2006 – U Sphere continues to revolutionize the college-admissions process with the introduction of U Advisor – an easy-to-use, confidential and personalized college-planning service. U Advisor allows students and parents to ask an unlimited number of questions, specific to their own situation, for only $10 a month. Questions are e-mailed through the U Sphere website (www.usphere.com) and answers are posted to the student’s U Advisor account within 24 hours. Registrants can sign up for as little as one month with no long-term commitments and no contracts.

“Students and parents who have utilized the other services available on our website told us they needed more personalized help in the college-planning process; but many are not able to afford an outside consultant. With U Advisor, we are able to provide targeted advice that should help ease their stress level so they can create a more focused college application and college-planning strategy,” said Dave Van de Walle, president and CEO, U Sphere, Inc.

U Advisor is ideal for families that can’t or don’t want to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on admissions consultants to help get their child into an Ivy League school.

The service features a question-and-answer format. For example, a student could ask a question, such as: “I want to study design, in California, but didn’t do well on standardized tests. What are my possibilities?” The student would then receive an individual response from U Sphere’s U Advisor team.

Van de Walle continued: “Students want to know if they’re on the right track, taking the right courses and applying to the right schools for them. We use the power of our university database and mesh it with the student’s academic performance to help them and their parents to plan appropriately.”

Students can get more information about U Advisor and sign up directly for the service at www.usphere.com/uadvisor.

U Sphere, Inc. launched its website at www.usphere.com in July of 2005. The website provides several free college-planning tools and has a unique application service that allows students to post a profile and have colleges and universities contact them if they are the right fit for that school.

-end-

“U Sphere” is a registered trademark of U Sphere, Inc.

A E I O U Sphere

Vowels added to words are quite popular these days: without said, U Sphere would not exist as U Sphere, but would instead have a more bland-sounding term (like Admission Strategies or something like it).

We've found a few folks that are borrowing from our approach...here are some links just for snicks.

iSphere. Gotta love this from The Sharper Image. Sounds good, but can it help you find the right college for you?

uSwitch. They will find you a better deal on everything (in the UK) but a college degree. (Note to self -- call uSwitch.)

O Globo. This doesn't count if you know Portuguese or have been to Brasil. Biggest newspaper in the country.

Education, American-Style

We uncovered a few schools that provide a four-year, Amercian-style, English-language higher education experience. These schools are not for everyone -- for starters, they are NOT study abroad opportunities, so you'll have to be the type of student that doesn't need to be within a couple hours drive of home. AND the schools are in places where English is not the primary language for most residents.

Here's a partial listing.

Vesalius College, Brussels, Belgium
American University, Bulgaria
American University, Cairo
American University, Paris
American College of Greece
American College of Thessaloniki
John Cabot University, Rome
American University of Central Asia (in Kyrgystan)
American University, Beirut
Franklin College, Switzerland
Webster University Thailand

We've also mentioned the wonderful education system and opportunities in the UK (you can learn more about many of these at the BritishCouncilUSA web page).

And there's always Canada...which we'll talk about later.

Accepted at Hyundai U

We've received a number of questions here at U Sphere world HQ about what make and model we ended up with (see info about our great minivan hunt below). The answer? The Hyundai Entourage.

The parallels between our search for the right minivan for us (as we have a family of 5!) and the search for the right college or university for you (or, if you are a parent, for your son or daughter) are striking. I'll let you draw your own conclusions from some of the key learnings.

1. Know generally what you want first, then test drive. And test drive. And test drive. We knew we wanted safety first and foremost. Bells and whistles came next. Color was down on the list, but still sortof important. We lost count of what all we test drove, but, in the minivan class, we've been in everything in the class.
   
2. Know who wants what and what is a deal-breaker. Navigation was great, but since my wife is never lost, all she needs is a compass. A DVD in the back is necessary for the kids. Cargo space important, stow-and-go seating not that important. (We're using this van to haul children, not large amounts of freight.)
3. Listen to the dealer, but find out who is really in charge of this process. At one dealer, the person who let us test drive a brand new van with squeaky brakes was obviously not in charge of the situation. When I asked if I could see the model with the leather and other accoutrements, she was taken aback. She then asked for a deposit so they could find one. The Internet manager kept sending me links to some attractive blonde's sales message on behalf of their dealership. Not a very targeted message, mind you. Didn't sway me at all.
   
4. This is the biggie: trust your gut. When my wife came back from the Hyundai dealership saying she liked the van "a lot," I knew we were onto something. But, when she said "the people were really nice and they didn't talk down to me," at this point I figured we had the leader in the clubhouse.

Readers, college admissions types, fellow bloggers: I'd love to get your thoughts on the parallels between this process and the college search process -- and hear your stories, too.

Colleges With Undercoating

The saga continues.

When last we left our heroes, they were searching for the right minivan, and this reporter was seeing similarities between searching for the right college. (See full post below.)

We got a call yesterday -- liken it to the Dean of Admissions rendering a decision and asking a recruiter to give us a buzz. "We can't find the exact car, but we have something a little better. Color you want, style you want, but with leather. And a couple other things. We can make you the right price and we'll make it worth your while. Come in and see."

N.B. Before you say NO, and before we say no, too, remember that you can find some really stellar Honors College experiences in the college universe -- some of them from places you may not think would have phenomenal honors colleges.

More to come. We're touring the campus (dealer's vast lot) this morning. With kids in tow.

What Do I Have To Do To Get You Into A College Today...

It's high time that my family buys a minivan, what with three kids and all, and it's interesting to see the parallels between college search/college planning/college applications and shopping for a car.

(I'm going to coin a new term -- "college shopping" -- to describe this whole college process. You'll see some of the interesting things I've unearthed below.)

We're not done with this process yet -- we have narrowed it down to one and actually put a deposit down. So we're pretty much there, however I won't tell you which one we've picked. (And it would be unethical of me to put another deposit down on another vehicle, right?) But here are some preliminary thoughts.

Car shopping. You could walk into a dealer rather blindly and ask to test drive the latest hot model. Few people do that. If they do, they automatically find themselves behind the negotiating 8-ball.

Dealers -- the smart ones at least -- expect that people have visited all of the sites (Edmunds.com, which is this reporter's personal favorite, or cars.com are the two biggies.). An informed consumer is one that is actually more likely to convert into a sale if everything is right.

There could be some quirks in the process, sure: my wife and I were pretty much sure we were going to get Model A, but Model B came in from left field. More on that once we go public with our decision.

We also were surprised that Model C -- HINT: one of the "best in class" -- wasn't all we were told. It didn't have as much pep. The bare bones model is pretty bare bones. Etc.

It was a long process -- we've probably test driven 10 different models over the past two years, when you count rental vans and the like. We had our hit list, we didn't stray too far from it.

And we plan on having this for at least four years. Once the dealer locates the right color.

College shopping. It's probably a complete waste of time to formally visit Harvard if you're planning on the community college route. You know beforehand -- or you SHOULD know beforehand -- whether or not there's a chance you'll fit in.

(This is why we didn't test drive the new Toyota FJ Cruiser; this instead went into the "Dave's midlife crisis car" category.)

You probably know what make and model of school you're looking for. You've, we hope, visited quite a few -- even the ones you have no intention of attending. You know that you're not after a hot rod, or a two-seat convertible. And you hopefully know what you're willing to pay.

More on this subject after the weekend...hopefully with a brand spanking new (INSERT MODEL HERE) in the driveway.

The Journal Strikes Again

Today's Wall Street Journal has a dynamite article entitled "Beyond Berkeley." In it, they espouse a theory long-believed to be true by the U Sphere team: there is a new trend toward selectivity at many public universities in the country.

Mentioned in the article are places like Binghamton, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Delaware -- three that have become much more selective in recent years.

It's a great read if not a little scary -- but the upshot is that students may have to cast their nets a little wider when applying this year, too.

Visiting for Dollars

Yes, that's right, schools will pay you to visit them.

Sortof.

Two examples:

Florida Institute of Technology. If you have visited their campus and you get accepted and you decide to go there, they'll knock $500 off the bill. (There's also an alumni scholarship, a "fill out the FAFSA early" award, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Plus, you get to study in Melbourne, Florida.)

University of Minnesota-Morris. Where is Morris? Find out, visit the campus and they will reimburse your travel costs. You don't have to end up going there.

There are scores more -- we don't want to try to reinvent the wheel. You can check out the site from ScholarshipExperts to be fully informed.

What can you learn from this?

1 - ASK. Ask if there's any program you should know about before you visit the campus, such as one that would help out with your travel to visit the campus. Don't be shy.

2 - TALK to professors, financial aid folks, anyone that might be able to tell you if there's something you're missing -- like a scholarship you wouldn't know about.

3 - FILL OUT THE FORM. The FAFSA is what we're talking about, and the mistake many families make is thinking that they make too much money. (How much is too much? Let's put it this way...families who are pulling in six figures aren't automatically disqualified from aid.) And you may as well ask Mom and Dad to do it during tax season, as many schools have deadlines (March 1, March 15, varies by school) to be eligible for the most aid.

The Magic Number? 730

That is the number of schools that have gone "test optional," according to FairTest. The National Center for Fair & Open Testing tracks this stuff better than we could -- and the fact that I can remember a very recent day when this number was closer to 400 schools means they are making a difference.

I've had chats with parents of high school seniors who are aghast that their children can actually avoid the test and still get into a good school.

Hey, another $41.50 saved here or there can go a long way...

(That's the going rate for the SAT.)

Robert Schaeffer runs the FairTest group. He's got the noblest of intentions, and he's one of those "good guys" who is making a difference. Check out his site -- a ton more resources there.