More on the "where else are you applying" debate...

What has not been mentioned in all this is whether or not it makes sense for students to "go on the offensive..."

For instance, instead of waiting to be asked where else you might be applying, would it be a good idea to go in with guns a'blazing? "I've applied to Yale, Harvard, Vanderbilt, MIT, Indiana, Rutgers, College of Charleston, University of Memphis, SUNY Brockport, Caltech, Cal State Fullerton, and the University of Hawai'i."

"I expect to receive positive decisions from all of them in the next week."

"Call me if you need me."

It's worth thinking about, especially if you like leverage.

It's like they know me

Followers of this blog will remember that we bought a family minivan and, during the shopping process, saw quite a few parallels between shopping for a car and shopping for a college.

Followers of the obscure points of this blog will also see that I fell in love with the Toyota FJ Cruiser.

Well, today, lo and behold, while my son and I were finishing up a timeshifted viewing of Thomas the Tank Engine, I was greeted at the DirecTV TiVo welcome screen by the offer to watch an ad for, guess what, the Toyota FJ Cruiser.

It's like they know me.

Why did they think that I would respond to this? What demographic information did they mine? How did they really understand that it was I that really needed to see this?

What does this mean for the college-bound and those who are looking for them? Well, laser-focused is the way to go. Schools need to do a better job of figuring out which students just might be a good fit -- and not spend their efforts on those who won't. And students -- well, students, maybe your buying habits or your watching patterns might just tell colleges and universities something. Think about it...

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

There's been a decent amount of traffic online -- and we've gotten a few questions here at U Sphere HQ, too -- about whether or not students should answer the question of where else they are applying.

And, another twist on this question is whether it's okay for colleges to ask the question.

NO, and NO.

NACAC (National Association for College Admissions Counseling) has guidelines for these types of issues that the industry is asked to adhere to. This is a group that operates with the best interests of students in mind, so they don't come up with answers to these questions in a vacuum.

Unless you've applied Early Decision, when you should only apply once, then the question should not be asked by anyone in the admissions office.

A follow up question that we've been asked: what about telling U Sphere where I've applied? What happens to that info?

We keep it to ourselves, folks. We use it to try to find other schools that might be a good fit -- and based on your personailty and where you've applied, we've got a good handle on whether or not we can make a decent suggestion.

But we're almost back to the "looking for a new car" post from this blog's November archives. Really shouldn't matter to the dealer whether you're looking at the FJ Cruiser or the BMW. If you're in the dealership with three kids in tow, they should try to sell you a minivan.

"Betting" on your favorite startup

Markets, they say, are incredibly efficient. One group helping other groups sort out all sorts of things through markets is called Inkling.

Here's how it works, and why we're telling you about it.

First of all, the guys behind Inkling have created markets that predict things like presidential elections and whether or not companies will launch products on time. (Note the proverb they borrow on the site: "None of us is as smart as all of us.")

You, the people, are pretty good when your collective wisdom is collected. For instance, 91% of those who weighed in said that Apple would unveil their iPhone at last week's Macworld.

People also, it is said, vote with their wallets. While Inkling doesn't let you bet real money, you do have a limited amount of their "inkles" with which to trade -- so you are placing bets and putting your limited money where your mouth is, and more of it where you're more certain.

Why are we telling you about it? We want to see what the collective wisdom says about us, U Sphere, Inc., the cross between "eHarmony" and "LendingTree" for the college admissions process.

We think we've managed to create a market of our own -- a place where buyers and sellers of a college education can find each other, connect, see what sort of value exchange makes sense, those sorts of things. But we're curious as to where you think this market is going. What, pray tell, will happen to us? IPO? Staying private? Going out of business? Something else?

So the market has been created. See here for the link.

Give it a whirl and we can all watch this market unfold.

We've Got Spirit Yes We Do We've Got Spirit How Bout U?

We have found a couple things, stumbled upon a couple others, and are happy to provide the below links as a public service:

Googling the term "Cheerleader Scholarships" found this great link. If you're a cheerleader -- boy or girl -- take a look. (What's interesting here: Cheerleading, while a sport, is not sanctioned as far as we know by the NCAA. Does that mean that you can get a scholarship AND get recruited AND not have to follow NCAA guidelines?) Link.

Takkle. This looks like a cross between You Tube and a small-market TV station site, but it's geared for athletes.

An ad-free scholarship site that's a real beauty. (We Google things so you don't have to.) Random scholarships.

Great Piece in the Chicago Tribune

Tribune Education reporter Jodi Cohen takes us to a unique recruiting event in today's paper. You can read the text at this link. Worth a read...

They're Public and Good, Really Good

The latest issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance arrived, and in it comes a ranking of the 100 Best Public Colleges.

Tops on the list is the University of North Carolina, followed by the University of Florida and the College of William & Mary.

It's a great list -- and it's not just geared for residents. Out-of-staters don't face an onerous price tag at these schools when compared with some of the schools' peers.

You can check the list out here.

Economists Are Pretty Smart

A piece this morning in the Wall Street Journal (popular with you college-bound kids, I know) talks about a meeting of the American Economics Association and its creation of a matchmaker -- a market matching economists and college/university professor jobs.

(You'll need a WSJ online subscription to read the whole article. Or look at page A2 of the print edition.)

What's interesting is that the economists use ideas from online dating to limit the amount of contact between job seekers and those schools they want to work for.

(Think about it: are the people with 10,000 friends on mySpace really friends with that many people?)

We see a lot of similarities between the ideas in this article and our own work here at U Sphere: a market is being created right now for buyers and sellers of a college education.

Pssst: Wanna Be A Doctor?

http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifU Sphere has had the pleasure of meeting lots of folks in the college admissions space...but none has quite the offering that the folks at do.

It's quite simple: the US needs more doctors than its med schools will produce. And quite a few American kids can't go to medical school here. And the US goes abroad to find doctors. Well...

SourceAmerica will hook you up with a medical program in an exotic locale like Bulgaria. Classes are taught in English. You're done in six years. And you can come back to the US as a full-fledged doc.

The tuition is really affordable, too.

This program from SourceAmerica is not for everyone. BUT it's a laser-focused idea and might just be right for you.

From Money Magazine -- Some Advice on Financial Aid, Scholarships, and Hypocrisy

A good piece in the January issue of Money Magazine (see a link here, or check in the magazine on page 43) on how January 1 is beginning of Financial Aid season.

It is a pretty good one-pager with some tricks and advice that make sense. But we've got to take issue on some of it. Here's a recap:

Yes, the government's site is the place to go for the FAFSA. However, there are other sources of aid, of scholarships, of information on how to find the best deals. We won't list our favorites here -- that'll be a story for another day. So yes, fill out the form. BUT...well, there are a number of couch cushions under which to find college dollars.

Now here's where the hypocrisy of this report comes in:

They warn you about "phony" sites. Not a good choice of words. They call fafsa.com a "phony" site because they suggest you not pay for advice that you can get for free, then they say call the government for help.

Let me try that approach when I file my taxes.

No, wait a minute, I always use a computer program of some sort to do my taxes. OF COURSE I could get all of the forms from the IRS off of their web page, but if someone else has tools that can help me...well, if I find them of value, I should use them. Right?

N.B. U Sphere, Inc. has no affiliation whatsoever with fafsa.com. Never talked to them.

N.B. The whole principle of Money Magazine appears to be smart people helping to give you advice about financial matters (one of them being paying for college). I could get mutual fund advice from my Uncle, or from a web site here or there. Or I could pay for an enhanced subscription to Morningstar. You see where I'm headed with this one, so I won't beat a dead horse.

Also interesting in this article -- something called "Profile" from the College Board. This costs $18 for you to file per school -- something that the same article seems to tell you is an okay thing to do.

Finally, to really spell out why this whole finding/applying/negotiating/funding/paying for college thing is something you need help with, see the link in this article from collegegoalsundayusa.org. A great organization, great program, we're all for it. But take a look at the map on the right side of the page...doesn't it remind you of something you'd see trying to explain the Electoral College? (If this candidate wins this state in Gray, well, then the orange state here needs to swing the other way.)

Proving that your strategy as the college-bound student: apply often, surf often, ask many questions, get help from wherever you can find it.

Now, back to reading this copy of Money Magazine. Which I could have gotten for free online, or at my local library. But instead I have a subscription. Which I'll of course keep because I find the magazine of value.