An Urgent Message -- And Apology -- From uSphere

To the uSphere network of students, parents and schools:

We have just received troubling news from a student who tried to use our service, and we wanted to communicate with you about it.

Cutting to the chase: some visitors to the uSphere.com site were shown pornographic ads. This is an egregious error by one of our advertising partners -- but we'll shoulder the blame, as it's our site and our partners should have been chosen more carefully. Especially on a site that serves students.

WE VALUE THE TRUST YOU PLACE IN US. We will do everything in our power to make sure this does not happen again.

uSphere uses some ad networks to show ads that, in our judgment, help you better plan for the going-to-college process. We have limited our ads to those that we think make sense. In fact, we have a long-standing relationship with two ad networks -- Google and Commission Junction -- whose service is exemplary.

It's another ad network that has caused this problem, and they assure us they're addressing this matter.

It's a shame that this had to happen on a day like today -- when hope should win out over fear, and we shouldn't be too cynical to think that a website that helps students find the right colleges can actually do so without offending people.

We're truly sorry.

Dave Van de Walle
and the
uSphere team

In Case You Missed It -- Excerpt from Sunday Night Stickam (Web Chat on College Admissions)

uSphere was joined by Zach Uttich, an admissions counselor at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. Zach had a ton to say -- here's an excerpt on what Millikin looks for in their incoming Freshman class:

zuttich: and my responsiblities in the admission office include visiting high schools and college fairs, managing a territory, evaluating applications, fielding questions and concerns about financial aid and am the supervisor for student tours

zuttich: millikin really looks for a student that is well rounded, to be honest

zuttich: of course we like you to meet requirements, but there are great students who don't, so we look for a total package

zuttich: that includes involvement, aspirations, grades, test scores, extra curricular activities and potential

zuttich: millikin looks for involved students

zuttich: both with their high school and the community

zuttich: we require our freshmen to partake in a certain amount of philanthropy hours and want to make sure our recruits are willing and ready to participate

usphere: thanks - is there any way for a student to be "too involved?"

zuttich: absolutely...a resumee can only be so deep...we don't want students to just have a bunch of things listed on their application because they showed up to a meeting

zuttich: so we expect students to have the background to support their claims

zuttich: ultimately, having a rap sheet for your clubs and organizations means you had free time, we just want to know you used it constructively


So there you go from one admissions counselor...

For discussion -- students, is this what you're hearing? Do you think you're doing enough -- or doing too much?

FYI - we're planning to make Sunday Night Stickam a regular thing -- but this Sunday might look a little different...we're ironing out the tech tools at our disposal...we'd love your feedback...

Last Night's Teleseminar - In Case You Missed It

uSphere had a lot of questions from folks who couldn't make the teleseminar last night, featuring my good friend and college planning consultant Paul Hemphill. Well, it was a great show, Paul's a great speaker, and we've actually archived the audio.

You can click here to get the teleseminar audio replay.

Given the success of this event -- feedback was outstanding! -- we're imagining that this won't be the last time we have one of these events.

What About the Boarding School Search?

Another great resource to point out comes from the folks at Admissions Quest, whose tools can help those in search of the right boarding school find out which ones make sense for them.

Anyone who lives in a big city, for instance, knows how competitive the magnet schools and even public high school admissions can be. (Chicago, as an example...filling out the application for an 8th grader can be an onerous task.

We like Admissions Quest's approach, and you can get tons of information from the site. Check it out!

Have We Mentioned the Cloud Lately?

This U Sphere cloud we've come up with is pretty cool, if we do say so ourselves. Take a look:

Cloud.

No, it's not 100% scientific, and thousands of logins tomorrow could change the way it looks if they all decide to put the same school in their profile. But it's still pretty cool...

An Interesting Twist from Texas: College, or a Car?

Fans of this blog know that we make a lot of comparisons between the process of car-shopping and that of picking, applying to, and ultimately deciding on which college or university makes sense for the student (and family).

We found a site from Texas -- Texas College Money -- that actually takes the whole thing a step further.

Click on the left hand button that says "Invest in College." For purpose of this comparison, we went with a good, affordable family car (Hyundai Elantra) vs. a good, quality, institution that's part of the UT System (in this case, UTEP).

Though it can be a lot more expensive to pay for college when compared to an automobile, they actually compare the value of the car 4 years later vs. the value of the degree.

Great way of looking at this whole comparison -- in ways that (maybe) the average family might relate to.

The Loonie, The Dollar, and What They Both Mean for U (if you're university-bound)

Big news from last week around something called "parity" -- which has nothing to do with going to college and EVERYTHING to do with going to college.

Fact: for the first time in 31 years, the Canadian Dollar and the US Dollar are equal. One of one buys one of the other.

Without getting into the vagaries of currency trading and all, here's a quick primer on why this impacts you, as well as some odds on who gets impacted the most.

Parents of Canadian High School Students:


Your dollar will now go further than it has in quite some time. The US$40,000-a-year tuition bill is going to be, well, C$40,000. Duh, I know, but think about just five years ago, when that US$40,000 tuition bill was $60,000.

Odds of an influx of students crossing the border due to the exchange rate: 1 to 1 on an increase of 10% per year over the next 2 years.

Parents of American High School Students:

Your dollar lacks the spending power it once did, but don't worry if your student wants to go to a competitive university North of the Border. Canadian Universities are still a bargain when compared with US Universities. Scholarships are out there.

Odds of a really negative impact on the "Canadian Ivies" -- U Toronto, UBC, Western Ontario, McGill -- 5 to 1.

Up-and-coming Universities in the USA:

Go get 'em! We've long been fans of the Canadian Secondary Education system. Numbers are in your favor.

Odds of the spillover to other schools -- say, the ones that aren't YET household names: 5 to 2.

Up-and-coming Universities in Canada:

This is all about storytelling for them...see the item above about the Canadian Ivies and the fact that a top-quality education is STILL a tremendous value when compared to a lot of schools in the USA.

BUT -- and this is something that Canada realized a long time ago...there's a big world out there and they need to recruit all sorts of places.

Like India, China, Australia...the list could go on.

Odds of increase in US students for schools like Brock University, Thompson Rivers University, UOIT, etc.: 7 to 1.

We're getting close to 100,000...

Wow. What a response from the U Sphere community to our contest with Brickfish and the JMC Academy in Australia.

We are inching closer and closer to 100,000. This is just from digital artists and those who want to study in Australia -- so those who are entering represent just a small slice of the U Sphere populace (SAT word). For instance, in the US alone, 2 million students will start college for the first time this fall.

So obviously we have just scratched the surface of those who want colleges to compete over them.

Anyway, you're probably wondering what's next. Ahoy, people, this is just the first of lots in store. It is only September after all.

And if you're NOT an art person, don't do photography, not an animator...well, there are schools out there as part of the U Sphere universe that are looking for you.

The News Release on Our Brickfish - JMC Academy Partnership

Here's the news release that hit the "wires" yesterday afternoon.

August 21, 2007 05:25 PM Eastern Daylight Time

U Sphere Partners with Brickfish to Send One Digital Design Devotee Down Under with Exclusive Scholarship

College Networking Site Connects Up and Coming Designers with Aussie Art Experts

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Brickfish, the online content marketing platform, today announced a partnership with college networking site U Sphere, Inc. (www.usphere.com) to launch the “U Sphere JMC Design” campaign, a contest inviting students wanting to embark on the world of digital design to enter their art for the chance to win $5,000 in tuition towards a year of study at the accredited JMC Academy in Sydney, Australia. Located at www.brickfish.com/Lifestyles/UsphereScholarship, the contest will award the most artfully-inclined entrant with a week of higher education in the land down under.

“As a global network of students and universities looking to find each other, we understand that digital media is a red hot industry with a vast number of prospective students vying for the chance at a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Dave Van de Walle, president & CEO, U Sphere. “Aspiring artists are eager for the chance to showcase their work and a user-generated content campaign allows them to share their talents with millions of people globally across the Internet. We can’t wait to whisk one deserving student off to Australia and the exclusive JMC Academy to train alongside the experts.”

The campaign enables entrants to submit online examples of their most creative digitally designed art. Anyone can view, vote on and share their favorite designs and U Sphere will hand select one grand prize winner from the U.S. to receive a $5,000 tuition scholarship towards a year of study at the JMC Academy or a $1,000 scholarship for any educational purpose in the U.S. A second place winner, chosen by top score from the top 50 entries, will receive a week of online design tuition, and the most viral entry will receive a $100 Amazon gift card.

According to Van de Walle, the Brickfish user-generated content (UGC) platform creates the perfect opportunity for students and aspiring designers to broadcast their talent over the Internet by enabling users to share their favorites through email, Instant Messaging and hundreds of Internet sites around the world. In addition, it provides a way for entrants to obtain direct and useable feedback on their work because anyone can view and vote on entries.

“Good education has become increasingly coveted as students vie for that one-of-a-kind experience,” said Shahi Ghanem, CEO of Brickfish. “UGC creates a unique way for educational institutions to preview potential students and secure feedback from outsiders. We are very excited to work with U Sphere to make one student’s dream take off with an incredible scholarship to a leading international design school.”

The “U Sphere JMC Design” campaign ends September 28. For contest rules and more information about Brickfish, visit www.Brickfish.com.

About U Sphere, Inc.

U Sphere, Inc., headquartered in Evanston, Illinois, works with students throughout the globe to match them with the colleges and universities that are appropriate for them. The company's proprietary platform includes an application tool and "Personality Profile," which aims to get at the character traits that are most in line with the needs of U Sphere's college and university clients (in North America and around the world). Schools can then make an offer of admission to those students who they think will fit in best on campus.

About Brickfish

Brickfish is an online marketing company that has created a new platform for driving consumer interaction and response through User Generated Content (UGC). Companies use the Brickfish platform to launch advertising and marketing campaigns that spark the creation of brand-relevant UGC, such as blogs, images, video and audio. Campaign content is shared in a peer-to-peer fashion via email, IM and thousands of sites across the Web and campaign participants are rewarded for creating, voting, reviewing and sharing campaign content. Brickfish tracks consumer interactions with this content and then provides customers with comprehensive analytics on campaign reach and performance. This approach provides better value than traditional online marketing approaches such as display-based advertising and key word buys. Brickfish is headquartered in San Diego, Calif. with personnel in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Contacts

Brickfish
Rachel Kay, 858-587-2530
Rachel.Kay@Brickfish.com

| Business Wire 2007

Which Comes First: The College Application OR The College Visit?

Great question from the peanut gallery -- specifically, the parent of a high schooler in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. (Or Obamaville to some.)

Jill F. of Chicago asks: "What's your view on visiting colleges before you apply vs. after you've been accepted?"

Pluses on visiting before you apply:

1. Many schools consider that "first contact" and track your interest when you visit. So you can be on their radar screen early.
2. Some schools will throw you a bone if you visit first -- Florida Institute of Technology drops about 3000 bucks off tuition if you have visited the school. (Goofy, I know, but true.)
3. Good to winnow down your list before you apply...a Saturday spent touring a school that you thought you'd like might yield a big fat "NO" from the student -- before you have to waste time on the application.

Pluses on waiting til after you accepted:

1. The first contact thing above is becoming less of a factor -- one school (a selective private one in Indiana, name withheld) reported that 30% of their applicants' first contact with the school was the application itself.
2. Leverage. Your interest in the school is hereby confirmed if you walk into their Financial Aid office with the acceptance letter in tow.
3. If you wait til afterwards, it becomes MORE about "fit." I think that's a big plus -- instead of thinking "could I get in here?," the pressure is off and the visit becomes all about "will I fit in here?"

GREAT question (thanks Jill).

Hey, Check Out Our Re-Launched Blog

Today, we're pleased to relaunch our blog -- complete with a cool new template.

The flow of information should get more rapid, too -- in addition to the hundreds of facebook friends we've made and the thousands of visitors we've had over the summer, U Sphere is working on a few more super-secret things as part of our commitment to U -- the college-bound student, the parent of the college-bound student, and the university looking to find U.

We're also pretty pumped about a couple partnerships we'll be announcing in the next few weeks.

Stay tuned: and you can always send us a note if you want to weigh in on something.

MOO. It can help U. (Or, another way to keep your name in front of colleges)

One of my personal favorite startups is a company called MOO.

The Moo Minicards were the belles of the ball at the OACAC conference. (Or maybe it's just that I have cute kids.)

But here's why I'm telling you about it: their Minicards would REALLY be cool if used at college fairs. BY STUDENTS.

Here's how it works:

(1) Upload a picture of you doing something that shows what makes you tick. Or put a clever image that you've designed. Or do something else -- heck, they're your cards, people. Try this:











(2) Then, on the back, write something clever about yourself:

"Here's me, with three friends, and we've just left a service project in Appalachia. Oh and I have a 4.0 at my school, and I'm on the basketball team, and I really want to be a research scientist."

(3) Put contact info that's just this simple:

"I'm David V., visit me at www.usphere.com/davidv." You'd of course use your U Sphere username.

That last part will give them access to your profile -- but only if they're either a college admissions person or YOUR high school counselor.

You're all set. Order a bunch of these just in time for the college fair circuit, where you can wow the admissions folks, show that you're cutting edge, and use environmentally sound principles in the process. (As only MOO would.)

(And just when I get done singing their praises in Vancouver -- where U Sphere handed out a few hundred cute little cards, with my kids' pics on the back and our contact info on the front -- they change the game again. With stickers. We'll cross that bridge later.)

Digital Natives Going to College

More notes from Vancouver's session with the International folk:

Shaun McElroy, a counselor in Shanghai (and blogger about all things relevant to the international student here), was co-presenting a session on Web 2.0 in college admissions. One implication for BOTH sides of the audience (college/university personnel AND the counselors on the high school side): the realization that "digital natives" are by and large taking over the college-bound set.

If you're new to the terms "digital native" and "digital immigrant" -- well, they are as they sound. Digital natives have always grown up with stuff that's electronic. Digital immigrants remember putting film into cameras. Things like that.

Leading us to another possible extension of this term: "facebook natives" and "facebook immigrants."

The natives were the early adopters who HAD to have a "dot-edu" email address to use facebook (so that, ironically, they could stop reading email and JUST use facebook to communicate). The immigrants -- I'm one of them, I'll admit -- are the ones who have just recently been allowed into the facebook universe.

AND then there's those who make up fake names for themselves (more popular on mySpace than facebook)...would those be "facebook aliens?"

This college-bound set would include, then, digital natives who are, theoretically, facebook immigrants. They're trying to connect most efficiently with digital natives (who recruit for colleges) who might work for a digital immigrant.

txt me if this doesn't make sense.

Colleges with Block Scheduling Becoming More Popular

Here's an update for students who are looking for a different college or university experience:

Block scheduling became popular several years ago, with Colorado College leading the pioneering idea of students taking only one class for a 3 1/2 week period, then taking the next class, and so on...so you still get your ten courses, just one at a time.

Thanks to NY-based educational consultant Allen Tinkler for this list of schools in North America that have block schedules:

Colorado College (Colorado)
Cornell College (Iowa)
Maharishi University (Iowa)
Tusculum College (Tennessee)
University of Montana Western (a U Sphere Fave)
Prescott College (Arizona)
Quest University Canada (British Columbia)

Evergreen State College (Washington State)
(One Interdisciplinary Program each quarter)

Hofstra University (NY)
(First year only for New College division)

Allow us to recommend another part of the world

Australia is red-hot right now. (Well, in the education space it's red-hot. Actually, it's almost winter there, so it may not be all THAT hot. But you get the idea.)

A mini-trend is emerging, and the folks at JMC Academy in Oz tell us that upwards of 20% of their students come from outside Australia.

JMC, by the way, is on a streak of its own -- they are opening a third campus and their programs in digital media, performing arts, and things like that are catching fire...

Here's a link to their site.

Good Luck Making Sense of All This...

The Early Show continues...

Big article in The Wall Street Journal (link here, subscription required) that discusses a number of random things going on with early admissions. Different Early Decision dates, different styles of applying early, different product names.

If your head is spinning, join the crowd.

The article also discusses "FastApps" and "SnapApps" -- common tools that some schools are employing to offer you, the student, a pre-approved offer of admission (sortof) by pre-populating your application with a bunch of your info.

(The article didn't mention a school that is offering free iTunes just for applying. Such an animal is rumored to exist, and I, for one, am anxious to sign up to join the Freshman class. After all, college is all about ignoring the professor while listening to your iPod, right?)