As a parent who spent way too many hours last year with the Princeton Review of Colleges Guidebook, the idea behind Unigo.com is compelling. Why rely on statistics, the college web site, a campus tour and a few anecdotes, when you can hear everything direct from the students themselves? That's the idea behind Unigo.com which launches this month just in time to help the class of 2013 pick a college. The idea combines many concepts familiar and dear to Millennial's 1) No one is as smart as all of us 2) All the information, all the time 3) unfiltered and unedited 4) free. What's not to like?
Here's how the New York Times (9.19.08) describes Unigo's utility to a prospective student:
"Every student who joins Unigo has a user profile, and while that profile might not feature his or her real name, the idea is that by garnering a few pieces of personal information — your major, your hometown, your race, sex and political leanings — a database is created that makes it possible for newcomers to search the site by all kinds of hyperspecific criteria. You can see how many other people from your own high school are looking at a particular college. You can contact the author of a review with follow-up questions. “You can say, ‘I only want to see reviews of Harvard by African-American students,’ and have a choice of 20,” Goldman projected, “or by English majors, and have a choice of 50. So you can not only see a more comprehensive version of the school than you can anywhere else, but you can also see the school through the eyes of someone who’s just like you.”
The Beta site is still a little dysfunctional, but the promise, is enormous. The idea of video testimonials is compelling, you can hear the 'virtual' tour on an official web site, then hear the unofficial tour on Unigo. With my ties to Notre Dame, I will be especially interested in seeing this video described in the NYT article: "Two girls at Notre Dame, one an official campus tour guide, visit several spots around campus: at each one, the tour guide gives you the approved spiel, and then her friend tells you what the spiel leaves out."
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To be honest, I checked out Unigo and I was not overly impressed. Granted it is their "beta" site, so there may be more to come.
ReplyDeleteI've been using myUsearch.com and have found it to be quite comprehensive in trying to find and match with a college. myUsearch actually lists over 3,400 colleges - Unigo like 250? - that you could potentially match with, and based on your answers to various questions - which the system walks you through - you end up with a solid list of colleges. Plus, I could see how many matches I had throughout the questions. They do offer to connect you with - or sell you to I'm guessing - your matching colleges, but you can also opt out from being contacted by them. Then again, maybe I want to be contacted by my matching colleges that I selected.
myUsearch also has their own scholarships that they appear to fund with their own money. Novel idea, give back to those that support you???
Crowdsourcing in the public sector is an interesting topic indeed because you're dealing with corporate cultures that may not be receptive to the idea. That said, this is an interesting development and I've now blogged your post over at the crowdsourcing 101 @ http://www.youth-marketing-buzz.com/2008/10/buzz-words-crowdsourcing.html
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