Thats Interesting

The review team at odinjobs.com showcases up and coming companies and their products. Who knows one of them may be the next Google.

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Zinch That Admission!

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First it was companies using social networking sites and virtual reality sites for hires. Now colleges are following suit, on to sites like Zinch, to find out exactly what material their future students are made of!

Zinch.com, launched in March 2007 by Mick Hagen, (President and Founder) with Brad Hagen and Sid Krommerhoek, invites students to empower themselves to get into their preffered colleges. A free website, it is privately funded and has added to its mantle recently, by winning the Utah entrepreneur challenge worth $40,000.

How does it help applicants? Any student can create their Zinch account and keep building their profile, all through high school. It is a detailed online portfolio to showcase academic and extra-curricular achievements. Typically, students can upload extra-curricular activities, awards, jobs or internships, personality traits, qualities, likes and dislikes and even their hobbies.

The idea is to make sure that in the rat race for admission, you don’t lose out just because you have lower scores. Once you’re done with your profile, Zinch takes over. The site has a profile of every school and college in America. Colleges and universities search through the Zinch database to recruit students based on different criteria. For instance, a college department with a strong swim team, would find it easier to spot a future champion through Zinch than through the traditional application method.

As killerstartups defines it

Zinch is a disruptive technology that changes the way students will find and be found by universities. The current system of college recruiting and application is broken. The only way the universities can find students is to buy list of students with a high ACT or SAT score. This is only useful to the most cerebral universities and students. Everyone else is left on their own. Zinch solves that problem by recognizing that students are more than a test score.

Zinch offers those enticing extras too. The “schoolzeeker” menu helps you to choose the college with your favorite sports and clubs, as well as the culture and social groups you’d like to meet.

The ‘holler dollar’ menu of Zinch also offers a wide spectrum of scholarships for those who might need it. Admission officers have it easier too as they can actually see the student’s long term achievements rather than just be restricted to what they put on the form.

Podtech sums it neatly

The Zinch model: students generate their own profiles as a free service. Zinch lets the students "shout-out" to specific programs and universities they are interested in attending. Universities purchase a subscription to the content database with the ability to search various criteria. Zinch also provides the university an additional way to target prospective students and then market specific programs students are looking for, rather than deliver generic, campus-wide information.

Competition is hot on Zinch’s trail. Zandigo.com is a recent me-too, while U-sphere.com and Connectedu.net operate in the same space, though not with as many features.

Zinch talks

Zinch is yet another cool web name. Where did the name come from?

Back in the day everyone used to say, “dude, that’s a sinch.” Ya know, saying something was easy. We’re putting a small twist on it, using a “z,” but saying college admissions is now a ZINCH! Meaning, it’s now a lot easier.

I read about the company background, but tell our readers the story behind the idea of Zinch.

When I was in high school and thinking about different colleges, I realized that I was pretty much in trouble. I didn’t have the greatest GPA or SAT scores. I was way below the average for a place like Princeton. However, I had always wanted to go Ivy league and I knew that I had many amazing skills and talents that would appeal to a place like Princeton. So what I did was create a really sweet portfolio that highlighted who I was and what I could do. It spoke about my photography skills, web design skills, leadership work, volunteer work, etc. It had everything. It really painted a complete picture of who I was. To make a long story short, it worked. I got into Princeton. They were able to see me for what I was, not some stupid test scores that I didn’t do too well on.

Why do you think the current recruitment process is flawed?

Colleges use standardized tests to recruit students. Colleges currently go to College Board (AP and SAT tests) or ACT and buy lists of students who got above a certain score. From there, the colleges will start recruiting and send out info regarding their college. Colleges waste an incredible amount of money on students who they know very little about, and students are pigeon-holed and judged by how they do on a test. The current method is advantageous to the advantaged. Students are more than test scores. We all know that. Colleges now have a method to recruit based on more.

What are some of your general recommendations to high school students?

Be yourself. Find your passions and pursue them. Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t be afraid to be special. Have fun. No matter what college you go to, you can have a great experience and be successful. Showcase yourself through Zinch.

How do you leverage your blog to market Zinch?

The blog is an awesome way to keep people updated on what’s going on. It’s been a really powerful tool for us to share our excitement and momentum with the world. Through our blog, the energy that we feel as a team can be shared and multiplied. It’s been very helpful.

Tell us the main benefits of Zinch for the various interested parties: students, counselors, parents, admission officers.

Students:

It’s simple, they can showcase themselves in a way that’s never been possible. They were always portrayed as a test score. Now they can be seen as more. For we all know they are a lot more than a test score.

Counselors:

We allow counselors to better track, view, and manage the college admissions process of their students.

Parents:

We have over $30,000 in scholarships that we provide for students. Anything to help out financially is a big help for parents.

Admissions officers:

We allow them to learn more about the student they are recruiting, thus, personalizing the process a lot more. If they know you like Art, colleges will be able to tell you about their amazing art programs, etc. The more information the colleges have on you (remember, this is all BEFORE the actual application process), the more personalized the recruiting is and the more relevant the information flow can be.

What specific technical skills will you be looking for in the near future?

We’re looking for dot net developers who are very familiar with Ajax. We’re also looking for the greatest web marketers around.

A sinch for zinch?

Yes and no. The site is certainly a lifesaver to hundreds of relieved students who don’t find their chances disappearing just because of their scores. The scholarship idea is also great to create and retain a loyal base. The only note of caution, competition could well be banging on Zinch’s door before too long. Just ask Orkut or Facebook or MySpace.

Posted by Sally Richardsson       Posted at 06:58AM May 25, 2007 by Sally Richardsson   


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