Last May, I conducted several email interviews to prepare my column about admission blogging for the August 2006 issue of University Business: “License to Recruit? Admissions-sponsored student blogging can get real results for your institution.â€
Doug Imbruce, Founder of TheU, answered these questions at this time.
1) You’ve recently launched student blogs on TheU.com. Can you tell me why you decided to include this feature on your website?
I founded THE U in my dorm room at Columbia after witnessing the incredible struggle endured by high school students unaware of the full scope of social and intellectual challenges they would face upon arriving on any college campus. Across the board, college administrations need assistance with full disclosure – helping kids understand how to succeed in climates that vary socially and academically in a culture that often values the quality of a brand name education higher than quality of life.
As recent high school graduates who have successfully made the college transition, bloggers for TheU are incredibly aware of the many different shortcomings of their schools and help students enjoy a happier, less stressful college transition by preparing these kids for challenges big and small. The bloggers are also on hand to document and illustrate the many different ways in which some schools cater to specific needs better than others, whether that’s via pointing out great academic departments, or specific features of the campus (for example the cool roommate selection portal at Georgetown) that might seem trivial but impact happiness in a major way.
2) What kind of traffic do you blogs get? How many students have already signed up to become TheU.com bloggers? What kind of feedback did you get about the blogs?
The blogs are incredibly popular – we have about 1000 students writing blogs and hundreds of thousands of visitors reading them every month. The feedback illustrates the point I made above – prospectives and parents are excited that there is finally a way to receive unbiased information to help make the big college choice, and I think the full disclosure employed by bloggers and the trust such an unbiased perspective represents has also encouraged readers to listen carefully when the bloggers complement specific aspects of their college experience – so the blogs have both deterred and encouraged students to apply to certain schools, which is exactly what they were intended to do!
3) You promote your DVD’s, blogs and student reviews as the “real deal†about colleges. What do you think about the student blogs set up by admission offices across the country?
First, it’s great to see the higher education machine embracing a medium students can relate to – institutions with bloggers have to be complemented at least for trying. That said, official blogs are sugar-coated, with little transparency – if you asked an official University blogger to report on the Titanic, the post would focus on the Champagne and the china, not the Iceberg. That said, I completely understand the need for admissions offices to put their best foot forward – it’s the job of THE U to provide a third-party alternative. Ultimately, we’re in this business for the same reason Colleges and Universities are – to make sure America’s youth are happy, well-educated, and ready to shape a positive future. We’re just helping students choose the right place to grow and prosper.