Zinch

Infobox Website
name = Zinch

url = http://www.zinch.com/
type = College Admissions website
registration = Free
owner = Zinch, Inc.
launch date = March 12th 2007
current version = 2.0
revenue =
employees = 15

Zinch is a community-based college admissions portal. It combines a variety of Web 2.0 and Web syndication tools in an attempt to help colleges and students find one another.

On the site, students create profiles which in many ways resemble hyper-linked college applications. Using these profiles, they then "shout out" to colleges that they are interested in, hoping to begin a dialogue. Colleges also have the ability to search through these profiles to reach out to students.

In addition, the site gives away a variety of scholarships which are judged by the site motto: "You are more than a test score"

History

Zinch started out as a research project at Princeton University in June 2006 ["Princeton School of Engineering", http://engineering.princeton.edu/news/en ] by a group of students. The company was founded by Mick Hagen, Brad Hagen, and Sid Krommenhoek and launched to the public in March 2007.

You Are More Than A Test Score

The site's motto, "you are more than a test score," refers to the commonly accepted practice of colleges purchasing large lists of names, often selected only by SAT, ACT and PSAT scores, from The College Board and NRCCUA.

Criticism

Colloquial Writing Style

Zinch employs a writing style often verging on slang, and includes a number of words in its navigational structure which are not intuitive to non-teens. Fact|date=September 2008

Examples include: Fact|date=September 2008

"Wizards": Tools for participating colleges to reach out to students
"Shout Outs": Mechanism for students to express interest in a particular college
"The Love": Internal Messaging system where students receive mail from colleges
"The Word": Message board, primarily for college admissions discussions.

Admissions Use of Social Networking

Due to the overwhelming popularity of social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook, a debate has begun around the degree to which admissions officers should be allowed to view the private information of prospective students. While Zinch is not a social networking site, it does offer access to the personal side of a student's life, and has thus come up a number of times in the controversy [ Yale Daily News http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/21289 ]

Notes