Comments for Chapter 42

Comment on Screencast Demo of the Week by Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:36:17 +0000

The balloons are a really cute and intuitive idea. Great screencast.

Comment on The Uncommon Application, Part I: The personal touch by Jason

Jason — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:30:21 +0000

Sure. Don’t get me wrong, Janie— I don’t think the Common App turns applicants away. On the contrary, it makes things much easier for them— so many schools are using it now that an enterprising applicant will almost certainly have at least one school that accepts it. This is why it’s such a good business model— the more schools accept it, the more prospects use it; the more prospects use it, the more schools will accept it. (I really should find out if it’s a publicly traded company.)

What I’m saying is that in this atmosphere of centralization and outsourcing, the right online application could forge a tighter connection than you’d have with the 10 schools you sent your Common App to. The real point, I’d argue, is that in a competitive environment, the more you can get a prospect to engage intellectually with what a school has to offer, the better your chances are of getting that student to matriculate.

Comment on The Uncommon Application, Part I: The personal touch by Janie

Janie — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:59:08 +0000

No, I don’t think the Uncommon App was ever fully online, which is a shame.

Or… maybe a blessing to admissions counselors? Can you imagine sorting through 8,000 YouTube vids of high-school seniors who have been raised to relish in their sheer giftedness?

http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2008/01/15/college_hopefuls_get_creative_to_a_fault/

But once a student has made the decision to apply to a school, would the coldness of the CommonApp really turn them away? Or is it just the next necessary step?

(Even the perfect dinner-date ends with paying the bill?)

Comment on The Uncommon Application, Part I: The personal touch by Jason

Jason — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:42:46 +0000

Yep. (I’m an alum of the graduate school, so I never used the Uncommon App, but yeah, it’s a bummer.) I’m not sure if Chicago’s Uncommon App ever had a full online version— do you know?

Comment on The Uncommon Application, Part I: The personal touch by Janie

Janie — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:37:33 +0000

The decision (made only this year!) for U of C to finally drop the “Uncommon Application” must have been particularly stinging to you as an alum.

Chicago is keeping the unusual essay prompts as a “Chicago Supplement” to the Common App, but dropping their usage of the term “Uncommon Application”.

The original message from the Dean suggested that they would keep both, but now you can only find the Uncommon App in the “Myths and Legends” section of the site.

http://uncommonapplication07-08.blogspot.com/2006/12/truth-about-common-application.html

Comment on Knowing your audience… and your coworkers by Jason

Jason — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 06:56:45 +0000

Wow, it took me a minute or two to get that one. I wouldn’t have gotten it if you hadn’t tagged it html.

Comment on Notes from the most recent SEED conference by Chris Dessi

Chris Dessi — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:47:19 +0000

Douglas,

Great post about Gary Vaynurchuk. It’s hysterical because you and I were both locked in on Gary but after he spoke at different conferences. My take - the guy is a force of nature. I love his passion, and his presentation style was electric. Or should I say - he brought thunder. Well done, Doug and good luck.

Chris

Comment on What wedding insurance doesn’t cover by Bob Paver

Bob Paver — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:54:17 +0000

Fortunately there’s not an exclusion on alcohol, or maybe that’s what “total pollution” refers to…

Comment on What wedding insurance doesn’t cover by Mrs. J. Pontius

Mrs. J. Pontius — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:31:21 +0000

I hope there’s not a war during our wedding. I mean, in addition to the one America is already in. Like the Point Arena-Gualala Civil War of 2008…

Comment on How many Web services can one person use? by Tony Stubblebine

Tony Stubblebine — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:03:16 +0000

I can answer that question from CrowdVine’s perspective. We mostly serve conferences and the people who use us want to have a better conference experience by finding people to meet face-to-face and finding which sessions are hot. The networks are transient. Where we can offer it, people port their identities in and when they’re done they port their new contacts out.

I think this “how many web services” question is a good one for services that are targeted at leisure. But for more goal oriented tools like us, or like LinkedIn, the question should “what is the most effective tool?”