Time to show my (advanced) age: Kids today have it so easy! Back in my day, when it came time to apply for college, you had to get individual forms from each school you were interested, on paper, and fill them out by hand, individually. Real overachievers might have pulled out the old IBM Selectric and typed on the form.
Now they can apply for school from their favorite social network.
Today, Embark, uh, embarked upon a venture in a new venue: FaceBook. High school students can add the Embark FaceBook tool by clicking Applications and searching on "College Planner." Embark president Adam Park says they can use it to see school information and what schools their friends are interested in--and to fill out their application to send to multiple schools simultaneously.
Of course, these things aren't groundbreaking, but they do make for a unique combination. For example, Academia Group's Skool Pool is a FaceBook app for discussing your favorite seats of higher education. And the Common Application for Undergraduate College Admission has been around for years--since 1975. As of 2006, all Common Application member schools accept the app online (via CommonApp.org). That's great, but a lot of schools still require some supplemental materials be filled out. And the two don't work together.
Embark combines the application process, where it can, with the social networking aspect. It's been doing something similar to CommonApp.org for over a decade, mainly for colleges that double as clients--Embark's main business is selling software to school admission departments to track kids from first inquiry all the way to matriculation.
Students visit the FaceBook app (or Embark.com) to fill out a single profile which can be parsed out to applications. If the student picked from the 200 or so schools that are Embark partners, the app is filed instantly and electronically. But Embark will also auto-fill PDF versions for non-partner schools, if that school's application is made public.
Park hopes this all helps today's future undergrads get through one of the most stressful periods they'll ever live through. I say, they've got it easy. And get off my lawn!
Post by Eric Griffith
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