Zinch.com catches colleges' attentions

Students fill out their profile with interests, photos, writing samples, videos and other types of media in order to convey more about themselves to colleges.

Zinch was started by Mick Hagen, who was accepted to Princeton University by making his own colorful and unique portfolio. He had an average score on his SATs, but he was focused on getting into Princeton and so tried to show the admissions officers that he had something different and special - something more than a test score.

Hagen worked on spreading this idea by creating and promoting Zinch. Zinch currently has 380 colleges that use the Web site to recruit students and learn more about their applicants.

By creating a profile on Zinch, students have the advantage of beginning communication with an admissions counselor at the college of their choice. As a student's list of extracurricular activities and interests grow, so does their Zinch profile.

The Web site provides a "Shout-Out" section where students can send e-mails to college and admissions counselors can respond by leaving comments on the students' profiles.

Every high school with a Zinch member has a different "chapter" of its own at Zinch.com. If a student's school has not yet had a Zinch member, the student can start one easily by creating a profile. Each school's chapter is called a Zinch "Flavor."

Zinch encourages students to meet with others in their Flavor and have fun, taking pictures and recording information that shows they are something beyond test scores.

Various scholarships are also awarded on Zinch.com, which students are automatically qualified for by filling out a profile. Scholarships are awarded based on the material shown in Zinch profiles.

All data on Zinch.com is private and password protected. The only people who are able to see students' information are those given the individual URL for each profile (mainly admissions counselors).

- By LAUREN AMOROS, West York Area High School