The Tell-All Campus Tour

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Posted by timothy on Saturday September 20, 2008 @07:22AM from the oh-it's-probably-not-all dept.

theodp writes "Want to check out colleges without the bother of having to read about them? Well, my YouTube-loving friend, the NY Times reports that old-school elephantine dead-tree college guidebooks may be a thing of the past thanks to startup unigo.com, which has launched a free, gigantic, student-generated web-based guide to North American colleges that's laden with photos, Flip-shot videos and reviews (OK, you may have to do some reading)."

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Just like paper... by damn_registrars · 2008-09-20 07:26 · Score: 3, Funny

Their website has gone up in smoke. I hope nobody was trying to get campus information from them today.

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1. Re:Just like paper... by nerdonamotorcycle · 2008-09-20 07:33 · Score: 1
  
  It's working for me, if slowly.
2. Re:Just like paper... by drapeau06 · 2008-09-20 07:33 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  That'll teach them to get their media release published on Slashdot!
3. Re:Just like paper... by Smivs · 2008-09-20 07:36 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  So, maybe dead trees have there uses after all. They wouldn't 'go up in smoke', wood they?
  
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4. Re:Just like paper... by sortius_nod · 2008-09-20 13:27 · Score: 1
  
  I swear this is a secret plot by book publishers to stay in business.
  Post on /. and wait for the orders to start flooding in.
5. Re:Just like paper... by electrictroy · 2008-09-21 02:03 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  The website is working, but it's not answering my most-important concern... the question that could ultimately sink-or-swim my future educational choice:
  - Which school has the most coeds wearing nothing but bikinis?
  I imagine it's someplace like Hawaii or Miami, but some independent verification (with photos) would be nice.
  
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I can't imagine schools will be too happy by bsDaemon · 2008-09-20 07:36 · Score: 5, Insightful

I can't imagine schools would be too happy with this. Allowing J. Random Student to publish, in a semi-official venue, information which is intended to represent a public face of the school is not likely to do much for their image any more than having the most (or least) number of girls going wild and lifting up their school t-shirts on spring break porn videos.
Hell, non-tenured faculty are usually limited in what they can say and do because it will reflect on the institution, whether its positive or negative.
Although, I would imagine that were I still in high school, rather than two and a half years out of college, seeing things from the viewpoint of normal students would give me a much better grasp on campus life than the promotional propaganda filled with happy looking, so-called students, who are hired models pretending the part.
Knowing if you're going to fit into the community of students is as important as knowing the reputations of the faculty in your department, their research interests, etc -- the professors are your mentors and guides, but your peers are the ones you're going to hangout/date/drink with and are the relationships that, going forward, are going to help you establish yourself.
I think this is a good idea, but I'm not sure how long it'll last.
1. Re:I can't imagine schools will be too happy by swimin · 2008-09-20 07:45 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  There are already sites that host reviews of colleges from students, and most of them are negative, because the whiners are the ones who bother to write up a review. One such site is: StudentsReview And, no I don't work for them.
2. Re:I can't imagine schools will be too happy by Frosty+Piss · 2008-09-20 08:25 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  I can't imagine schools would be too happy with this. Allowing J. Random Student to publish, in a semi-official venue, information which is intended to represent a public face of the school is not likely to do much for their image any more than having the most (or least) number of girls going wild and lifting up their school t-shirts on spring break porn videos
  This is the same type of thing as the "Rate Your Teacher" sites. They don't like 'em, but this is the age of information, and people are free to communicate.
  One thing to keep in mind, as with the Rate Your Teacher sites, these schools are a business, they sell a very expensive product, and they need to be responsive to their customers.
  
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3. Re:I can't imagine schools will be too happy by NewbieProgrammerMan · 2008-09-20 09:04 · Score: 1
  
  Although, I would imagine that were I still in high school, rather than two and a half years out of college, seeing things from the viewpoint of normal students would give me a much better grasp on campus life than the promotional propaganda filled with happy looking, so-called students, who are hired models pretending the part.
  Since I don't have any mod points, I'll just have to say that this is the main reason I'd like to see this sort of thing succeed. I know not every negative thing posted there will be true of course, but that should just balance out all the "puppies, sunshine and rainbows" propaganda stuff that's not true, either. ;)
  
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4. Re:I can't imagine schools will be too happy by Anonymous Coward · 2008-09-20 09:16 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  "And here are some of the hoes on campus, the freshman girls are generally pretty gullible. Stay away from the engineering types, they're a little less naive. In winter they wear too many clothes, but during the summer, the best places to see girls in short shorts are..."
5. Re:I can't imagine schools will be too happy by Anonymous Coward · 2008-09-20 10:23 · Score: 0
  
  This is the same type of thing as the "Rate Your Teacher" sites. They don't like 'em, but this is the age of information, and people are free to communicate.
  Yeah, right. Just wait until they get to university, with the "free speech zones", the political correctness, the meaningless hate crime accusations and radical left groupthink.
6. Re:I can't imagine schools will be too happy by Anonymous Coward · 2008-09-20 12:35 · Score: 0
  
  They don't like 'em, but this is the age of information, and people are free to communicate.
  I disagree and hereby I demand you take that back forthwith!
7. Re:I can't imagine schools will be too happy by Anonymous Coward · 2008-09-20 12:40 · Score: 0
  
  but I'm not sure how long it'll last.
  
  That might explain why it has gone up in smoke. :)
  
  -------
  New Site For College Students: http://www.inkampus.com/
8. Re:I can't imagine schools will be too happy by Antique+Geekmeister · 2008-09-20 16:02 · Score: 1
  
  Also, keep in mind that the staff can and will encourage students to lie on evaluation forms, to make their school look better, get better incoming freshmen, get their degrees taken more seriously, etc.
9. Re:I can't imagine schools will be too happy by Anonymous Coward · 2008-09-20 22:42 · Score: 0
  
  "On campus prostitution is rife --- so it really pays to shop around for a bargain."
10. Re:I can't imagine schools will be too happy by kklein · 2008-09-21 02:12 · Score: 1
  
  What forms are you talking about? Teacher evals? I have 10 years total in uni as a student, and 4 as a lecturer, and I've never felt "encouraged" or even considered "encouraging." I don't know anyone who has. When we ask you to rate our teaching, it is a university requirement, to be sure, but also, we really want to know.
11. Re:I can't imagine schools will be too happy by Antique+Geekmeister · 2008-09-21 05:00 · Score: 1
  
  There's certainly this documented case: http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Faculty_in_league_table_expulsion
  I don't know if your university was particularly good about this, but you'd better believe that a lot of 'people skills' schools engage in this kind of encouragement of their students to boost evaluations. And I've certainly seen subtle signs of it in teachers who casually violated the confidentiality part of the teacher evaluations, and at least one part where it got a student's grade lowered.
  Like any evaluation, it's worth taking with a grain of salt, and looking for political and fiscal reasons for it to be evaluated.
The article was better than the website. by mongoose(!no) · 2008-09-20 07:48 · Score: 2, Informative

I'd have to say that NY Times article is more interesting than their website, which seems to be failing under the load of the New York Time and Slashdot. I don't see how the site, from the description in the article is any different than any other web startup, trying to change how an established industry works. I do hope they make colleges and those college guidebooks rethink how they do business. Unfortunately, business interests have taken over higher education, and many schools are more concerned about portraying a good image, rather than actually fixing problems.
extremely beta by buntaro.pup · 2008-09-20 07:49 · Score: 1

radcombobox error, indeed. seems like a neat idea, tho. guess i'll check it out once it starts returning data from my queries ;-)

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The thing... by Starmengau · 2008-09-20 07:57 · Score: 1

...about sites like this is that while they may tell you as much as a student guidebook, they don't tell you the really important things about a college any more than a guidebook will.
Further, the thing about any college-related media (everything from campus guidebooks to side-columns in 4th rate magazines to facebook groups) is that there's no such thing as "Tell-all" when it comes to college. Sites like these cater to the same types of people who look at Top 10 lists to decide which college to go to.
Of course, maybe I'm just bitter at this point...
I have little patience for slow, clunky websites, and whether it's slashdot's fault or not, this just isn't up to par.

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1. Re:The thing... by Metasquares · 2008-09-20 08:24 · Score: 1
  
  Should it be the only deciding factor? Of course not. But what the students actually think about a school is an extremely important factor to consider when looking to attend yourself.
  I agree that this site is not up to par, however. There are better student review sites already.
Would be nice to have reviews of on-line programs by failedlogic · 2008-09-20 08:04 · Score: 4, Insightful

I'm a working professional with an undergrad. I'm looking to do a Master's part-time. There's several universities (I'm Canadian) that offer on-line Master's courses. You do all the work/reading yourself (which is what it always was about anyways) and get your degree. There's reputable universities offering this, but I'm not sure as to how well implemented the programs are. It would be nice if the Tell-All would work to include or expand upon the non-campus tours.
Shouldn't be confused with... by Anonymous Coward · 2008-09-20 08:40 · Score: 0

Unigo shouldn't be confused with Paytogo. A website where you input your available financial aid, and it breaks that bad news that you're going to a state school.
Competition? by houghi · 2008-09-20 08:55 · Score: 1

Is this competition or a crossover from myspace and youtube? Because there I already find all the information about campus life.

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Bleah by Quiet_Desperation · 2008-09-20 08:57 · Score: 2, Insightful

Can we finally drive a stake (heh heh) into the "dead tree" meme?
similar site by Anonymous Coward · 2008-09-20 09:11 · Score: 1, Informative

this site does a similar thing:
http://www.theu.com/
Crappy site software, crappy design, been done b4 by Anonymous Coward · 2008-09-20 09:13 · Score: 1

Why do you keep referencing fluff advertisements masquerading as news stories.
no way by globaljustin · 2008-09-20 09:51 · Score: 3, Insightful

Universities will always have an 'official' guide book for prospective students. Really, they'd be idiots to let random students post content and let that serve as the 'official' guide book.
As usual, the article description is silly, what with the claim that "dead tree college guidebooks are a thing of the past"...uni's already have well developed websites, and that fact, more than some wiki-guide book website is what's making the dead tree guidebook less important. It's the internet itself.

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Re:Would be nice to have reviews of on-line progra by Anonymous Coward · 2008-09-20 12:22 · Score: 1, Insightful

"I'm looking to do a Master's part-time. There's several universities (I'm Canadian) that offer on-line Master's courses. You do all the work/reading yourself (which is what it always was about anyways) and get your degree."
I think most stuff beyond public school should move to a self driven model. By the time you reach highschool you should be on your own, I remember wasting so much time in classes that were entirely irrelevant because teachers needed a paycheck, it was the most sickest thing I have ever seen. Next ratings for courses is critical. IMHO most schools are obsolete you could teach yourself everything today from home with an internet connection and your own curiosity.
Re:Would be nice to have reviews of on-line progra by Anonymous Coward · 2008-09-20 13:26 · Score: 1, Funny

... it was the most sickest thing I have ever seen. Next ratings for courses is critical. IMHO most schools are obsolete you could teach yourself everything today from home with an internet connection and your own curiosity.
It appears you can teach yourself everything but proper sentence structure and correct grammar.
I'm from the internet and I'm here to help.
Re:Crappy site software, crappy design, been done by Antique+Geekmeister · 2008-09-20 16:04 · Score: 1

Because the nineties dotcom boom is calling, they want royalties for reprinting their business plans?
Re:Would be nice to have reviews of on-line progra by Anonymous Coward · 2008-09-20 23:22 · Score: 0

"It appears you can teach yourself everything but proper sentence structure and correct grammar."
Grammar and creative intelligence do not correlate.
Re:Would be nice to have reviews of on-line progra by Anonymous Coward · 2008-09-21 05:45 · Score: 0

"It appears you can teach yourself everything but proper sentence structure and correct grammar."
Grammar and creative intelligence do not correlate.
Nor do they anticorrelate.