Interaction

Discussion forums are an older form of Internet interaction, and so may seem less unique than modern Internet cultures. There are forums for car maintenance, or crochet, or whatever, populated typically by hipper members of an older generation as well as the twenty-somethings who grew up with Internet access. I argue that College Confidential differs fundamentally from these hobbyist forums in that the process of college admissions is a rite of passage, of deeper significance than more casual engagements of free time; in this respect, we have a true culture at play.

What is most interesting about the Internet culture we consider is a matter of stickiness, the tendency of a website to retain users. Many CC users begin their virtual lives as applicants, undergoing chancing rituals and feeling out schools of interest; but once the application process is over, what keeps ’em coming back? Roger Dooley, co-founder and College Confidential community architect, contributed an article to Forbes.com on titled “Sell with Simplicity”, in which he highlights a number of general factors a website could offer to improve stickiness; these are quite general good practices, including ease of navigation, trustworthiness of information, and a limited number of surfing options. The information provides little cultural insight, though.

On October 18th, Dooley (under his transparent forum identity Roger_Dooley) posted a poll thread entitled “What do you call CC?”, in which he poses the question below:

Other than “addictive” and “a time-suck,” what do you call CC? Specifically, do you think “forum” or “community” or “message board”?

While the response was generally fairly literal — ‘forum’, or ‘message board’ — some posted responses evocative of a true feeling. User ZombieDante, in post #6 of the thread, responds:

I’m tempted to say community, but I don’t know most people on here well, but at the same time we all are kinda close (goal wise and attitude wise). I’m conflicted.

“Attitude wise” is probably the interesting bit of this, since goal orientation is a side effect of hosting a website focused on college admissions. College Confidential attracts a hyper-elite group of students, hence eliminating a swath of apathetic high school graduates. CC users are united primarily by anxieties, and (although this statement is sweeping) intellectual tendencies. The community is united by a fairly unique, common set of values; but again, why so sticky? Shouldn’t one move on from an online discussion forum about college admissions once, well, admitted?

A short browsing session will yield plenty of students who have matriculated at elite schools reflecting on College Confidential; consider this NYULocal entry by an NYU student last fall:

I like to think that my own participation in the forum was relatively calm, but scanning through pages of posts to the effect of “I’M GONNA DIE IF I DON’T GET IN!!!!!” and “I’m having heart palpitations about my NYU application!!1!,” I realize that my own desperate posts probably weren’t as clear-headed as I’d like to think.

College Confidential is, for many matriculated students, a place to lurk and revisit a portion of the past. It’s a measure of change — an Internet looking glass. They are still drawn to the same personalities as their browsing history would indicate, only now. I imagine revisiting a MySpace profile in much the same way, like a childhood home.

Still others are drawn by a desire to tear down what a Johns Hopkins admissions representative (username: Admissions_Daniel) calls “glossy” marketing in his CC hiatus manifesto on Hopkins Insider. Many admitted users stick around to disseminate “materials…seen as presenting a clean version of information and pumping out details that appeared to be skewed in favor of the rosy picture” — either regarding a school or particular major. Some users gain notoriety for their outspokenness on a particular forum — one such user haunts the Science Majors forums and warns prospective chemistry and biology majors against awful employment prospects, and bemoaning his/her personal experience job-hunting as a former student of both (I have plenty of experience with this particular user). Whether the motivations of this user are self-interested, i.e. pity-partying, or good-hearted, as a ward against those who would choose chemistry for employment prospects, the fact remains that s/he still sees value in the Internet culture defined by College Confidential.