i think it’s because reddit is hosted as a larger platform where anyone can create a subreddit; the mods of r/a2c don’t have to pay to keep the site up/use its features, so everyone on there is also a volunteer.
Yes indeed. It’s not terribly helpful to the student when a respondent posts something totally irrelevant and then others climb aboard moving the discussion further off-topic
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I remember your thread. Glad you stuck around.
I’m mid 50s - what you say is so far over my head about subreddits, etc. 
The OP needs more of you to figure out the revenue scheme - whereas I’m back in the dark ages!!
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i would be lying if i said the debate in the replies didn’t freak me out a little at first, but everyone was very sweet and encouraging to me overall 
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i’m trying to think of a decent metaphor–maybe something like a facebook group? where individuals can post, and there’s a moderator team, but no one is paying to host the website or maintain its features; that’s all the facebook company. the reddit relies on its larger company, while CC is responsible for paying for the website and keeping it running. i have a more extended metaphor if that would be helpful, but i don’t know how accurate it is haha
Plus, I’m the only person in America not on facebook…or who doesn’t use regularly.
Not sure how I was included in this thread - but I do know young people are brilliant in their feedback - and I’m sure you and others can probably add a lot ( a focus group) in addition to others on here that also seem astute.
So I’ll sit back and watch.
I do think somehow tying the colleges in, becoming the official source of college info…maybe there’s something there? Several are already here.
But - you take it away!!!
And good luck with your upcoming decision.
i think you just helped me realize what drives the lower student population here, actually–reddit is its own platform beyond r/a2c. many 14-18 year olds are already using reddit, so to start to browse the applications subreddit makes more sense. i think people who are googling forums for college applications are equally likely to stumble upon CC compared to r/a2c, but reddit already has users who have accounts for other purposes but can easily pop over to r/a2c to ask a question, make a chance me, etc. that may be why there are more students on reddit than here.
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I find that most young people use Instagram rather than Facebook. Just wondering if Insta plays a part in disseminating college admissions info.
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as a student, i’ve gotten no useful admissions info from instagram. mostly just advertisements for private consultants. sometimes the “reels” will have accepted student stats or clickbait “colleges hate when you write THESE FIVE THINGS in your essays” videos, but i don’t take any of them seriously.
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The only way anyone was “included” in this thread was by their own posting.
Re: Reddit, I’m quite sure you can easily Google it and find out how to join their discussions.
I think the audience on CC is what makes it the place it is. We need to cultivate that audience, and also folks with long term knowledge who contribute.
And I think another thing everyone should do is read their posts before they hit send…to be sure they aren’t offensive, repetitive, or insulting.
I am one of many “defectors” from the defunct PR boards. They were poorly moderated and the posters were gobbling others up like vultures. It was horrible, and they lost a lot of members. IIRC, this forum was born to allow for a friendly discourse amongst posters.
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Oh for some reason I thought it was one they chose people - like essay writers. Ok.
What was the defunct PR board ?
IIRC way back when, USNews had a forum as well. But if I am remembering it correctly, it was clunky and underutilized. So here, the goal should be to bring more students back and make them feel welcome, while providing feedback in a way that is helpful for the students. Watching the superbowl tonight, there have so far been 2 commercials about the NFL helping vulnerable youth. We all need to be mindful that college applications are stressful and the rate of depression and anxiety in the teen population is high. So with all that said, CC has a lot to offer the students and the parent community. While the ads are admittedly annoying, if we have to tolerate a Small banner at the top or side, so be it. Just be sensitive to the eyes that are reading the posts.
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Agree 100%!
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Reddit is really pretty easy to use. It’s just another social media platform like Facebook or Instagram or Twitter/X etc. I follow subreddits about my college, my town, the neighboring cities, our car models, favorite vacation spots, and many other interests. I don’t look at r/a2c anymore since my kid is in college.
Just curious what other forums or social media do yall use? I look at Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, TripAdvisor, sometimes City-Data, occasionally Threads — I dropped Twitter/X.
Might be better to start another thread to talk about other social media platforms so this thread stays on topic.
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I think this idea is great. I don’t know how it would work, but if it had the imprimatur of CC that would give these “lists” credence and legitimacy.
I was just reading an article on Nikki Haley’s husband’s reaction to Donald Trump.
I guess it popped up from Huff Post.
Like Wikipedia sometimes shows, their arttcle ended with this.
I think others mentioned above - but is something like this realistic? Does it work?
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So I went to reddit and poked around r/a2c a bit. I searched for mentions of CC and read what they had to say about it. The prevailing opinions seem to be that, while CC can be useful sometimes, the environment here is bad. Students warn each other away from CC. The word most often used was “toxic”.
Especially on chanceme threads, they feel like users pile on and a subset are way too critical. The user stereotype they describe is a helicopter parent whose kids already attended college: the parent is either salty about their kid not getting into top schools and is taking it out on innocent HS kids, or their superstar kid got into top schools and the parent is just braggy and gatekeeping. All of which they think is creepy.
They describe users who are discouraging and unduly harsh toward kids, mixed in with some genuinely caring folks. They note that there are some wonderfully supportive, helpful, and experienced posters. But they are sensitive to the critical ones and don’t consider it worth dealing with the minority in order to get to the helpful info. There is a consensus that CC can be useful for getting info that you can’t get anywhere else, especially if you aren’t looking only at top schools. But they don’t want to come over and wade through a mess that they perceive as hostile, unless there’s no other way to get the info/advice they’re seeking.
My impression of r/a2c is that it’s primarily but not exclusively HS kids who are obsessed with getting into prestigious schools and heavily skews high stats and STEM. They’re mostly naive about budgets. They give each other some pretty bad advice, but there’s some good advice mixed in. There’s some adults/parents over there too (including some CC users) and their advice seems mostly good and supportive.
The a2c kids tend to cheer each other on including people trying for top schools. They are also encouraging and optimistic when users are insecure about choosing non-top schools, especially if they don’t have a “better” option. Unsurprisingly, there’s a lot of “I applied to 14 T20s and 1 state school I hate but that’s my only acceptance” threads. Sigh.
Reminds me a lot of actual teenagers I know. Defensive and sensitive to critical feedback and can be rather bull-headed when you give them advice 
. But then when they follow your advice they’re grateful because it seems to work 
. I remember being a teenager.
I try really hard to be extra nice when I know I’m talking to a kid on here, as I know most other posters do. I talk to them not as I’d talk to my own kids, but as I’d talk to my kids’ friends that I like the most 
So how does CC strike the right balance of making the forums a welcoming and supportive place for kids (yes they are children), while also providing them with accurate and helpful advice that will steer them to the appropriate actions to achieve their goals? And do all that for free. It’s not the easiest task.
They also HATE that you can’t delete your posts after a short time period, nor your account. It really bothers a bunch of them that their posts can live in perpetuity despite their wishes.
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