Students are more than a Test Score

That is the premise of Zinch. Zinch connects students to schools and scholarships which in itself is of course not that revolutionary. But other than just delivering the obligatory test score for admission, Zinch enables students to showcase the person behind the test score.

I already wrote about the Knowledge and Reputation Graph quite a bit but here you can already see what a system that adds context to a number has to offer for both students and schools in the recruiting process without replacing it.

The current applications don’t give justice to what students might have accomplished during their career and it is somehow counter intuitive that your whole future should be based on a snap shot in your life, e.g. the day you took the test.

Mick Hagen, the founder of Zinch explains on the website what lead him to create Zinch.

Most colleges and universities use practice exams and standardized tests as a method of their recruiting. They’ll go to The College Board (administor of the AP and SAT tests) or ACT and ask for the students who got above a certain score. From there they’ll start recruiting these students.

This was the inequality that I recognized. What about the students who don’t take these standardized tests? What about the students who aren’t great test-takers (yet still have amazing abilities)? What about the students who lack the resources and coaching to do well on these tests? With the current system, so many great students are left under the radar, undiscovered and unrecruited.

With Zinch students can add all the bits and pieces that create the real picture behind the admission. What are they passionate about, what are their special talents and achievements. Admissions officers can then search and filter the database to find the most interesting students that match their criteria besides the pure test scores.

Another positive aspect of Zinch is the possibility to connect with other students who are going through the same, stressful process at that same moment. This way they can support each other and build contacts and maybe friendships before meeting each other on campus.