Unigo
Unigo is a free online college resource guide and student platform claiming to cover more than 1,600 colleges and universities in the United States.[1] The Unigo website is used by college students to share photos, videos, documents, and reviews of their school.[2] High school students and parents use the site as a research tool to explore college options. Unigo's main purpose is to create a student-generated online college guide that does not have the limitations that its print counterparts do.[3][4] This allows college students to update information about their school on a continuous basis and cover topics not found in traditional guidebooks.[5][6] Student-submitted photos and videos allow users to see what Carnegie Mellon's newspaper, The Tartan, described as "a virtual campus visit."[7]
Company
The company was launched in the fall of 2008 by an editorial team of 18 recent college graduates.[8] Unigo is the brainchild of Jordan Goldman, a 2004 graduate of Wesleyan University who came up with the idea after publishing a bestselling college guidebook, The Students’ Guide to Colleges, while he was a student.[9] Goldman was inspired to create a student-generated college guide after his own college admissions process was examined by New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg for a nonfiction book on higher education called The Gatekeepers.[10][11]
Financial Backing
Two of Unigo's notable backers include Frank Sica, the director of Northstar Realty and Carl Hamann, co-founder of ConsumerSearch.[12][13] After going live, Unigo hit 1.35 million page views in its first week.[14][15]
Notability
- 2008 - Unigo was named one of the "24 Most Underrated Websites of 2008" by Mashable[16] and Forbes put creator Jordan Goldman on its "Watch List" for 2009.[17]
- 2009 - The Wall Street Journal described Unigo as "a college-information resource built for the age of YouTube and Facebook." The WSJ further noted: "[T]he site seems to have struck a good balance between the immediacy and candor of student submissions, and the professionalism needed to weed out wildly biased or inaccurate claims."[18]
- 2009 - Business Insider names CEO, Jordan Goldman one of the years 100 most influential people. [19]
- 2011 - CEO, Jordan Goldman named Inc. Magazine's as "30 Under 30" recipient. [20]
References
- ^ Unigo.com accessed Nov. 27th, 2008
- ^ Glazowski, Paul. "Unigo Puts Users in Charge of College Reviews (The Startup Review)" - Mashable Sept. 19, 2008
- ^ Moran, Caitlin. "Web Site Features College Reviews by Students, for Students" - The Chronicle of Higher Education Sept. 23, 2008
- ^ Hockenberry, John and Adaora Udoji. "Unigo.com reviews colleges drawing from those who know them best: students" - The Takeaway Sept. 18, 2008
- ^ Foss, Kate. "Unigo helps students evaluate college choices" - The Collegian (University of Richmond) Oct. 30, 2008
- ^ Hu, Nan. "New site Unigo provides student reviews of colleges" - The Daily Princetonian Oct. 17, 2008
- ^ Kim, Irene. "Website reveals colleges" - The Tartan Oct. 13, 2008
- ^ Newman, Cara. "Entrepreneur Profile: Unigo.com" - Young Money (magazine) Dec. 9, 2008
- ^ Dee, Jonathan. "The Tell-All Campus Tour" - The New York Times Magazine, Sept. 19, 2008
- ^ Silva, Kate. "Unigo.com Makes College Selection Easy" - ACED Magazine Sept. 18, 2008
- ^ Faraone, Amanda. "Alum digitizes college search, profiled by NY Times" - The Wesleyan Argus Oct. 3, 2008
- ^ Orenstein, Max. "Unigo.com Gives Students a Space to Rant and Rave About Their Colleges " - Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life Nov. 13, 2008
- ^ Silicon Alley Staff. "Silicon Alley 100" - Silicon Alley Oct. 31, 2008
- ^ Struck, Heather. "Generation YouTube" - Forbes Oct. 7, 2008
- ^ Fenn, Donna. "The GenY Spin on Start-Ups" - Inc. (magazine) Dec. 10, 2008
- ^ Aune, Sean P. "24 Most Underrated Websites of 2008" - Mashable Dec. 20, 2008
- ^ Struck, Heather. "Sneak Peek 2009: Heather Struck On College Admission" - Forbes Dec. 17, 2008
- ^ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123499498840816053.html
- ^ "2009 100 Most Influential People". Business Insider. July 1, 2009. http://www.businessinsider.com/sa100-2009#jordan-goldman-97.
- ^ "30 Under 30, 2011". Inc. Magazine. July 27, 2011. http://www.inc.com/30under30/2011/profile-jordan-goldman-founder-of-unigo.html.
External links