Harvard vs. Yale vs. Princeton: Facebook Fight

16 Apr

Posted by Sam Jackson as Esoterotica, Harvard, Internets, Ivy League, Yale, odd & fun

About a month ago, I wrote about patterns I found comparing Yale and Harvard in Google searches through Google Trends. Well, just today, Facebook released a simply fascinating tool called “Lexicon” which is the same thing, but for wall posts. Computers (not humans!) track the content of every wallpost for words and phrases, and […]

2 Comments

Yale vs. Harvard: a Google Deathmatch

19 Mar

Posted by Sam Jackson as Harvard, Internets, Ivy League, Yale, odd & fun

I discovered an interesting pattern while playing around with Google Trends: if you compare ‘Yale University’ and ‘Harvard University’ with the tool, there is an eerie similarity in their trend lines. Even minor up and down ticks are mirrored across search terms. See for yourself: trends chart below, Harvard in red, Yale in blue.

The trend […]

7 Comments

Why can’t Yale recruit low income students? [Pell Grants]

20 Feb

Posted by Sam Jackson as Financial Aid, Harvard, Ivy League, Yale, marketing

There has been a 14 percent decrease in the number of Yale students getting Pell grants in the last 8 years, according to Pell Institute senior scholar Tom Mortenson study, reports the Yale Daily News. Dean of Admissions Jeff Brenzell disagreed by citing more limited data which statistics professors at Yale argued were statistically invalid. […]

1 Comment

Citizen Media Law Project launches online legal guide: really useful!

12 Feb

Posted by Sam Jackson as Blogging, Harvard, Internets

I am currently working as an intern at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and got a press release hit last week from one project that the center is involved in. The Citizen Media Law Project does a lot of good work providing legal education for people involved in… you guessed it, citizen media. […]

2 Comments

A messsage to everyone awaiting Yale 2012 Early Action Results:

13 Dec

Posted by Sam Jackson as Admissions, College, Harvard, Ivy League, Teenagers, Yale, stress

I know a lot of people have recently been coming to the site via CollegeConfidential or panicked “Yale 2012 how to survive after deferral” googling. It’s amazing for me to remember where I was last year this time (Exeter, NH) what I was doing (finals) and how I was feeling (more stressed than any other […]

11 Comments

Who is Sam Jackson?

I'm currently a freshman at Yale University and I've been blogging about college admissions and higher education marketing trends since I began my college application process in 2005. I now also write about my experience here at Yale, and am an official Yale blogger. Click here to read my 'about' page.

Kind words about my blog:

Andrew Careaga calls it “a service to all of us in the higher ed marketing business.”

Christian Long says it has “dramatically inspired college admissions folks to take notice”

Bob Johnson says “I like [it] because I agree with so much of what he says.” and that “Paying attention what Sam writes will let you focus more closely on students who will actually attend your school.”

Karine Joly says my witty and fresh style “offers a rare glimpse at the mind of our elusive prospective students”

and TargetX calls my blog “good reading” and me “wise-beyond-my-years.”