Tue 24 Nov 2009
MyFit
Posted by David under Admissions, Alumni at 11:28 am
Lora Kolodny ‘96 writes in the New York Times.
The chance to go pro frequently entices college students to drop out of school. It worked for the basketball legend Magic Johnson and, more recently, the golf upstart Rickie Fowler. Now, it’s happening for entrepreneurs on the collegiate business plan competition circuit.
The 20-year-old chief executive Max Hodak and the 23-year-old finance chief Jason Mueller dropped out to start their business as a “temporary” move, following a competition season in which they won $4,500 and some honors but never took a grand prize. That dropout status is likely permanent now that their company, MyFit.com, has received venture capital financing and is operational, says Mr. Hodak, who would have been a junior biomedical engineering major at Duke this year. Mr. Mueller would have been a senior business major at North Carolina State.
MyFit seems unlikely to succeed but it would be interesting to know the algorithm that they use to predict an applicant’s chances at Williams. Jaded observers will recall the hype over Unigo.
Speaking of which, here is Unigo on Williams.
Print • Email| « “One more turn, then on to The Record … | Chasing Mr. Bernard Moore » |
5 Responses to “MyFit”
Leave a Reply
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post
If a comment you submitted does not show up, please email us at eph at ephblog dot com. Please note that commenters are required to use a valid email address when submitting comments.
Ronit says:
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=220739888205&id=7347602084
From Williams College’s facebook feed: THE WALL STREET JOURNAL AND UNIGO Get the ins and outs of college admissions when WSJ On Campus presents a live Webcast with admissions directors from Williams, Bryn Mawr, Grinnell, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wesleyan. Submit your questions in advance to wsjoncampus@unigo.com. Then tune in for answers, Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 7pm.
Lora Kolodny says:
Thanks for reposting my story, David. And bringing Unigo to my attention anew. Reflecting on my experience (English major, 96) I find Unigo’s reviews mostly on-point about Williams.
I’ll be curious as to what MyFit.com and others, including Unigo, can do to improve the overall admissions process and college experience for kids and university faculty and staff as well.
What technology does the admissions board use these days to sift through all the would-be ephs? Anyone out there got an idea?
Also — of interest to me and my beat with NYT.com — do Williams students get out there on the business plan competition circuit? It wasn’t happening much among my friends when I was there, though many had the entrepreneurial spirit.
Curious how that’s changed.
Ronit says:
There have of course been quite a few Eph startups in the last couple of years, what with the recession making the traditional job search rather difficult. I even know some Ephs who dropped out of Williams to pursue business, although this is a little unusual.
Not sure if the Office of Career Counseling provides any help to such students, or if there are any other resources on campus available to help students pursuing entrepreneurship. I haven’t heard any of my entrepreneurial friends refer to the business plan competition circuit, though most of them did make use of the Eph alumni network to find mentorship and connections, and sometimes seed capital, when they started.
Joyce D says:
I learned in the comments on the NYT article that these are the same people who ran acceptedge, which said it was going to sell student data to counselors. For now, my D and I will stick to our tried and true sites. Anyways, what does myfit offer that collegeconfidential, mychances, and unigo don’t?
Alexa says:
I’m extremely nervous about this site, after playing with their numbers extensively, I think they are doing something very wrong with their predictions. I would strongly suggest that students and parents NOT use this site. The risks associated with giving students bad information is just too great, and this site is certainly giving bad information. I’d stay off this and stick with the tried and true sites like collegeprowler.com and collegeconfidential.