I'm with MysticCat - I'm more disturbed that she'd go to this length for Notre Dame than anything else. There's not even a greek system there!

Maybe she doesn't want to go to school in Michigan, but is okay with going if that's the best option. I didn't want to be in college with half of my town, so UF and FSU were not on my list at all.

Since the girl is instate and has decent grades, perhaps she regards UMichigan as a safety school despite its reputation and ranking. There are certainly high schoolers in Virginia who think that way about UVa and William and Mary.

That's the way I felt about UF.

total hijack:

I'd like to read one of your great letters. Recommendations are really hard to do well, I think, especially about the all around good kid with no special adversity to overcome.

And it's kind of a funny area when you think about it. If they are used for anything other than kind of checking off that someone sent a positive one without any red flags, on some level, aren't schools rewarding or penalizing applicants based on the skills and time commitment of the folks writing their recommendations? Wouldn't that almost automatically disadvantage kids from big public schools with high teaching loads and further privileged kids from elite private schools?

I always try to do a good job and even try to sell the kid as much as possible. (I'd decline to write one before I'd write a bad one.) But high school recommendations to college are a funny thing.

Sort of on point: maybe she's using the website to further sell herself to Notre Dame for admission. Look how much I love the school; please let me in.

I don't have a big problem with the page. I agree that it's tacky to basically panhandle to strangers to fund your education, but if it works, great for her. If it proves to be trend based on a generational sense of entitlement, people will probably stop giving. Problem solved.

if these people actually get money from people through the internets, do they have to report it to the IRS ?

If it's not traceable....

Do what my dad did when he went to Norte Dame make all As, go to catholic school, take out tons of loans and get a scholarship for your grades.

I may have mentioned this before, but back in August, a young woman who's a sophomore at my undergrad sent me an e-mail. She basically gave me "i'm so qualified!" song and dance before asking me if I could help her with her educational expenses...to the tune of $30K. Since she got my e-mail through the alumni mentoring website, I called Alumni Relations at once to ask them what would happen if I chose to report this. Let's just say that the consequences were serious.

I think it's mini-generational. I'm not that much older than this girl, but there's no way in hell I'd e-mail a total stranger asking for $30K. These kids are part of the "MySpace" generation where it's totally okay to blast your personal information for the world to see.

It's not as tacky as some sites, though. Some months ago, I ran into a website for high school seniors, similar to Facebook, where they list their activities, honors & awards, and top schools. Apparently, this site is looked at by admissions people, but I doubt there's much validity to that. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of the site...

At least this girl's site was organized. I wouldn't go about it this way. A lot of times, it's not as important as where you go, but what you do there...

Don't get me wrong. I think it's weird and kind of shady to assume that other people should just pitch into to take care of your financial obligations, particularly when you are electing to buy an upgraded and maybe even luxury product (private university vs. local cheap public).

And the girl who approached you compounded this by violating the terms of the mentoring program, so I'd regard her as even more morally questionable.

But I don't see this Notre Dame page as being that bad. You can give or not give. One doesn't even have to visit the site.

Yeah, I think that's definitely over the line. If one of the students I did telephone interviews with had asked me for a donation, I have no idea what I would have done.

It's crazy! She is going to school to be an architect too; I let her know that she might not find too many 27 year-old architects who had $30K to spare. Alumni Relations called me a few weeks after I called them saying that other architect alumni here in the city had called them to complain; they said that they'd work with her financially, but restrict her access to alumni-related intranet indefinitely.

The interview kids can be pretty crazy too, but since they're in high school and still eager to impress, I can't imagine they'd do that.