Emory freshmen’s start-up could get you into college

College applications is an overwhelming and tedious process. While researching colleges can result in countless all-nighters, three Emory freshman have attempted to narrow your college search. Admissions Owl, founded by Casey Lambert, Zack Schaja and Sam Jones, enables potential college applicants to have a short Skype session with current college students studying at the college of the applicant’s choice, for a nominal fee.

College brochures and campus visits can provide applicants with a ton of information, however, it doesn’t match up to an insider’s perspective. Applicants are free to ask these current students (aka “consultants”) anything and everything about social life, academic rigour, professors and more. With an easy-to-navigate, self-made website,  Admissions Owl has reached 11 different schools across the U.S., with 17 consultants. In this brief interview, Casey Lambert, Zack Schaja and Sam Jones, three business majors, speak to us about their latest endeavor, AdmissionsOwl.

When did you come up with this idea? 

Zach: “We came up with the concept during HackATL, which is a big entrepreneurial, start-up competition held at Emory every year. The idea is that college applicants can have a Skype session with a current student at that college who works with our company. Through that session, they can ask and answer any questions relating to campus life, social life and whatever the student wants to know. They can ask the questions they really want to ask.”

Casey: “So far we’ve got 17 consultants from 11 different schools.”

Was AdmissionsOwl your original plan for HackATL?

Casey: “Our original plan was to cater to more admission specific counseling, like more of how to write the essays and what to put on the application to get into college. After tinkering with it a bit, we found that campus life was something most students weren’t familiar with, and there wasn’t a resource for them to learn about campus life.”

Being full-time college students, it mustn’t be easy to juggle academics with your start-up. What keeps you motivated to keeping it up and going?

Zach: “There’s three of us. We each bring our strengths and weaknesses to the table and compliment each other. It doesn’t seem like additional work when you’re enjoying what you’re doing.”

Sam: “I would say it’s pretty cool to see something that was an idea turn to a point where we make an impact on someone’s college decision.”

Casey: “I think that’s probably the biggest thing that we are kind of seeing the market we’re hoping to fill, and it’s in doing that that keeps us going each day.”

How reliable are the consultants you employ?

Sam: “Typically we’ll have a bunch of people apply from the schools we reach out to. We’ll initially screen them. They have to write a short piece as to why they’re interested, submit a resume and their GPA. Mostly it is through the interview process, where we try to act like a customer. It’s mainly to see if they’re engaging if they really care about their school and if they’re excited to talk about it.”

Zach: “A lot of the consultants work with their schools’ admissions offices. They have a passion about helping others find more information about their colleges.”

1 word, each, you’d use as a consultant to describe Emory to a potential applicant.

Zach: “Well-rounded. I think a lot of the students at Emory socialize, but it’s a pretty academically driven school.”

Sam: “I would describe the student body here as happy because people here tend to really be enjoying their college experience. Students here seem really content with the social situation.”

Casey: “Eye-opening, because when you get to campus you don’t realize how many opportunities there are. As a high school student, you aren’t exposed to anything close to what Emory exposes you to, as far as professional connections and quality of faculty are concerned. Also, you’re around such a diverse student body for the first time in any of our lives, you get such a different view of the world just from the people you’re around.”

Did you plan on actually executing this idea after HackATL?

Sam: “We didn’t, originally. But then we got some good responses from investors and judges, and we decided it was an idea worth pursuing. We plan on taking it as far as it goes.”