Student Finds UC Davis on the Web

by Aviva Luria, Information Technology When it comes to choosing a college, the World Wide Web can provide important insight. For freshman Chris Cardé, the Internet was an important research tool in his investigation of colleges. Not only did it aid him in his decision to attend UC Davis, but led to his being featured in a New York Times article on the use of the World Wide Web for college recruitment.

The UC Davis home page links to over 50,000 campus Web pages and, for Cardé, provided a wealth of information about academics and student life. Cardé, who attended high school in Amherst, Mass., says that once his father recommended UC Davis, he determined the URL of the home page by educated guess. There he found information beyond that in the college catalogue, including "configurations of computer labs, dorm layouts and student activities," he told the New York Times in the Nov. 3 article.

The Web is breaking ground as a recruiting tool, but its effects are difficult to measure. Jay Feldman, Publications Coordinator for Student Affairs, was a designer of the student life portion of the UC Davis Web site along with Bill Cooper.

"The site was conceived as a tool for undergraduate admissions as an online Viewbook," he said, referring to the Office of Student Affairs handbook that is sent to prospective students. The information was reorganized to "take advantage of the possibilities that the Web offers and to make the pages visually attractive," says Feldman.

The University as a whole is considering long-range plans to utilize the World Wide Web as a student recruitment tool. According to Jan Conroy, manager of Editorial Design in the Office of Public Communications, the Office of the Registrar is reviewing online application software that would permit submittal of applications electronically. Traditional recruitment efforts will continue, however.

For students like Cardé, a computing engineering major, the Web is an invaluable resource. Cardé suggests that the site be made more interactive, with online forms for mailing lists and requests for further information.

How does the actual UC Davis compare to virtual campus? "I'm really happy here. Out of the twelve schools I applied to, this was a great choice," says Cardé. He is impressed not only with the academics, but with the atmosphere. "It is a friendly campus," he says. "The people here are great."