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USC Launches Facebook College App Game

A college counselor on Facebook?

Students can create avatars and earn points for completing steps of the application process (Courtesy of Facebook.)
Students can create avatars and earn points for completing steps of the application process (Courtesy of Facebook.)
Mission: Admission, a new Facebook game created by USC researchers under the Collegeology Games project, was launched Monday with the hopes of educating low-income high school students about the college application process.

The game, available for free on Facebook, simulates the task of applying to college.  Each student guides their avatar through steps such as meeting with college advisers, asking for recommendation letters, and applying for scholarships and financial aid.

According to Dr. Zoe Corwin, assistant research professor at USC, the game educates students through trial and error, preparing them for the real application process.

“Games provide a safe place to fail, to try new strategies, to practice those strategies, and then gain mastery of those skills. And that’s what we’re really seeing happens with Mission: Admission. When students play two, three, four times their college going efficacy increases for every time they play,” Corwin said in a YouTube video overview of the game.

As the Collegeology Games website points out, the actual college applications are not something to play around with. For that reason, Mission: Admission is available to “experiment with higher education strategies and choices before it really counts.”

Mission: Admission is hitting the web at a crucial time, as nationwide school budget cuts have slashed the number of available college counselors.  According to a USC news report, the ratio of high school students to college counselors in California is 800- 1, significantly worse than the national average of 459 -1.

Seventy-two percent of incoming high school seniors have already researched their college options on a social media site, an Inigral Insights survey found. 

Collegeology also has a card game called Application Crunch, and is in the process of developing two new games for next spring.  The project is in collaboration with the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the USC Rossier School of Education, and the Game Innovation Lab at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Test your college application odds with Mission: Admission here.

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