CollegeTimes Exits Beta, Faces Growing Attention
Las Vegas, Nevada (PRWEB) April 16, 2014 -- CollegeTimes is moving forward.
After 7 years of hacking and tweaking, the popular college reviews and alternative news website is exiting beta and re-affirming its values - and, its audience.
The website's strategic makeover takes into account its ever-increasing traffic growth in international markets such as India and East Asia, as more foreign students seek out higher education in the United States, Canada, and beyond. Previously focused mostly on North American colleges and the accompanying stories, CollegeTimes now boasts the largest online database of international universities on the entire web, featuring public and private institutions from around the world listed in both English and local languages.
Along with their success, CollegeTimes has faced growing attention - in some cases, hostile. Because of their declared 'independent' beliefs regarding college reviews, the small, partially anonymous team behind CollegeTimes has taken the stance that negative or critical student reviews should be left untouched - and unedited - no matter how pointed they may seem. In response, CollegeTimes has found themselves subjected to a regular amount of lawsuits and legal threats, albeit, all from for-profit institutions thus far.
Mark Durand, an editor at CollegeTimes, says the threats are nothing short of a compliment. "If you're not catching flak, you're not over the target," he commented. "Our team at CollegeTimes is proud to be one of the first, and now the largest, online databases of higher education institutions. We pride ourselves on transparency, and we seek to deliver honest, accurate information to the hundreds of thousands of students that visit our website looking for guidance."
Initially launched in 2008 as a service called RateMyCollege, a sub-project of CollegeTimes, the college database section was soon thereafter merged with the various editorials and articles hosted on the main CollegeTimes website.
In recent months, the CollegeTimes team has launched new resources including a free personality test based on the well-known Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. In the near future, they hope to connect their college database with a careers and degrees database, creating a 'guidance path' for students and others looking for life planning advice. Additionally, education counselors and 'life advisors' have been added to the CollegeTimes database on an invitation-only basis.
"We want to be a one stop shop for those looking for inspiration, advice, and so forth," explained Durand. "As online education and free digital resources (i.e. MOOCs) expand rapidly, CollegeTimes seeks to remain a valuable source of organized data and consumer reviews for users of all ages who may be looking for career and life guidance."
CollegeTimes is an online publication focused on alternative news, higher education, and life-hacking. The company looks forward to continually expanding its audience around the globe, while inspiring and guiding visitors in both their careers, and their lives.
Mark Durand, College Times, http://www.collegetimes.tv, +1 (604) 629-7989, [email protected]
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