College Prowler
Encyclopedia
College Prowler is an American
publishing company for guidebooks
on top colleges and universities in the United States.
The company creates guidebooks written by current college students, for prospective college students, giving an insider's view. Student writers use surveys to gather hundreds of student opinions and reviews, then offer "grades" on all aspects of campus life at each school. College Prowler publishes these "reality guides" on nearly 300 different colleges.
In addition to its school-specific books, the company also publishes a national compendium called "The Big Book of Colleges," three regional compendiums (California, New England, and the South) that combine multiple schools in one guide, and a guidebook focused on the Ivy League ("Untangling the Ivy League"). In March 2007, the company digitized all of its guidebooks, including over 40,000 pages of content, which are now available both in print and online.
The company was established in 2002 by Carnegie Mellon University
graduates. It began as a project in an entrepreneurship
class at CMU's Tepper School of Business
and quickly expanded by co-founders Luke Skurman
, Joey Rahimi, Christina Koshzow
, Christopher Mason, Jason Putorti and Omid Gohari. In 2005, College Prowler was recognized by Fast Company (magazine)
for being one of the 50 fastest-growing companies in the nation, and in 2006, partnered with AOL
.
for the purpose of promoting College Prowler. Such groups would normally be created by actual students or colleges themselves for purposes of social networking. According to the CEO, "The original purpose was to use these groups as a way to inform students that they can access a free guide about their new college on our site." He also added, "No employee or anyone else associated with College Prowler has used these groups to send out messages or wall posts." College Prowler later removed all administrative access from the 125 groups, admitting "It was clearly over the line".
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
publishing company for guidebooks
Guide book
A guide book is a book for tourists or travelers that provides details about a geographic location, tourist destination, or itinerary. It is the written equivalent of a tour guide...
on top colleges and universities in the United States.
The company creates guidebooks written by current college students, for prospective college students, giving an insider's view. Student writers use surveys to gather hundreds of student opinions and reviews, then offer "grades" on all aspects of campus life at each school. College Prowler publishes these "reality guides" on nearly 300 different colleges.
In addition to its school-specific books, the company also publishes a national compendium called "The Big Book of Colleges," three regional compendiums (California, New England, and the South) that combine multiple schools in one guide, and a guidebook focused on the Ivy League ("Untangling the Ivy League"). In March 2007, the company digitized all of its guidebooks, including over 40,000 pages of content, which are now available both in print and online.
The company was established in 2002 by Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
graduates. It began as a project in an entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur, which can be defined as "one who undertakes innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods". This may result in new organizations or may be part of revitalizing mature organizations in response...
class at CMU's Tepper School of Business
Tepper School of Business
The Tepper School of Business is a private business school located on Carnegie Mellon University’s campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.The school consistently ranks highly among the top business schools in the U.S., as well as in a wide range of specializations, such as finance,...
and quickly expanded by co-founders Luke Skurman
Luke Skurman
Luke Skurman is the American Chief Executive Officer and founder of College Prowler, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based publishing company of college guidebooks and collegeprowler.com, one of the fastest growing websites in its industry....
, Joey Rahimi, Christina Koshzow
Christina Koshzow
Christina Koshzow is an American entrepreneur, writer, and co-founder of Branding Brand Communications, an award-winning Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based public relations and Internet marketing firm that has worked on brand management campaigns for clients including RE/MAX, JPMorgan Chase, Seiko,...
, Christopher Mason, Jason Putorti and Omid Gohari. In 2005, College Prowler was recognized by Fast Company (magazine)
Fast Company (magazine)
Fast Company is a full-color business magazine that releases 10 issues per year and reports on topics including innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design, and social responsibility...
for being one of the 50 fastest-growing companies in the nation, and in 2006, partnered with AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
.
Facebook Controversy
In a 2008 scandal which came to be known as "Facebookgate", hundreds of spurious "Class of 2013" groups were created on FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
for the purpose of promoting College Prowler. Such groups would normally be created by actual students or colleges themselves for purposes of social networking. According to the CEO, "The original purpose was to use these groups as a way to inform students that they can access a free guide about their new college on our site." He also added, "No employee or anyone else associated with College Prowler has used these groups to send out messages or wall posts." College Prowler later removed all administrative access from the 125 groups, admitting "It was clearly over the line".