Talk:Who's Who Among American High School Students

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I think this article is not NPOV.

Although it does not cost any money to be listed, it is often seen as a scam in the sense that it is simply an attempt by a private company to make money through proud parents who purchase the book and various overpriced memorabilia such as a "commemorative keychain" for somewhere around $20. Students' addresses are also used to relentlessly solicit these items to their household long after they have declined a purchase.

I dont think this is neutral, but I dont want to fix it, until some more people have said something about this. --DocBrown 12:51, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, there certainly have been rumours that it's a scam. Google "Who's Who" and "scam" and you'll get a fair amount of hits. mirageinred 20:47, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

I hope its not a scam I'm in Whos Whos and payed for a book
 * Me too!! mirageinred 05:52, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Suckers — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.83.161.162 (talk) 17:48, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

I just looked into this organization and list a bit, since I got a letter notifying me that my son has been nominated for the list. Unlike some of the other similar mailings we've gotten (like the National Honor Roll, for example), Who's Who Among American High School Students is not an out-and-out scam. The web site has a pretty nice FAQ which includes questions about how much weight colleges and universities put on an applicant's inclusion in the list, as well as a fairly direct question about the credibility of the organization. They claim that 95% of colleges they have surveyed use the list in their recruiting programs (which could mean anything). As to credibility, they put a lot of emphasis on the fact that they have a real mailing address (not a P.O. number) and a real phone and fax number. I called the phone number (1-877-843-9946), but it was after hours so I got their answering machine message. Sounded pretty legit, but you can't tell much from that either. Also, they warn students to be suspicious of any such list that demands payment for the privilege of being included. Of course, this one does not.

The company that maintains the list is ECI (Educational Communications, Inc.). This does not seem to be an "evil" company. They make money primarily off sales of the books of lists to students and colleges. Their web site, www.honoring.com, describes some of their other activities. If you google ECI, you will come across some of the marketing firms that work with them, but they all seem to do marketing for non-profits, especially for higher education institutions.

There was only one thing that disturbed me a little. It was ECI's privacy policy that sounded a bit iffy:

"Any personally identifiable information collected by www.the chancellor’s list.com from students will be used only for ECI internal purposes such as market research, fulfillment or for fulfilling a request for information or materials, and may be included in our database. Such information will not be posted or published by us on an individual basis. Finally, you should be aware that if your student voluntarily discloses his or her name, e-mail, etc. on various forums or chat areas, such disclosures might result in unsolicited messages from other parties." (This is directly copied from www.honoring.com)

Marketing research? Inclusion in a database? Unsolicited messages from other parties? It's really all way too vague. The thing I would want to avoid is providing personal information that would then be sold to commercial marketing companies who want to target wealthy, college-bound kids. The worst thing that could happen would be tons of spam, but that in itself can be very annoying.

--Eking13 03:58, 14 September 2006 (UTC) Sept.13, 2006

It may not be an "evil scam", but it's a scam. The head college counselor at my high school used to rail at any student who actually listed the fact that they were "Who's Who" on their college applications. I think anyone who went to a private/Catholic/public high school you had to take a test to get into in NYC got a solicitation from these people. Hell, if they sent ME one with MY high school grades, they really must have sent it to every mother's son. Also, didn't you think it odd they sent you the ad, THEN asked you what your grades, PSAT scores and extracirricular activities were? Shouldn't they have known that already if they were somehow determining you were a "Who's Who"? HandsomeSam 19:30, 11 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Sam, you are correct. Unlike the other "scam" honors, it doesn't really require you to pay. You don't have to buy a book, pay a fee, etc. HOWEVER, it is a scam in the sense that it's a virtually worthless award/honor. The only potential merit is a little bit of money to help pay for college. It's almost an embarassment to put something like Who's Who on your academic acheivements. Check collegeconfidential forums for details; discussions about real and fake awards have been exhausted. Goldy496 00:31, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

The whole article seems like it's directly from a website. The question and answer format definitely doesn't feel right. Also, I think it's a little fishy that ECI is editing the page.Princedakkar 20:29, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

What is so wrong with leaving the article as an informative article instead of somebody's opinion? The shorter entry for this article shows much more bias then this informative one. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Burntorangegolf (talk • contribs).

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This thing is so stupid. If any elite college sees this one the students top award list they immediatly shrink away. Its about as prestigious as the National Honors Roll or something like that - I know a lot of people who went to harvard and yale, etc. and none of them bothered to respond to the annoying letters this corporation sends to try to eat money away from students.

(RootBeerFanatic 16:34, 23 July 2007 (UTC))

Stop vandalizing this page
I have talked with several admissions officers about this program, and they think of it as a joke. Furthermore, colleges whom I have never even heard of (hence not even in the top 350 in the nation) said that they don't consider this an "academic achievement" hence I can only wonder about the academic integrity of the 95% of the colleges supposedly surveyed that said that they DO take it into consideration.

Burntorangegolf: The article is not an opinion, because its statements are backed up by evidence. It presents criticisms and that section is CLEARLY MARKED, so people will not get confused. What you are advocating is a copy-paste of the company's description, which IS inherently biased because they are writing about THEMSELVES.

Cmcfarland 03:50, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Official Web Site
The official web site has been down for awhile, should we remove it from the external links section? --Mjrmtg (talk) 15:00, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

Just Making a Comment
FOR ALL THOSE WHO ARE TRYING TO SOLVE THE MISTERY OF THE BEING A SCAM OR NOT, I WAS ENROLLED IN THAT BOOK(Who's Who Among American High School Students) AS WELL AS IN THE National Honor Rule. I REALLY DON'T CARE WETHER IT IS A SCAM OR NOT, ALL I CARE ABOUT IS THAT JUST THE FACT OF BEING AWARDED OR ENROLLED IN THAT LIST MADE ME FEEL GREAT AND GAVE AN INCENTIVE TO KEEP GOING ON WITH MY EFFORTS TO KEEP STUDYINNG, FOR THAT REASON I THANK A LOT TO THE PUBLISHERS OF THE Who's Who Among American High School Stends BOOK BECAUSE THEY DID NOT ASK ME EVER FOR ANY MONEY OR REQUIRED ME TO PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM THEM, INSTEAD THEY CLEARLY NOTIFIED ME THAT IT WAS ONLY AN OPTION THAT I COULD CHOOSE OR REFUSE TO, SO I SAY YOU ALL WHO ARE SAYING THAT IT IS A SCAM, SHOULD STOP SAYING IT AND LET THE STUDENTS WHO ARE ENROLLED IN THAT BOOK TO FEEL GREAT OF THAT Achivement.

Sincerely: ME-San Jose California USA —Preceding unsigned comment added by Amorverde84 (talk • contribs) 21:33, 10 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Unfortunately, this article is supposed to be about facts, not feelings. Although I hate to mention it, the appalling spelling and grammar in your comment here is actually circumstantial evidence supporting the fact that Who's Who was likely nothing more than a scam.  (I certainly don't mean it as a personal attack, but rather to make a point.)  I was actually in Who's Who three years in a row, including the senior year of high school that I never attended after testing out of school the year before.  Who's Who never bothered to verify that I was even in school that year. --Dulcimerist (talk) 18:04, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

I wanted to know how to find out if my name is on this list..I believe it was put in their due to a creative writing story in the 8th or 9th grade in the mid '80's..If you could tell me how to find out Id be grateful. Pooletrcy121 (talk) 00:52, 20 September 2019 (UTC)

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