The Zinch Report

With over 334,043 votes cast by 212,655 students in 106 countries, March Madness 2008 has come to a close.

The winner of Zinch's first annual Sweet Diggity Dawg competition (and a $20,000 scholarship for college) is Kayleen Hannaway, a senior from Philomath High School in Philomath, Oregon.

To win in the final round, Kayleen edged out Phuong Duong, another incredible student and a formidable competitor, by a vote of 7,236 to 6,492.

After speaking with Kayleen (and her super cool guidance counselor, Beth Edgemon), I learned that an assembly was held this morning at school to recognize Kayleen and the incredible work she and her friends did to get this far. Congrats guys -- you deserve it.

As the 2008 Sweet Diggity Dawg recipient, Kayleen will represent students all over the country in their quest to be identified as people, and not just test scores. As you can imagine, this is no small task, so please leave her a shout out in the comments.

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Yesterday MSNBC's Today Show aired a segment called "What Works and What Doesn't." What's the smart way for students to get into the college of their choice? Admissions authorities Terry Knaus of Indiana University and Martha Merrill of Connecticut College suggest savvy strategies.

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Congrats to Sunny, Kayleen, Phuong, and Jessica (Hye Jin)! Each have done a tremendous job, as have many others, attracting votes for the Sweet Diggity Dawg Scholarship. We are now drawing close to awarding the $20,000, and excitement is rising. We've received a fair amount of correspondence from parents and family members of the contestants. They, like our own parents, beam with pride for their kids and are working just as hard (arguably) as the students themselves.

We realize that as each student exerts precious time and energy in this endeavor, the stakes rise and expectations build. Scholarship money only adds to the frenzy. Please, don't get sucked into hype! Hype, or frenzy, are only positive if we can maintain perspective and ground ourselves in the reality that only one person will win. That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt to lose a match. It just means we can applaud those that move along. Ultimately, we really want everyone to have fun with this. So many scholarships we just apply for, then wait to hear back (and that's great because it's simple, though we feel a little boring). This award process is definitely different. We hope it's been fun and that you've enjoyed a certain level of control.

Enjoy a closer look at our Final Four...

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Getting waitlisted can be frustrating, confusing and/or exciting depending on what your expectations were in applying to that college. It’s frustrating because, similar to being deferred, it’s not a final answer. It’s a “hold on…. lets just wait it out” kind of answer. It may turn into an acceptance. It may turn into a rejection. It’s confusing because you have no idea what your fate will be regarding admittance to that college (and people have all sorts of theories about colleges and their waitlists). It’s exciting because you still may have a chance.

So, what should you do if you receive a waitlist letter? And similarly, what should you not do?

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