UT has recruited five students to write about their experiences at the university as a new admissions strategy. By getting five students of different ethnic backgrounds, gender, years in school and major, the university is trying to present different experiences that will appeal to potential students.

Each of the five students has been given a blog on the UTK website in which they can write about anything from first experiences on campus, classes and professors to the final months leading up to their graduation. The only major regulation is they can’t use their last names.

Potential students can ask the students who interest them questions about the university by opening a free Google account and posting comments.

About the students:

Alex is a freshman double majoring in English and biology. He doesn’t update as often as some might like, but he is a very interesting writer. He uses a lot of pop culture references from music to books and incorporates artistic photos. Alex is also very real about his life especially because he admits that he didn’t want to come to UT, but was more or less forced to for financial reasons.

Anderson is also a freshman at UT and is an accounting major. Although his writing style is not as polished as some of the others he does give a good view of the daily life at UT.

Caleb is one of two seniors and is majoring in chemistry. Caleb updates about once a week and writes mostly about what he does when he is not doing schoolwork. He spends a lot of time writing about hanging out with his friend on campus, at football games and his weekends of adventures. He has a very relaxed style of writing that is easy for potential students to enjoy.

Mallory is also a senior who is majoring in industrial engineering. Her blog is fun because she talks about all the things you should do at UT that she is trying to do before she graduates. However, she may come across to future students as too over the top with her "proud to be a volunteer" attitude and stories about how her friends are a family.

Paula is a junior who is involved in a lot of organizations. She also updates about once a week and incorporates a little of bit of everything into her writing. She spends a lot of time talking about her Spanish class, which she is failing, as well as her daily life with volunteering and hanging out with friends. She also addresses a lot of the concerns potential students may be having about choosing a college from deciding if this is the right college to making sacrifices for fun and studies.

Although this may be an admissions ploy, it is definitely an fresh addition to the UTK website.