Network your way into college: can it help you get in? Online social networking is starting to play a role in the college admissions process.(Website overview)

"It had long been my dream to go to Stanford," says 18-year-old Austin Parker. "So I went through [the university's] admission process. But somewhere along the way I started to feel like a number--a test score, a GPA."

While he was feeling like a number, Parker happened upon Zinch.com, a relatively new Web site founded by a group of undergraduates who share Austin's view of the college admissions process. "I felt I was unheard of, unrecognized, and unnoticed," says Zinch.com president and co-founder Mick Hagen. "All the colleges I wanted to go to had no idea who I was."

Hagen ended up getting accepted at Princeton University, but even after he started college, the shortcomings of the admissions process nagged at him. So he began working on a website that would harness the social networking power of sites like Facebook and MySpace to help prospective students showcase their skills. Zinch was born in March of 2007.

In just a few short years, online social networking has transformed the lives of teenagers. But can it also transform the college process? There are certainly some who think so. Zinch is just one of many sites vying for this corner of the Internet. In addition to Facebook and MySpace, which some colleges and students use as part of the admission process, sites such as Cappex.com, …