After a whole lot of searching and asking and researching and guessing, I came to the conclusion that there was a lack of information about college, getting there, and getting through it. Sure, there are web sites and high school counselors that want to tell you all about college, but real truth that comes only from real experience was hard to find. And so I set out to create Prospectus Y.

In late July of 2004, I started drawing up interfaces and features for Prospectus Y, and by the beginning of August, this site was up and running. Prospectus Y, so named because I am hoping to attend the Y, BYU, Brigham Young University, functions on the idea that Prospectus Y will become an informational hub of that valuable first-hand experience as I, Josh Lyman, track myself over the next decade of my college life. When completed, fellow University prospectives and interested individuals alike will be able to access this trove of knowledge, as well as marvel at the small social experiment herein contained.

Beginning in August, 2004, the story starts before application or acceptance, with all the questions laid out in front. In May of 2005, graduation will arrive, and acceptance/denial will have occurred. From there, this site can fork: one path will continue on to BYU, while the other could continue on to an entirely different college, adding another level of realism to that of the college selection reality, that some students don’t get their first pick. There will be a two-year hiatus from January 2006 to January 2008 as I go on my mission (don’t worry, I’ll add a missionary blog!) but will be picked up again. Speculation dictates that I will finish this extended experiment August of 2014, one decade after it began. At around that time, I will have finished a Masters degree and will be starting a career in the real world, having fully completed the college experience. At the conclusion of the site, there will be a vast resource of experience, stories, advice, and everything else that could possibly be contained here. Can you wait?

As far as technicalities go, Prospectus Y is run on WordPress, an amazing open-source content management and blog system. I use a variety of plugins and scripts to run various parts of the site, such as the Time and Money meters. Prospectus Y is not officially affiliated with BYU, and views expressed herein are solely that of the author(s). I don’t believe I’ve used any images that aren’t public domain, but if I have, I don’t claim credit for them. Nice legal stuff huh? Prospectus Y is backed up daily to various medias, both hard and soft. In 2004, the Internet was some pretty cool stuff with all that Flash and PHP going on, but in 1994, Lynx was all the rage. what will it be like in 2014? Probably not like in 2004, but Prospectus Y will evolve, will change it’s looks, probably it’s backend, but will remain the same in it’s goal - to provide others with quality information regarding the college adventure, and to provide an interesting social experiment for all those interested.

Best of luck Prospectus Y!