This summer, reality television finally got smarter.

ABC's six-part series, The Scholar, was touted by the channel as "the first show ever to celebrate higher education as the ultimate American prize." Set up in pseudo-dorm conditions at the University of Southern California, 10 academically outstanding but economically disadvantaged high school seniors were competing for a full-ride scholarship to their dream colleges.

More than those from any other school, it was Columbians, both old and new, who featured most prominently on the show. The Scholar was co-created and produced by Jaye Pace, CC '00. Two of the show's three-person scholarship committee, a panel of judges, were from Columbia's undergraduate admissions office, and two of the show's 10 participants chose to enroll in the Columbia College class of 2009.

Pace, a former admissions officer at Columbia, said she wanted the show to "demystify what it takes to get into college," and she used her experience to reach out to underprivileged students.

"One of the biggest problems is that especially public high school students just aren't aware of the opportunities available to them," she said.

Participant Max Caraballo, CC '09 and a native of Oakland, Calif., is a typical example. Caraballo grew up in a neighborhood rife with drugs and violence but maintained straight A grades throughout high school.

"Within his neighborhood, he is just this beacon of light for the youth," said Pace of Caraballo. "I just give Max a lot of credit. These are the kids that are going to change society."

To get on the show, participants underwent a rigorous selection process featuring taped interviews along with a paper application that combined the Real World and the Columbia undergraduate admissions application.

Caraballo heard about The Scholar from his high school principal, the same man who encouraged him to enroll in advanced math classes at his local community college. "He took me under his wing as a son," Caraballo says of his principal. "He's my friend, mentor, everything."

The other new Columbian from The Scholar, Amari Hammonds, CC '09 and a native of St. Louis, Mo., was motivated to apply by her college counselor.

With her past record featuring human rights activism, passion for foreign languages, and fantastic grades and test scores, Hammonds impressed everyone from the beginning of production. She finished in second place with a $50,000 scholarship.

"Amari just blew me out of the water when I read her application," said Pace. "Every single thing she does, she's completely at the top of her game. And yet, she's got such an unassuming personality."

Indeed, Hammonds admitted to feeling a little intimidated by the seriousness of the conversations her co-participants engaged in. "I like to talk about really silly things most of the time," she said.

Unlike the conventional approach to reality television that involves a weekly elimination, the show allowed for participants to showcase growth and improvement over the period of the series.

In part, this was to allow the scholarship committee to adequately assess the candidates. In each episode, participants would perform different tasks, both academic and non-academic in nature, so that judges could assess a variety of talents.

"We were looking for a lot of the same things that college admissions officers evaluate," said committee-member Shawn Abbott, senior associate director of admissions at Columbia.

Abbott regretted that the committee's interactions with the participants were so limited. All sessions with participants were taped and rather formal, and he felt that this alienated the students to a degree.

"During the show, I thought [the judges] were the meanest people," said Caraballo. "They never smiled." But off the show, he remarked, they were all extremely personable and encouraging.

The judges weren't the only friendly faces in the offbeat reality show. Hammonds described the show's producers and production team as extremely altruistic, which she attributed to the good intentions of Pace and her colleague Shannon Meairs, a former admissions officer at Pepperdine. A side benefit of participating in the show was receiving one-on-one college and financial aid counseling with the admissions experts on the show.

It was Pace's close involvement with the project that convinced Abbott to participate in a show from the producers of The Real World and The Simple Life.

"Both Peter and I were skeptical about getting involved in reality television, but we did because the creator was Jaye Pace and we knew she had the highest ethical standards."

Pace established a relationship with each participant and is personally invested in the participants' success beyond the show.

"They're kind of like my kids in a way," Pace said. "It's just so important to me to see them succeed."

The judges were also impressed with Caraballo and Hammonds' potential.

"They're both exceptionally bright," said Abbott. "We really have high expectations for them. They couldn't be a better match for Columbia."

Before his senior year in high school, Caraballo was in New York to visit NYU, and his friend suggested that he check out Columbia, too. He applied early decision to Columbia after his campus visit, although he admitted that "to be honest, I really didn't know anything about Columbia until I came here last week."

Hammonds had an early acceptance to Harvard but chose Columbia after financial aid contributions and alumni feedback.

"It's very exciting when someone turns Harvard down," Abbott said. The case demonstrates that Harvard is not always able to give better financial aid than Columbia, he remarked.

Hammonds and Caraballo both emerged from the show with fan bases in the thousands. Their facebook.com accounts are ringing with messages, and they have become veritable celebrities on campus.

Caraballo is a little unnerved by his enthusiastic fans.

"I almost don't know what to say to them," he said. "It puts me in a catch-22, because I don't want to sound arrogant, but I don't want to be rude to the person, either."

Hammonds's response to the new attention is a little different. Though she is sometimes embarrassed by her friends' and family's introducing her to people as a television star, she thoroughly enjoys meeting fans. She also saves all her facebook messages. "It's essentially fan mail, and who knows if this'll happen again," she said. "I'm all about mementos."

Caraballo also makes sure he reads and responds to thoughtful facebook messages from his fans. "I'm just a regular person," he said. "I brush my teeth, I put on my shoes in the morning the same way everyone else does in the morning. To some people, I could be a celebrity. Why shouldn't I respond?"

The show garnered an average of 3.5 million viewers every week, which was a little lower than Pace had hoped for.

"I don't know if a lot of the target audience would be into watching a show about education in the summer months," Pace said.

Nevertheless, she thinks The Scholar "got America talking about education."

To follow up on The Scholar's success and continue its trajectory of reaching out to students with comprehensive information about college, Pace is wrapping up a guidebook on college admissions and is contributing an informational spread to the November issue of Seventeen magazine. Next summer, she will begin directing a film adaptation of "Acceptance," the musical she wrote about college admissions while working at Columbia.