CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

I am an MBA student and working for the MBA office over the summer as a Marketing Assistant. A task that I was given was to find better ways to track students, and to look at CRM systems out there.
So, I have been looking at different options that are available.
We were thinking that it would be helpful to have a system in place where everything about an applicant is centralized in a system,. For instance, if Bruce calls a person then it is recorded and then if Mary sends an email that is recorded. Where info is updated from every person, so that the updated info is at the finger tips, and applicants aren't being asked the same question over and over again. That way one can see what has been said to the applicant already.
Would CiviCRM fit this role well? Would it be a good option for the MBA program, or would it be a bit learning and time intensive for us?
And one more question, with it being web-based, does that mean that the data would be stored in the US? That could be a problem since we are a Canadian University, and our info cannot be stored in the US, the Patriot Act.
Thanks you for your help,