Student-Centered Design
1
The Problem
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Our Goal
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Our Solution
The Problem
High school students, especially minority, low-income, and first generation students, lack access to information and strong guidance in their college search.
The Problem
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The problem is a lack of social capital. Students lack counselors, families who are knowledgeable about the process, and information on what to do in the college application process. Many urban, low-income students without these sources rely on their own familial and friendship networks for help, and these networks often only have limited college information. Thus, many first-generation college students conduct constrained college searches that often lead to “mismatch� enrollment in colleges that are less selective than students are eligible to attend.
Research: Interviews
Andy
immigrant, first generation college student
“Applying to college took lot of time and effort. I was a foreigner, so I needed to take English classes and study for the toefl before I could apply. I didn’t know what colleges were out there. I relied on my professors in junior college for recommendations on which colleges I should apply to. I also wrote letters to alumni and asked them for information.�
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Mary
counselor, St. Lucy’s Priory High School
“The demographic that struggles most is the one whose parents did not go to college. They have no knowledge or help at home and sometimes not even support. That doesn’t seem to be the case here very often, because they are choosing to send their kids here for the college prep aspect. But even our kids, if they are first generation college, often struggle. One hurdle is not having a realistic notion of where they can get in. They usually underestimate their potential.”
Research: Interviews
Hannah
college sophomore
“It was a very long process and not very straightforward.”
Connie
college freshman
“It was stressful because there were so many different deadlines and supplements I had to complete and make perfect.”
Kristalyn
college sophomore
“I wish I had clearer deadline dates on general applications or financial applications.”
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Arthur
college freshman
“It was stressful because I had to manage all the different parts and deadlines for all the schools.”
Jacob
college junior
“It was hard because my parents had no idea what was going on and I was the oldest child.”
Richa
college senior, first generation
“I wish I had someone to tell me that I should have applied early decision to increase my chances of getting in and someone to tell me to apply to midtier schools.”
Our Goal
We hope to make the college application process more accessible and attainable for students navigating the process by themselves.
Our Goal
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Tools should be intuitive, efficient, concise, and easy to comprehend. It should add value to the user in some way, through new or clearer information, services, or experiences.
Our Solution
BoostU is an online guide that aims to make the college search and application process simple, stress-free, and tailored to the student.
SteP 1: Find a College
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College Search
The college search function allows users to look for a specific college if they already know where to begin. If not, an advanced search can be used to filter schools according to categories like institution type, location, cost, selectivity, majors, and activities offered.
Step 1: Find a college
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Filters
These filters allow students who may not already have prior knowledge about colleges to more easily find schools that fit their needs. As discovered in prior research, factors such as cost greatly affect students’ choices.
Step 1: Find a college
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More Options
To keep users from feeling overwhelmed by the number of options, the information is divided into two screens. The user can click between the two to easily see more options. This information is presented as cleanly and minimally as possible in order to appear decluttered and be easily understood.
SteP 2: gather inFormation
27 Search colleges
HELLO MATTHEW MONTANEZ
ersity of California, Los Angeles Co-Ed
Urban
General
27,941 undergraduates
Majors
Campus
22% of students admitted
Cost
Applying
Deadlines
cording to our calculations, UCLA is a reach school for you.
Once the student has selected a college from their search to review, information is organized into easy560–680 to-manage tabs. Information is broken 800 down into general information, types of majors, campus life, costs, application 550 600–760 information, and important deadlines. 800 Again, the tab system works to keep the info organized and the students 590–710 stress-free!
organization
id-Range Scores 490
Reading
480
800
g
omposite Mid-Range Scores 20
25–31
36
1
University of Calif SteP 2: gather inFormation
4-year
Public
Co-Ed
Urban
General
M
According to our calculations, U
SAT Mid-Range Scores 490
200 Critical Reading
200 Math
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200 Writing
ACT Composite Mid-Range Scores
1
fornia, Los Angeles 27,941 undergraduates
Majors
22% of students admitted
Campus
Cost
Applying
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Deadlines
UCLA is a reach school for you.
560–680
800
550
600–760
800
80
590–710
800
College Stats 20
25–31
One feature under the “Applying” tab is a comparison chart of the average 36 scores of accepted students versus the user’s scores. A tool calculates whether the university is a reach, competitive, or safety school for the user, helping students make more strategic choices.
SteP 3: Start the aPPliCation ProCeSS
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Different Views
Quick shortcuts above the tabs allow the user to select which colleges’ deadlines they would like to view, allowing users to control and minimize unnecessary clutter. The user can view deadlines in various formats: as a monthly calendar, as a scrolling timeline, or as a lisk of tasks that need to be completed.
Step 3: Start the Application Process
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Deadlines
Information is sorted by date and by school, making all the information completely clear to the users. The scrolling calendar also maximizes the amount of space alotted to each day, creating white space that gives users a break from heavy text.
This book was designed by Kathleen Huang in the fall of 2013 for Visualizing Information at Washington University in St. Louis. BoostU was concepted and developed in collaboration with Kara Gordon, Ariana Montanez, and Emilio Ramos.