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Interview 3
Mother of three children, two children already in or completed college (Providence and MIT), one child still in high school (junior).
Main Take Away Difficulties
- Finding schools of interest subject to criteria
- When the geographic area is unfamiliar, it is more difficult to find schools of the right caliber and right fit
- School websites and college books (e.g., Barron’s, Fiske’s are helpful for identifying the programs that are popular and/or renowned), but then for things like online sources some parents (e.g. Parent 3) lacked trust of existing online information sources (saying: “I wouldn’t trust the College Board”).
- Building an itinerary
- Parents found it difficult to satisfy all time and geographic constraints in building the itinerary and had to iterate
- Parents obtained tour and travel information from college websites and booked travel arrangements on various websites (bookings.com, etc.)
User Classes
- Parents: parents of high school juniors and seniors who may be planning a trip to visit colleges. In addition to looking for schools in a certain area that fit criteria based on the student's needs (e.g. certain GPAs/SAT scores, sports teams, location, extra curricular activities) they will also need to find lodging and plan itineraries that allow them to go to tours and info sessions of various colleges so that multiple colleges can be visited in one trip.
- High School College Counselors: often help students select their colleges and may plan group trips to visit various schools in a certain area. Want a centralized place to be able to send students and parents to look at prospective colleges in a certain area.
- High School Students: want to find colleges within their academic range. Often not as concerned with the area, and don't usually plan their own college trips (although some do). Want to see comparisons between schools and see which ones have the programs and extra curricular activities that align with their interests.
- College Admissions Officers: want to ensure that visiting prospective students can go on tours and attend info sessions easily and get a positive impression of the school.
- Transfer Students: students who plan to transfer colleges often want to visit their perspective new schools. They also need to plan these trips, as well as find out who to talk to about transfer admissions versus regular admissions. Transfer students are also often interested in specific departments/labs on campus.
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