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- Comments and Insights:
- She used college websites and college books to learn more about the schools and the particular programs that would be good fits for her daughter.
- She also used existing knowledge / word-of-mouth information about the reputation of the school as a factor in determining which schools to visit.
- She expressed a lack of trust in materials from the College Board and did not use their website.
- She did not know many schools in the South (that could be tied to Trip 1) that might be good fits for her younger daughter, even after having visited the Carolinas in the process of searching for schools for her older daughter
- She went to individual college websites to get times for tours and information sessions; she also used the college websites to learn more about the programs that might be of interest to her daughter
- Some schools on the trips (especially on Trip 2) were considered higher priority than others, and so she wanted to invest more quality time on the trip into those schools
- Multiple iterations were required to find the best itinerary that accounted for different constraints and preferences.
Common Problems (Parents)
- 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.)
Interview 4
- Daughter of Parent 3, she is a high school junior who has visited one college (Boston College) and is planning to go on the trips described previously (Trip 1 and Trip 2)
- Starting the college search process
- She began to think about colleges after finishing her PSAT's
- She created a College Board account online; this gave her access to a tool which would help her find colleges that met her preferences; the criteria accounted for in the tool included size, location, and intended college major
- However, the College Board tool did not account for how "serious you are about school"; it did not account for grades, and the result was that she got many irrelevant, or "really obscure" results (cited University of Idaho as an example)
- Mechanisms for discovering colleges
- Word-of-mouth played a major role in helping her learn which schools might be interesting to her
- She attended several sessions in which admissions officers from different schools came to her high school
- Some sessions took the form of Q&A (Claremont McKenna); while others were more like information sessions (Boston College)
- They all sent "really nice people", and all described a similar type of generic, ideal candidate (seems like they did not distinguish themselves or help her figure out a better fit)
- College websites were useful in figuring out whether the school would be a good fit for her academic interests
- She often visits the "student profile" page to learn about statistics related to typical SAT scores, the diversity of the school, and other basic characteristics of the school
- She also looks at the lists of clubs and activities and the lists of different majors offered
- Sometimes, it's possible to click on the major to find out more about it
- However, she does not frequently visit academic department websites within the college website
- She indicated that while she has not encountered "virtual tours" on college websites, she has found extensive photo galleries on different college websites
- College books give an outsider's view on the school (different from the college website or other official college literature) and provide helpful lists like "people who applied to this school also applied to schools X, Y, Z"
- College visit experiences to date
- She went to a Boston College tour and information session because she "had to start somewhere"
- She thought it was a good school but it was not in the region that she was looking to go
- The tour gave some specific valuable insights (e.g., which specific school to apply to). However, it seemed like the primary value of the tour was that it oriented her as to the campus layout and gave her a sense of what the campus was like.
- The information session seemed very "scripted" and also featured what she considered to be "obnoxious questions"
- Planned college trips
- She picked out the schools that she wanted to visit for Trips 1 and 2, but Parent 3 did all the booking
- She will mostly be attending tours and information sessions at the schools; while she did not plan to talk to faculty or other specific people on campus, she will also do a campus interview at one of the schools.
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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