EduVenture

Elevating FGLI students' admission journey with gamified milestones and integrated admissions chancing.

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Inspiration

Did you know that over 50% of first-generation and low-income (FGLI) students face unique challenges in excelling academically? Despite their determination, many lack access to resources and support that can make all the difference. This could issues with money, lack of knowledge on colleges, inability to correctly compare their application to those around them, or lack of stress on college admissions entirely.

But here's the thing: challenges are simply opportunities in disguise. Our platform is more than just a website – it's a space where empowerment meets education, camaraderie meets curiosity, and potential meets possibility.

What it does

EduVenture is built on three key components:

  • Gamified Milestones: Progress through your academic journey by achieving gamified milestones. As you reach these milestones, you'll see how your decisions impact your college admissions chances.

  • Practice and Feedback: Access practice quizzes, assignments, and mock exams that allow you to test your knowledge and receive constructive feedback. This iterative process ensures you're constantly refining your skills. (Could be implemented soon....)

  • Tailored Resources: We curated a collection of resources designed specifically for FGLI students. Whether you're seeking assistance in mathematics, literature, or any other subject, our comprehensive study materials and guides are here to reinforce your understanding and boost your confidence.

How we built it

Using the CollegeScore public API, we were able to extract vital data about thousands of colleges, then, through a mix of metric weighting (and a bit of guessing), we could then provide a percent chance of you getting into your dream school.

Challenges we ran into

  • Managing our scope such that we delivered a genuine product, even if it was a bit bare bones

  • Providing multiple metrics for chancing; We were only able to implement 3 standard metrics into the front end system of chancing, omitting our college matching system for the sake of function. With more time, we could evolve this project into a one-stop shop for the FGLI admissions process.

  • We scoured the internet for an API with clear documentation which provides all the necessary features. We encountered cases where documentation was incomplete, outdated, or lacked the necessary information to utilize the APIs effectively.

  • Brainstorming: It took a long time for us to develop concepts that had a real influence on FGLI students.

Despite these challenges, we've overcome these obstacles through teamwork. Our commitment to creating a platform that empowers FGLI students continues to drive us forward.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • It was exciting to find a solution to help FGLI students reach their academic goals in various ways.
  • When implemented on a large scale, the idea will benefit many FGLI students because it empowers them.

What we learned

This weekend taught us a lot.

  • We learned a lot about APIs
  • We're also glad we could come together as a team and overcome obstacles with our best efforts.
  • We learned a lot about designing and front-end development

Finally, we learned much from one another and Empower Hacks during the weekend.

What's next for EduVenture

In the future, we will work on advanced analytics features that will provide insights into your progress, strengths, and areas for improvement. This data-driven approach, powered by NLP insights, will help you make informed decisions about your learning strategies.

We also have plans that we hope to incorporate into our platform since we couldn't in our short time, involving:

  • providing a housing feature with integrated chatbots for financing -- this could include on-campus housing, off-campus rentals, or assistance finding roommates

  • a list of scholarships for FGLI students with each specialized to their circumstances (making it easier for them to find and apply for financial aid)

  • connection feature for students to connect with those who are either going through the same issues and mentors that can cater to their needs. This connection feature allows the FGLI student/user to have the option to add the school they are planning to go to, allowing for a community to grow around the designated group (similar to how Reddit has its sub-channels).

  • a matching system that would recommend colleges based on your GPA, SAT score, ACT score, Ethnicity, Preferred State, Gender, and Household Income.

Usage beyond the project

Want to try out the backend algorithm for college matching? Simply import getCollegeSelectionByStudentProfile and StudentProfile from index.js in a javascript module file. An example script is below.

var student = new StudentProfile(4.0, 1600, 36, 0, 0, 0, 80000, true, "Black", false, "TX", "TX"); 
// gpa, sat, act, (ecs will implement later), aps taken (unimplemented), aps offered, household income, is first generation, ethnicity, is female, current state, preferred state
var profiles = await getCollegeSelectionByStudentProfile(student); // Already sorted by profile match
console.log(profiles.map((profile) => student.Match(profile).percentMatch + " " + student.Match(profile).college + '\n' + profile.PrettyPrint()).join("\n\n"));

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