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April 18, 2017

Andrew Persaud, Megan Raisle, Shreya Shah, Aakash Thumaty

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The Vision

To connect young high school students to the resources necessary to begin the college process

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Agenda

What is College Q&A? The innovations and implementations of the service

Why will people use it? Defining our pain point and proposing the solution

Where will it fit in? Analyzing our market and distinguishing between users and customers

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Andrew Persaud

Shreya Shah

Megan Raisle

Aakash Thumaty

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What is it

Message based question and answer platform

Targeted towards younger high school population

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Pain Point

Students who wait to begin the college process become overwhelmed and deterred from applying

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Why does this matter?

High-Achieving + High-income = 2x as likely to apply to a selective school (jckf 2016)

High-Achieving + Low-income at selective universities = more likely to graduate

In NC, 40% of students eligible to enroll in selective schools enrolled elsewhere

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What’s happened?

3 high schools

41 students joined

Best way to connect with students is by bringing a student to them

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Response Distributions

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Users

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Customers

http://advisingcorps.org/our-work/where-we-work/

http://carolinacollegeadvisingcorps.sites.unc.edu/files/2016/11/ccac-logo.jpg

https://cdn2.iconfinder.com/data/icons/school-set-4/512/4-512.png

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Deliverables

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Interviews

Students were surveyed on a variety of topics regarding college applications

Largely centered around access to information and knowledge regarding college and the application process

Responses largely directed us towards finding a solution to information access

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Pivots

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SWOT

STRENGTHS (+)

Easy to use
Return/frequent users
Well-defined target market
Clear pain point
Personal experiences separate us

OPPORTUNITIES (+)

Develop our own application
Utilize College Advising Corps
Create a FAQ page
Have targeted resources based on region
Amass a group of college students

WEAKNESSES (-)

Implemented in only 3 high schools
Cannot reach every high school/student
Hard to eliminate undermatching
Only 4 college students answering questions
Low income students without cell phones

THREATS (-)

Not proprietary
Better Make Room™
College Text Hotline

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Moving Forward

More schools
Differing methods of introduction
Adding infographics/flyers
Test different platforms: Website, App, etc.

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Appendix

SWOT
Website
Remind
Undermatch
Business Model Canvas

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Website

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Remind

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Undermatch

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https://research.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/publications/2014/9/literature-causes-consequences-students-postsecondary-choices.pdf

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Business Model Canvas

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Questions /Feedback