Admissions

UX microcopy

Problem

The first question on every prospective students’ mind is always “Will I be accepted?” There’s no straightforward answer since FIU uses holistic review to assess each students’ application. As a ranked, public institution FIU is in the tricky position where it must be selective but still create alternate “pathways” to admission. Students are sorted into these pathways using their test scores and GPA but deferred admission is always a possibility. The result is a set of admission tracks that can sort students into highly selective degree programs, or step programs designed to prepare them over the summer term, or recommend community college with a guaranteed path to admission in 2 years. But that’s far too complicated an answer to our original question.

Solution

At the time this information was presented in a full-page table of test scores. Students were forced to gather their grades and scores, then decipher where they’d land based on that chart. The Office of Admissions approached us with the idea to create an Admissions Pathway Calculator that would provide a simple, direct answer. An application where a student could input their scores and the calculator would sort out which pathway they might be destined for. Taking inspiration from a credit score calculator on a banking website, we got to work.

Process

The trickiest part was deciding how to deliver the results. I wrote short descriptions for each pathway as well as descriptions of the general pathway selection process, being careful to stress that the calculator did not guarantee admission. The input text for GPA also had to be carefully worded since weighted/unweighted GPA varies from school to school. We worked with the client to decide the safest way to let students down with negative results so as to not discourage potential applicants. We also performed an informal user test on a small group of high school students that got positive feedback.

Results

The calculator was a resounding success. It’s popular among students and shared widely on Reddit for prospective students. It prepares them for the confusing pathway selection process in an engaging way. And it even promotes the community college pathway, Connect4Success, a central program at a university whose undergraduate population is nearly half transfer students.