Problem
Students feel unsure and lost in the college application process
Students feel unsure and lost in the college application process
The college application process involves countless steps, each with its own challenges, making it easy for things to fall through the cracks. To understand these challenges, we surveyed high school students about what prevents them from completing tasks such as “setting a scholarship goal” or “writing a personal statement essay.”
The college application process involves countless steps, each with its own challenges, making it easy for things to fall through the cracks. To understand these challenges, we surveyed high school students about what prevents them from completing tasks such as “setting a scholarship goal” or “writing a personal statement essay.”
47% of students are unsure of the steps to complete the tasks
47% of students are unsure of the steps to complete the tasks
46% of students lack motivation to complete the tasks
46% of students lack motivation to complete the tasks
7% of students don’t know when to complete the tasks
7% of students don’t know when to complete the tasks
These highlight students' biggest struggles: uncertainty about what to do next, when to do it, and staying motivated to stay on track.
Solution + impact
Meaningfully helping students
Meaningfully helping students
After working with our developers on an MVP launch, the roadmap feature was brought to the live app. Our final design manages to solve both students’ and families’ key pain points.
After working with our developers on an MVP launch, the roadmap feature was brought to the live app. Our final design manages to solve both students’ and families’ key pain points.
The roadmap tasks and progress tracking shows students their overall progress and milestones. This gives them clear insight into whether they’re ahead or behind, eliminating the stress of not knowing if they’re doing the right thing. They can also focus on as many or as little tasks as they’d like at a time, which avoids overloading their to-do list.
Both parents and students can work on the college application process together, meaning everyone is extrinsically motivated by each other. It helps everyone stay accountable by making their progress visible to all.
The roadmap is organized and laid out by subject and by timeline, showing users exactly what they need to do for success. The homepage also suggests a few milestones automatically, showing what they should do next without overwhelming them with every single task.
The roadmap is organized and laid out by subject and by timeline, showing users exactly what they need to do for success. The homepage also suggests a few milestones automatically, showing what they should do next without overwhelming them with every single task.
When a milestone is complete, we automatically suggest a new one so they’re never lost on what to do.
Students can choose to focus on as many or as little milestones as they’re open to tackling.
Custom animations for key moments of completion motivate students to continue working with Mapt.
Students can opt in to share their progress. This allows the parents to monitor progress in a non-invasive way.
450+ milestones completed by students
15% increase in student retention rate
Delivered 1,180+ personalized roadmaps
Move both quickly and intentionally
As a startup, we thrive on moving fast. We balanced speed with due diligence through proper user research, meaning we built the right thing the first time instead of having to waste time reiterating.
As a startup, we thrive on moving fast. We balanced speed with due diligence through proper user research, meaning we built the right thing the first time instead of having to waste time reiterating.
This isn’t the end
The roadmap tool launched to great success, but it’s still early in its life cycle. Our team will be tracking our key product metrics to see how it performs over time.
The roadmap tool launched to great success, but it’s still early in its life cycle. Our team will be tracking our key product metrics to see how it performs over time.
