Recommendation Engines

Several recent studies have shown too many Latino students are "undermatched." These students are enrolling in institutions with lower levels of selectivity than the researchers would presume is the student's potential. Interesting phenomenon, although not completely surprising given the increasing costs and geographic limitations many students are reacting to today.

College choices. There are so many choices to make in our daily lives, it can be paralyzing. There are more than 4,000 institutions in the country, ranging from degree-granting to non-degree granting, from public to private, from for-profit to non-profit, from online to campus-based, and from associate degree-granting to doctorate degree-granting. And these diverse options multiply exponentially the more informed a student tries to become. It's no wonder young people today struggle to understand the complexities in identifying whether an institution is a "good fit" for them.

So, how about an "outside the box" idea? Have you ever listened to music using Pandora? Or bought books on Amazon? Or rented movies from Netflix? What all of these services have in common is their function as recommendation engines.

These programs suggest what we should listen to, read, or view based on our choices and preferences. You start out with an account, and then very simply the software begins making and refining recommendations based on your previous choices. I have selected multiple songs, books, and movies based on these recommendations and enjoyed most thoroughly. I've also selected some real duds as a result of the recommendations that have been a waste of my time (and money).

As I reflect on the pathways to college for our Latino students, I wonder if there is a recommendation engine out there that can help these students make college choices better aligned to their interests and needs. Could we start an account in middle school that allows students to interface and begin to develop a profile from which recommendation engines could do their magic? Would this result in a good choice for students?