Author: Romerl Elizes
Tasks for this Discussion-Assignment
Identify an Existing Recommender System I find interesting.
Perform a Scenario Design analysis as described below. Consider whether it makes sense for your selected recommender system to perform scenario design twice, once for the organization (e.g. Amazon.com) and once for the organization’s customers.
Attempt to reverse engineer what I can about the site, from the site interface and any available information that I can find on the Internet or elsewhere.
Include specific recommendations about how to improve the site’s recommendation capabilities going forward.
Create a report using an R Markdown file, and create a discussion thread with a link to the GitHub repo where my Markdown file notebook resides.
A. Recommender System
The Recommender System website I chose for this assignment is Naviance by Hobsons (http://www.naviance.com). My son is a High School junior and has just begun the arduous college application journey. He is bombarded with mail literature by all of these prospective colleges. Naviance is a web application that we have paid for via our school tax dollars. The web application allows my son and other teenagers to determine what college choices are available to them based on not only their current GPA and recent performance in the ACT or SAT, but on individual profiles of the applying student. It is important that the student has much information about his prospective college choices and individual preferences before taking full advantage of the web application.
B. Scenario Design Analyses
- Who are the target users?
The target users are college applicants.
- What are the their key goals?
The key goal is to determine which college(s) best fit a student applying for college based on his standardized test score, GPA, and individual profile.
- How can the application help them accomplish their goals?
The application has the following features that allow the student and his parents to accomplish the college applications goals:
identify college(s) that best fit the student’s individual preferences, test scores and GPA.
identify where the student stands among his fellow high school peers when applying for a specific college.
identify career choices for the student based on their individual preferences, test scores, and GPA.
articulate a set of goals, to-do lists, and assigned tasks for the college applicant to accomplish.
C. Reverse Engineering Site
The web application is so extensive that it would be difficult to reverse engineer all aspects of this website. I will highlight some reverse engineering facets for specific features of the application.
- Searching a College and Show a Scattergram of History of Accepted Students based on GPA and ACT scores. This is a fun aspect of the application. Suppose a student got a 34 in the ACT and has a 4.00 weighted GPA. While a 34 in the ACT is an impressive score, he wants to see if he actually has a chance in getting into Harvard University. The Naviance application allows the student to select the college and than print out a scatter diagram that displays all students that have applied to Harvard University in the last 3 years with their current GPA and ACT scores. The application is very informative because it shows where the student is amongst his peers without seeing personal student info. All it shows is GPA and ACT score. It also shows a summary of students who applied in the last 3 years and shows whether any of those students got accepted and were enrolled. Based on the scattergram listed below, the student has a wing and prayer in getting into this institution despite having a 34 ACT score and a 4.00 weighted GPA.
The student has not listed all possible colleges that he is interested in, therefore, the scatter digram only shows one college. The student also did not input his individual information such as AP tests taken, extracurricular activities, etc. Based on this information, the algorithm for the Scatter Diagram would be even more comprehensive by showing not only college(s) the student is interested in, but will show which colleges may be the best fit for him based on his GPA, SAT/ACT scores, college demographics, individual achievements, etc.
- Plethora of Options for Student. - The student has the ability to research scholarships and grants based on his individual preferences. Moreover, the algorithm in the Naviance appplication allows the student to research colleges and decide on Career options. Moreover, the student is advised to look at the colleges visiting the school. Since the student is considering a STEM-based career, many colleges with this STEM-based discipline will indicate on the website that they will come to visit. If the student was considering a Liberal Arts discipline, then only schools with that criteria will indicate, if any, will visit the high school.
D. Specific Recommendations to Improve Site’s Recommendation Capabilities moving Forward.
I do have some recommendations for this web application based on what I have seen thus far.
Provide college options based on income level and affordability. It would be nice to show which colleges can be seen based on the income level of the parents and what they can be able to afford during the student’s journey in college.
Provide a snapshot of expected finanical aid based on college choice, income level, etc. It would be nice to show the expected finanical contribution of the parents and students based on parents’ income level and assets. Another website called MyinTuition [MYI] has that information. Such information being incorporated into the Naviance website would be beneficial to both students and parents to make informed decisions on which colleges to focus on.
---
title: "DATA607 - Week 11 Discussion"
output: 
  html_notebook:
    highlight: pygments
    theme: cerulean
  pdf_document: default
  word_document: default
---

### Author: Romerl Elizes

## Tasks for this Discussion-Assignment

- Identify an Existing Recommender System I find interesting.

- Perform a Scenario Design analysis as described below. Consider whether it makes sense for your selected recommender system to perform scenario design twice, once for the organization (e.g. Amazon.com) and once for the organization's customers.

- Attempt to reverse engineer what I can about the site, from the site interface and any available information that I can find on the Internet or elsewhere.

- Include specific recommendations about how to improve the site's recommendation capabilities going forward. 

- Create a report using an R Markdown file, and create a discussion thread with a link to the GitHub repo where my Markdown file notebook resides.

## A. Recommender System

The Recommender System website I chose for this assignment is Naviance by Hobsons (http://www.naviance.com). My son is a High School junior and has just begun the arduous college application journey. He is bombarded with mail literature by all of these prospective colleges. Naviance is a web application that we have paid for via our school tax dollars. The web application allows my son and other teenagers to determine what college choices are available to them based on not only their current GPA and recent performance in the ACT or SAT, but on individual profiles of the applying student. It is important that the student has much information about his prospective college choices and individual preferences before taking full advantage of the web application. 

## B. Scenario Design Analyses

1. Who are the target users?

The target users are college applicants.

2. What are the their key goals?

The key goal is to determine which college(s) best fit a student applying for college based on his standardized test score, GPA, and individual profile.

3. How can the application help them accomplish their goals?

The application has the following features that allow the student and his parents to accomplish the college applications goals:

- identify college(s) that best fit the student's individual preferences, test scores and GPA.

- identify where the student stands among his fellow high school peers when applying for a specific college.

- identify career choices for the student based on their individual preferences, test scores, and GPA.

- articulate a set of goals, to-do lists, and assigned tasks for the college applicant to accomplish.


## C. Reverse Engineering Site

The web application is so extensive that it would be difficult to reverse engineer all aspects of this website. I will highlight some reverse engineering facets for specific features of the application.

- **Searching a College and Show a Scattergram of History of Accepted Students based on GPA and ACT scores. ** This is a fun aspect of the application. Suppose a student got a 34 in the ACT and has a 4.00 weighted GPA. While a 34 in the ACT is an impressive score, he wants to see if he actually has a chance in getting into Harvard University. The Naviance application allows the student to select the college and than print out a scatter diagram that displays all students that have applied to Harvard University in the last 3 years with their current GPA and ACT scores. The application is very informative because it shows where the student is amongst his peers without seeing personal student info. All it shows is GPA and ACT score. It also shows a summary of students who applied in the last 3 years and shows whether any of those students got accepted and were enrolled. Based on the scattergram listed below, the student has a wing and prayer in getting into this institution despite having a 34 ACT score and a 4.00 weighted GPA.

![Harvard University Acceptance Rate for last 3 years at Westfield High School](./week11image1.png)

The student has not listed all possible colleges that he is interested in, therefore, the scatter digram only shows one college. The student also did not input his individual information such as AP tests taken, extracurricular activities, etc. Based on this information, the algorithm for the Scatter Diagram would be even more comprehensive by showing not only college(s) the student is interested in, but will show which colleges may be the best fit for him based on his GPA, SAT/ACT scores, college demographics, individual achievements, etc.

- **Plethora of Options for Student.** - The student has the ability to research scholarships and grants based on his individual preferences. Moreover, the algorithm in the Naviance appplication allows the student to research colleges and decide on Career options. Moreover, the student is advised to look at the colleges visiting the school. Since the student is considering a STEM-based career, many colleges with this STEM-based discipline will indicate on the website that they will come to visit. If the student was considering a Liberal Arts discipline, then only schools with that criteria will indicate, if any, will visit the high school.

![Plethora of Options for Student](./week11image2.png)


## D. Specific Recommendations to Improve Site's Recommendation Capabilities moving Forward.

I do have some recommendations for this web application based on what I have seen thus far.

- **Provide college options based on income level and affordability.** It would be nice to show which colleges can be seen based on the income level of the parents and what they can be able to afford during the student's journey in college. 

- **Provide a snapshot of expected finanical aid based on college choice, income level, etc.** It would be nice to show the expected finanical contribution of the parents and students based on parents' income level and assets. Another website called MyinTuition [MYI] has that information. Such information being incorporated into the Naviance website would be beneficial to both students and parents to make informed decisions on which colleges to focus on.

## References

**[MYI] MyinTuition - Quick College Cost Estimator.** Retrieved from Website: https://myintuition.org/quick-college-cost-estimator/

