Giving Compass' Take:

• Two Columbia University Teachers College students created an app that will help underserved high school students pick the college that is right for them by creating online accessibility to chat with first-generation college students that are currently attending the schools.

• How will this app fill in the gaps of information that high school students might not be able to find on the college websites? What other gaps does it fill for students during the college application process? 

• Read about what parents can do to help their children be prepared for college and set higher education achievement goals. 

For Columbia University Teachers College students Asha Owens and Rebecca Kwee, seeking the answer to why so many first-generation college students don’t finish their degrees meant going back to the beginning of the college selection process.

“Students can get more information about the next phone they want to buy than they can details about where to spend the next two to four years of their life,” Owens says.

BestFit, an app designed to pair underserved high school students with the higher education options that fit them best. The beta version, which will go live this fall, will connect high schoolers online with first-generation college students so they can find out about campus life, academic rigor, and other unknowns that are so important in deciding where to attend school.

BestFit is already getting raves, as the app, designed with fellow Teachers College student Danielle Llaneza, won the school’s inaugural EdTech Innovation competition in December.

Owens and Kwee conceived of the app as providing context for college data and allowing students to explore school recommendations that encourage them to look beyond what they already know. The pair found it frustrating that internet searches are more efficient for deciding what television shows to watch than for making college decisions, so they built a search engine that not only has more options than the others but also includes a video feed meant to show what college life looks like.

Read the full article about helping high schoolers choose colleges by Tim Newcomb at The 74