I can hardly believe it myself, but my journey with The College Decisionator is officially coming to a close. While I will always remember the many experiences this internship has given me, I will be sad to be leaving my work and collaborators on this app.

A key takeaway I have had is to think closely about how my target population will interact with each component of the app. As Lead Product Manager, it is really important for me to come up with fun and captivating ideas for students. However, it is just as important for me to come up with educational information that is necessary for the students to be best prepared for their college decision journey. Making sure that everything I did for this app fit in with both of these ideals was important to me because I have learned how precious users’ time is. For them to get the best value they can get out of the app, I have to do my best to make sure it is not only helpful but also interesting.

When I first joined this project, whilst excited I still worried about having to make a great deal of PowerPoints and coding by myself. What ended up happening was that I have been able to sketch out my ideas and work closely with my fellow interns on making a product design that is, as mentioned, both interesting and educational. What has really “clicked” in my head so to speak about how unique this experience has been was when I got to see sketches I drew in my notebook come to life by the design time. This was really the moment that showed me how real my work is. I have never had such an impactful opportunity where I could see how exactly my work will go on to help others, which is what made this moment so spectacular to me. Also, it still is hard to wrap my head around how much freedom I have been given in designing the app. This impact and autonomy as I’ve described are what I have found most valuable about this experience, and are the reasons why I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this team.

I will be ramping up my work on a research project on lysosomes next semester, and I look forward to bringing my experiences from The College Decisionator in design, communication, and collaboration to this project!