N A L E N A

/envision

Mentoring Service

Supporting prospective international graduate students through the application and moving process

International graduate students lack the support needed

For every prospective international graduate student that goes through the application and moving process, there are thousands that don’t have the opportunity. They lack the financial resources to be able to fund their degree, mentorship to guide them through the process, and a way to find reliable information easily.

A Student’s Application & Relocation Journey

Extensive interviews of student applicants from around the world showed all of the trials and tribulations of the application process. These include studying for standardized tests, writing personal statements, applying for a visa and moving to a new country.

Solution: /envision a mentoring and bot service

Envision is a mentoring services hosted through WhatsApp for prospective international students that pairs them with a mentor from their home country. In conjunction with the mentor, the student also gets support from Unibot, which provides customization of tips, status, reminders, scholarships, and the mentor match itself.
Onboarding
Unibot introduces the system to the prospective student and then takes them through a series of questions to gather their information.
Tutorial
After onboarding the student goes through an interactive, step-by-step tutorial on the different features available and how to use commands.
Automated Checklists
Automated checklists prompt the student to add school and deadlines. This allows Unibot to automatically create reminders and checklists.
InfoBank
At any time the student can use the command /help to view all possible commands. Each topic is divided into submenus and all the information is reliable..
Mentor Conversation
The mentor and mentee conversation is pivotal in supporting in the student through the process. They can also use Unibot whenever needed.
Reliable Information
From within WhatsApp the student can get reliable information on how to navigate the application process. The information is vetted and put together by mentors.

The /envision Experience

Our concept video shows a student experiences using unibot and forming a relationship with the mentor.

Visit the project website to learn more

/envision

Process Work

Our initial research was focused on interviewing members of the Ugandan diaspora and citizens of Uganda. We then held a design workshop in New Orleans at the Ugandan National Convention where we worked on choosing one service/idea to focus on. After, we interviewed international students to understand their hurdles and motivations. To test our final idea we traveled to London and tested with students.
Project Details

Timeline: 1 year

Client: RootIO

Contributions: Research, Website Design, Video Filming, Visual & UX Design

Tools: Sketch, Illustrator, DSLR Video Camera