Designers
Designers
Designers
BUDDY
Maximizing your college experience, by shrinking the big city.
Designers
Hazel Shah
Key Words
Amrin Haque
SUMMARY
As a college student in New York City, we've observed significant gaps in the open campus education system, particularly in building college friendships amid the city's fast-paced life. Our project focuses on these challenges through extensive interviews, surveys, a digital ethnography, etc, exploring the difficulties students face in integrating into their college communities with minimal institutional support. This study is crucial as students worldwide recover from isolation, making the social aspect of college life increasingly daunting. Our findings aim to provide actionable solutions to enhance student integration and foster better social environments across NYC colleges.
challenge
NYC college students struggle with isolation and building meaningful social connections due to a lack of effective social structures and activities. The transient city lifestyle complicates forming stable friendships, leaving students feeling unsupported and disillusioned with their college experience. Colleges don't recognize these challenges and fail to implement effective strategies to foster community. This gap underscores a significant opportunity to enhance support systems with initiatives like providing a platform, network, or community, ultimately improving student satisfaction and experience.
Outcome
The outcome of our project, BUDDY, is a mobile app that connects students across NYC colleges. It directly addresses the observed need for social connections among students by matching undergraduates with similar personalities through detailed profiles. This solution bridges gaps in the market by fostering connections across the city's dynamic environment, empowering students to easily expand their social networks and form meaningful friendships despite the challenges of urban college life.
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