College enrollment and admissions offices, as well as students, are getting new services thanks to big data

admission-etranscript-credentialWhere should I go to college? What courses should I take? How will the college know about the importance of my credentials? Should I transfer?

These questions, which have become so important to today’s students, can now be answered in the blink of an eye, thanks to a set of digital technologies aimed at easing the worry and workflow of prospective students and admissions offices.

Incredibly enough, two of these technologies are based on the foundation of a relatively old [in the tech world] technology that’s revolutionizing how students choose college, how students transfer, and how admissions and enrollment offices process students into the system: electronic transcripts.

“In 2011, it had taken us 7 years to reach 1 million electronic transcripts; however, in the last 12 months we’ve reached 5.5 million,” said Matt Pittinsky, CEO of Parchment—one of the largest e-transcript and online credential transfer companies, and a recent panel presenter on affordability and accessibility during National Education Week.

Pittinsky also said that, currently, roughly 2 million high school students are using Parchment for e-transcripts. Considering there are only 3 million rising seniors next year [2015], that’s no small feat.

The reason for the large client base, believes Pittinsky, is because of a new tool that harnesses the big data aggregated from student opt-in information to predict individual success rates at specific institutions.

(Next page: How 3 technologies are changing admissions)

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter: Innovations in K12 Education
By submitting your information, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

IT Campus Leadership

Your source for IT solutions and innovations to support campus-wide success. Weekly on Wednesday.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Please enter your work email address.
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
This field is hidden when viewing the form
Email Newsletters: