AI-Augmented Admissions Insights
Streamlining the medical school admissions screening process with IBM AI
Innovation Designer Intern, Client Engineering
May 2024 - August 2024
Overview
During the summer of 2024, my sales engineering team engaged with a New York medical school that was looking to streamline its application reviewing process in order to optimize time usage and improve the workflow for the admissions department. They were hoping to have an interface in which the admissions office could efficiently view a list of all the applicants and their application status, as well as a one-pager for individual candidate information.
Over the course of 6 weeks, my team worked around the clock to build a pilot application, working closely with the medical school to ensure everyone was aligned on the key outcomes. My lead designer and I were responsible for designing the user interface, which consisted of the landing page and the candidate information page.
1. Landing Page
After an admissions officer logs into the portal, they would be brought to the page below, which displays all the current applicants and their key information. Alongside MCAT score and GPA, a score ranging from 1-3 would be calculated for each applicant, reflecting the candidate's strength for admission. Red and green flags would also be displayed, based on their stats and essays.
Note: Actual applicant data was replaced with artificial data.
2. Candidate Assessment Page
Once a name on the list is clicked, the admissions officer would be shown a one-page rundown of the respective applicant. They would be able to read an overall summary of the applicant, as well as summaries for their personal statement, essays, and supplemental questions, crafted by IBM's Watsonx.ai toolkit.
Red and green flags would be generated as well. These would automatically be identified by the AI model, highlighting insights on certain aspects of the application that the reviewer would consider.
Note: Actual applicant data was replaced with artificial data.
Final Stages
After multiple sprint sessions and playbacks with the medical school iterating on the design and functionality of our solution, we successfully led our MVP (minimum viable product) to a large deal closure consisting of IBM's AI portfolio. The client expressed great satisfaction with what my team delivered in a tight time frame and communicated their enthusiasm to continue working with IBM. This project became a significant contribution to the sales quarter and was later presented by an executive to the national quarterly sales kick-off event.
As of August 2024, the medical school and IBM are continuing to develop this application further, with the goal of having a streamlined AI-augmented reviewing process fully integrated into their current workflow for the next application cycle.
Future State
Incorporating AI for application summarization to aid the admissions reviewing process was a unique and exciting use case for IBM technology, and it opened up considerations for similar client engagements moving forward.
A dashboard concept for future potential use cases.
Takeaways
Working with my team to design and create a custom application for a client was an amazing experience that I am deeply grateful to have been given the opportunity for, and it served as a significant source of learning during my internship. This project left me with several key lessons:
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Delivering value quickly - Coming from a background of methodical and thorough design processes, I had to adapt my approach based on the specific situation and objectives. Given that sales engineering consists of MVP builds with a tight timeline, I had to shift my focus to the overarching goals and demonstrating value to the client. This experience also solidified my understanding of the agile methodology from start to finish.
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Collaboration with the team and client- Close collaboration between the designers and developers, and with the client throughout the project allowed us to share and gain feedback often, and make tweaks on our application efficiently. Furthermore, I realized the benefits of designing with a developer’s perspective in mind, as it can reduce the amount of barriers that arise during the handoff process.
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Importance of a design system- Working with the company’s design system was key to maintaining an effective workflow. The use of flexible, reusable components streamlined the design process significantly.