The Beginning of my Trip: When I first began to brainstorm ideas for my project I knew I wanted to do an issue that was current and in the realm of social sciences. However at such a broad range I developed ideas ranging from women's rights development to testing skincare brands. When I began to discuss my ideas with Mrs. Dobos I discussed an interesting article I read about the affirmative action. Conveniently the Supreme Court made the significant decision to abolish this practice in universities, and right as I discovered this I knew that I found my topic. 

Beginning the Drive: When I first started to look into specifics regarding what exactly I will be conducting my experiment on I wanted to observe trends over a period of time. Since COVID had many impacts on schools and their admissions systems I wanted to start looking at applications from before COVID which is 2018. As a senior who is currently applying to colleges, I also wanted to see applications from this current year as well in a variety of school (christian, public, private, ivy). At this point my question was: How has the factor of race in college applications differ in private, public, ivy, and christian universities from the year 2018 to 2023 as a result of affirmative action being abolished?

Flat Tire: However, the idea of looking at a range of time led to a roadblock being limited access to 2018 application forms. This was a significant issue because I was aware that I was looking at schools from across the United States through the division of regions to help me more easily select schools from a variety of states. Because of the large number of colleges in my study, it would be difficult to call each admissions office to ask for a copy of their 2018 application form with essay questions. I also ran into issues solidifying my methodology because I didn't know how to effectively collect a representative sample of universities throughout the US. 

Car Arrived at Repair Shop: Once I addressed this issue with Mrs. Dobos we decided that a mentor was the best course of action to take in terms of collecting my sample. This year I am taking a Statistics class, and after I explained my project and its issues to my teacher, Mrs. Uchyn, she agreed to be my mentor and assisted me in my sample collection. To address the issue of collecting 2018 application forms, I cut this out of my research question. My question is now adjusted to being: How has the factor of race in 2023 college application essays differ in private, public, ivy, and christian universities as a result of affirmative action being abolished? As I worked with my mentor, we decided that there should be a minimum number of students in the universities I will be looking at so that I don't have such a large sample to randomly select from.

New Tire Installation: Following the edits made above with both my mentor and Mrs. Dobos, my project was approved with modifications. I am currently working on solidifying my methodology for sample collection in order to get a representative and random sample of universities.