The first major assignment I submitted for our Analytics Capstone Experience was the Concept Paper which includes four sections: Introduction, The Dataset, Research Question, and finally, a discussion of the methodology, tools, and techniques that would be utilized for the analysis. My concept paper outlines an exploration and analysis of a dataset on US college/university enrollment for Fall 2023. The dataset, EF2023A, comes from the IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education System), which is collected by the US Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

The project’s goal, as stated in the concept paper, is to analyze and understand enrollment trends, disparities, and the impact of demographic factors on general enrollment.

After this concept paper, the next assignment is a scholarly review, which is due in about two weeks. Considering that I’ve only been taking 8-week courses, this course seems to be going a bit slow, but I need to be careful and not procrastinate or get distracted. Although the first draft is not due until April 4, I need to make sure that I utilize the month of March effectively. Of course, there will be overlap in the first couple of weeks; however, the month of March basically comes down to two weeks to finalize my deep learning course and two weeks to finalize my draft. If I can make significant progress on both or either of these during the first week of March, then I may be able to enjoy Spring Break as some actual ‘break’ time! But, after that, it’ll be time to lock in and wrap up strong. Finally, if all goes well, graduation will be mid-May! That’s the plan.