01 December 2016

College Kickstart Sneak Peek for Independent College Counselors

Posted in College Kickstart

pdf page2We're putting the finishing touches on College Kickstart for Independent Counselors and thought we'd give you a sneak peek of what's in store for 2017, including personalized plan printing and a 5 student starter plan.

 


What's New for Independent Counselors in 2017

Expanded School Coverage

Expanded School Coverage

Our coverage universe expands to over 400 institutions in 2017 with the addition of more regional colleges, likely school options and institutions with unique characteristics like Cooper Union (half-tuition), The College of Idaho (PEAK Program) and the University of Mary Washington (Public LAC). As always, you can take advantage of our tags to quickly add schools to a list, whether it be test optional, STEM, Jesuit, or a College that Changes Lives. Keep your suggestions coming!


Updated Academic Profile

Updated Academic Profile

The academic profile changes in two ways for 2017:

  • SAT scores adopt the new format (SAT-ERW and SAT-M). With the old SAT format now in the rear view mirror for students, we've decided to bite the bullet and convert our college SAT admissions data to the new format using concordance tables provided by the College Board.
  • Weighted GPA support. As the number of schools we cover has grown, so too have the number of ways we've found GPA getting reported in the Common Data Set. Some colleges report unweighted GPA, others report weighted, yet others report a composite of whatever has been submitted by applicants. What's worse is that you have to figure this out yourself because it's not defined anywhere in the CDS! To get to the bottom of this, we've reached out to 200+ institutions that report GPA in the Common Data Set and gotten clarity on the form each of theirs takes. With this covered, both weighted GPA (5.0 scale) and unweighted GPA (4.0 scale) may now be entered as part of a student's academic profile. Depending on how each of the colleges on the student's list reports GPA, if at all, we'll use the appropriate one to make the comparison.

Refined Grading System

Refined Grading System

We've introduced some refinements to our grading system to capture more nuance and provide clearer instructions for how to balance a list when needed. Unlikely schools are now accounted for in the list grade, and when assessing academic performance College Kickstart is now set up to take the better of a student's SAT or ACT score when both are provided.


New 5 Student Starter Plan

We’re pleased to introduce a new 5 student version of College Kickstart for Counselors for those of you just starting out. The price for the 5 student version is $625 per application season, with an additional 20% professional discount for HECA and IECA members.


Personalized Plan Printing

Personalized Plan Printing

Many of you asked for the ability to print personalized plans for your clients, and we’re pleased to make this a reality for you. Come January, all College Kickstart for Counselors subscribers licensed for 10 or more students will be able to take advantage of a PDF plan generator that lets you deliver professional-looking college plans to your clients. The report closely follows the format of our web application and can be customized with your logo and tailored commentary for your students.

Check out the gallery below to see how the report is organized.

Your Brand

Your Brand

Deliver professional-quality college plans with your logo and custom commentary
Assumptions and Findings

Assumptions and Findings

Summarize plan assumptions and findings
List Check

List Check

Assess the college list for balance and odds of success
Early Admission

Early Admission

Help your client capitalize on early admission to skew odds more in their favor
Action Plan

Action Plan

Create an action plan to minimize wasted motion
Plan Summary

Plan Summary

Summarize overall plan recommendations
Key Application Requirements

Key Application Requirements

Provide key application requirements for each school in your client's list
Need-Based Financial Aid

Need-Based Financial Aid

Consider need-based financial aid as part of the plan
Merit-Based Financial Aid

Merit-Based Financial Aid

Consider institutional merit scholarship opportunities as part of the plan

That's it for now, stay tuned for details in January.  In the meantime, feel free to learn more about College Kickstart for Counselors, schedule a demo or check out what our customers have to say by clicking on one of the buttons below.

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