Special Guest: Walter Ingram
College Counselor & IEC
It’s hard to believe nine months have passed since Walter and I first met in person (remember in-person meetings?!) at NACAC 2019 in Louisville. Leading up to NACAC, we had calls discussing how to best integrate Corsava into his existing counseling tools, so it was great to meet face-to-face and have a chance to catch up on a broader range of topics - like how things were going for both his school counseling and his work as an independent educational consultant. I always enjoy catching up with Walter as he is always thinking of new ways to make the college admissions process more impactful for his students.
Whether in-person, on the phone, or via Zoom, Walter exudes enthusiasm for counseling; he is innovative, engaged, and focused, benefiting his students immeasurably. I asked Walter to share his methods for engaging students as they begin to consider their college options, particularly as his counseling transitioned to fully online this spring.
Walter is a guidance and college counselor at Villa Madonna Academy in Kentucky, where 100% of graduates attend college. Prior to that, he was a counselor at an American International School in Singapore, and he brings this global expertise to his work with students. Curious to learn more about Walter’s background as I started to write this piece, I checked out his LinkedIn profile. I had no idea that Walter has two engineering degrees, including a Masters from the University of Michigan. It’s a sign of his humble nature that he has never mentioned these accomplishments. I imagine this background is where his ability to dig deep and analyze available tools comes from, as he continues to build a process that gives his students maximum impact. Counselors who have come from other careers are great at bringing their experience and perspective to their work, often disrupting the standard way of doing things.
Walter uses the online version of Corsava, typically in a small group setting. He introduces the card sort to his students as they launch their college process junior year. He sends students an email invitation with his custom Corsava registration link inserted into the sample letter provided on our website. The positive and fun aspect of Corsava is integral to introducing the concept of “fit” to his students right from the start.
Self-assessment helps Walter’s students use what matters most to them to define baseline criteria before building their college lists. As his students go through the card sort, the definitions are there if they have questions, but he finds that it is very intuitive and enjoys the chatter that is ignited among his students as they make their way through the cards. Walter finds it helpful to clarify the difference between the Must Have, Would Be Nice, Don’t Care and No Way categorizations, pointing out how each card selection might impact a student’s list. Our card sort overview for students aims to help students make those distinctions with confidence. As students go through the card sort and talk amongst each other, they prioritize different aspects of college, from campus culture to extracurriculars, support services, and the educational culture on campus.
He likes to introduce Corsava before spring break visits (now virtual tours). This timing ensures that his students’ Must Have and Would Be Nice preferences are available as they tour and compare campuses. Once they have completed the card sort and have a report summarizing their preferences, he has them use Scoir to select their preferences to build a list. Using Scoir after this “pre-work” on Corsava helps students select the categories to find colleges that meet their criteria and improves the Scoir experience. Corsava also provides recommendations for counselors based on a student’s card sort, and Walter and I have discussed how this might be brought directly to students as we build new features.
Walter is a process-oriented counselor and he emphasizes the importance of using data, not just emotions in his follow-up one-on-one sessions. As students finalize their lists, they use the results of the card sort to make sure their schools reflect their values and preferences. By solidifying their choices, his students can be sure to ask meaningful questions and avoid being swayed by marketing messages that are not necessarily in line with what matters most to them. This made me smile, this is one of the reasons we built Corsava!
Walter is an innovator. Hearing how he uses Corsava, and ways he hopes to use it in the future is inspiring. Feedback from counselors is invaluable to our team as we continue to develop the platform. I recently asked Walter for his thoughts on some of our new resources for Corsava users. And he asked me how best to incorporate Corsava into his college admissions session for high school students attending Northwestern University’s summer program. While we already have several new counselor resources in development (launching soon, stay tuned!), questions like these are essential for refining those resources and ensuring we are giving counselors what they need to best support their students. I, in turn, asked him what he thought about getting more counselors to share their collective knowledge of Corsava’s more emotional preferences at colleges they know well, and his insights spurred me to move forward.
Some of you may have run across his comprehensive 2020 Summer University Series hosted through his independent educational practice, Lumiry Educational Consulting. Walter interviews admissions teams at a wide variety of universities across the country. The list continues to expand, and it is an easy way for counselors and families to connect with so many interesting schools. This is one of the great things about Walter’s entrepreneurial spirit. He is always thinking about ways to make the college admissions process more impactful and successful. Walter’s positive attitude shines through at all times, which matters more now than ever before and certainly benefits all of his students and families. His students are lucky!