The countdown has begun—the Corsava Counselor Café, along with our student companion app, will soon go live! With the launch just around the corner, I thought it would be helpful to give you some tips to help you make the most out of the Café when it hits the Cloud.
Mockup of the page where counselors enter their impressions
Counselor Café
Counselors everywhere have something to bring to the table, and the Counselor Café is the place where it all comes together. The Café allows counselors from across the country to share valuable and reliable information, and the beauty is that everything is in one place and updated in real time. Thanks to our team of highly respected Early Adopter counselors across the country, the Café already has over 11,000 impressions and 4,000 notes on more than 1,200 colleges.
Mockup of the updated Browse Cards page
After a student completes a Corsava card sort, the Café is the perfect place to explore options without having to log into multiple platforms, go through guidebooks, or check scattered notes. The Café allows counselors to anonymously share feedback with colleagues, as well as keep private notes about colleges and students. Access to the Café is restricted to ensure that counselors have a safe place to contribute and that shared information is credible.
Mockup of updated Browse Cards page with impressions
Based on the feedback we have had from many counselors, the Café is going to be a popular, innovative resource. Everyone is excited to see it become a reality! We created an Honor Code so that we are all on the same page regarding the quality and integrity of this entirely new approach to helping each other and our students. We’ll send instructions on how to get access before the launch.
Mockup of the impressions and notes page
Student College Exploration
While some students are able to visit colleges, we know that many never get this opportunity, so we have designed a student extension to the Counselor Café to allow them to rate their impressions of their Must Have and Would be Nice choices for the individual colleges on their list, regardless of how they approach it. This can be accomplished from their own research, working with a mentor, or on a visit, but the bottom line is you will get to see in real time what they think of their top preferences and how those things may change after they dig in a little more. In order to take advantage of this, your students will have had to complete a card sort and create their own account so that they can access it from anywhere and give their impressions. We hope this will make them think deeply about the colleges they choose and give you concrete information to help them gain more insight into this important decision.
Helping students understand their college preferences means they can research and visit colleges armed with more personal knowledge. They might, for example, know after exploring various options that they would do best in a place that is more collaborative and has less competitive pressure. Then they can ask more specific questions during their visit to campus. And because so many students will not be able to visit any campuses, some counselors assign follow-up research after a card sort, asking students to see if the colleges on their list have the things they need. Having some concrete tools like study abroad programs, learning support options, and extracurricular activities helps students target their research. Rating the financial aid possibilities by running the Net Price Calculator at this stage will help avoid surprises later and often opens up options students never would have considered based on the sticker price. It turns out the card sort provides a great accountability tool to see if students really understand their options and why colleges are on their list!
Flexibility is the key to making Corsava work the way you want. Some counselors choose to work with a group in a workshop or library setting, going through the card sort together. Others assign it to students as part of their college nights, and others sit one on one with students who may need extra time and support. However it is used, the goal is to get students excited about their future options, focusing on their needs, not what others tell them they should have. I love the idea that we are building something that can be used in so many ways depending on counselor needs, rather than being told this is what you have and this is the way you have to make it work.
College Interviews
What better way to make an interview more powerful for both the student and the interviewer than knowing what matters most to the student and how that fits into the college environment. I find that students who have taken some of their Must Have and Would be Nice preferences and researched them in relation to a specific college can nail an interview on many levels. Besides giving the interviewer a sense that the student knows why the college is a good fit, the interviewer can get to a more meaningful conversation quickly. More win-win.
Campus Days for Admitted Students
Helping our students look beyond the marketing message on the admitted students day is part of our job. What do YOU want; what is going to make you successful at certain colleges? Knowing how the college lines up with the things they need to be successful, and using the report as a guide, can help when students are wrestling with that final choice. We have all seen families that put together spreadsheets with every aspect that is important to the student, and those who make decisions based on how the college’s team did last year in the finals, so why not bring some clarity to the process, as the intuitive part (the campus just felt right) is covered. And once the student visit and research application is live, students will have a resource to review when comparing their choices, seeing which colleges correlate more favorably with their own deeper preferences.
Working Remotely
Many counselors work with students remotely, internationally, or just across the county line. We are hearing that assigning a card sort before a call can help a student engage and come to a Facetime call with better questions, having thought about more than just the basic three (size, location, and sticker price). This is our chance to talk Net Price Calculator and merit aid and explore all of their preferences; assigning it early can make a meeting more powerful. And we are hearing that it is a great icebreaker on a first-time video call, as the counselor knows more about the student, and the student knows more about what college is all about! Many counselors are using Zoom for their online meetings as well, sharing a screen with the student as they do their sort, talking through their choices and answering questions.
List-Building
It goes without saying that building a list means understanding student preferences and family priorities on many levels. This is the time of year many students start thinking about their options, and doing a card sort is just a first step. What’s exciting is that once the discussion of what matters to the student is on the table, counselors can start thinking out of the box for them, using their knowledge of colleges to find a better fit. Colleges are looking further afield for students. If students understand what they want and counselors suggest colleges they may have never considered, that is a win-win for everyone.