It was a travel-filled week as the Amazon AWS EdStart Builders’ Workshop in Palo Alto kicked off just as the Super ACAC conference in Arizona wrapped up. After such a terrific few days with fellow counselors and college admissions teams, meeting such innovative members of the EdStart Program got me thinking about new creative solutions to help counselors and students through the college process. There is so much happening on the technical side that can support our planned Corsava features, I cannot wait! Discussing trends in admissions, meeting with potential partners, and learning about technical innovations to support our new applications combined to make the jump to summer and lead into fall all the more inspiring.
My Alaska flight just hit 10,000 feet, the throngs of people that constitute O’Hare on a late Friday afternoon are behind me, and I am excited to be heading for an 80-degree and sunny (surprise!) weekend back home in Seattle. The IECA conference was valuable, Chicago was at its best, and I am excited thinking about what’s ahead for Corsava after getting such great feedback from so many users. The cards made it into the College Essay Guy’s popular (and fast!) “60 College Application Tips in 60 Minutes” session, and it always makes my day to hear user stories about the impact the cards have had on so many students.
With longer days and more sun, it seems like just the right time to refresh with some of our most popular tips and resources to help you make the most of your Corsava account. Our hope is to save you time so that you can do what you do best—impact your students—and maybe free up some time along the way.
How many times have your students tried to articulate the differences they perceive between colleges, while coming up short on details? They might say that some schools just stood out, others are off the list for some vague reason, and still more are left in that wasteland in between. Our latest release includes an innovative tool that allows students to hone in on the cards that matter most to them and organize their impressions about those items for each college on their list.
We are excited to announce that the Corsava Counselor Café is now live! We have also added features that allow your students to share impressions of those characteristics that matter most at each of the colleges on their list. “Browse Cards” also got an upgrade, so you will want to check out these features.
Engage your students and families in the college process from the get-go by giving them access to Corsava either before, during, or after a college event. Help everyone start thinking about what matters most as students explore their college choices, while keeping it positive, innovative, and fun! Use these step below to get your students inspired and families moving forward as a team.
After years of thinking about ways to scale and make our work with students more meaningful, we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Growing feedback from counselors in all settings has allowed our nimble team to add and upgrade features, as well as develop and test new ones. The collective knowledge and culture of support from counselors gives us the opportunity to make an impact in a big way.
A new year means hitting the refresh button! Just in time for the list-building season, we upgraded your Corsava account to include great ways to drill down quickly to students’ deeper preferences to find a good college fit. We are excited to bring you enhanced tools to help you in your work—increasing the fun factor, promoting engagement and access, and freeing up your time.
During this particularly busy time of year, the inspiring stories nestled among the ongoing requests for feedback remind us what a difference all of us can make if we personally connect with our students for just a few minutes. Cathy’s encouraging story highlights how our engagement with overwhelmed, stressed, and sometimes discouraged students can change life paths in such an important, positive way.
Let’s face it, College Fairs can be intimidating for students. We tell them that there is no better way to tackle that big convention center than going in with a plan. Easy to say, but more difficult when students are faced with countless rows of alphabetically laid-out booths and boatloads of students reminding them that, yes, there are a lot of other students applying to college.
Walking into the activity room filled with boisterous middle- and high-schoolers, I hear a greeting from across the room. “Hey, it’s Dr. B, and you’re here today!” More kids shout out their welcomes, and then I hear, “Did you bring snacks?” I love these kids; their priorities are in the right place. Give them food and they will be your friends for life!
I will admit it; I was ramped up and nervous, all wrapped up together. It was one thing to ask students I knew to test out the Corsava Cards and Reports, but it was another thing entirely standing up in front of 25 new students in a high school setting as they logged into Corsava Cards and took the inaugural group spin on our beta version.
