The Importance of College Counseling Software
Like any profession, college counseling is either enhanced or hindered by the tools you use. Professional sales reps often use CRM (customer relationship management) software to organize their clients. Project managers use Asana or another project manager to keep track of their teams. College Counselors need similar software to help them on two different fronts. First, advanced software enables them to keep track of their college database to stay ahead of the curve on admissions changes. Second, with this organized information easily accessible, they can then keep their students organized and optimize their admissions chances.
In case you’re just joining us, this post continues a longer discussion on how to become an IEC. This article will examine how college counseling software enhances your practice. If you’d like to look at the previous articles, check out the article links below:
- Setting Up Your Educational Consulting Business
- How To Build A Strong College Counseling Network
- How To Find Your Niche In The Educational Consulting Market
Otherwise, keep reading to learn how college counseling software can help your practice.
Professionalize Your College Counseling Practice With Software
We’ll cover the technical benefits of using college counseling software later. Let’s first delve into why college counselors should have software, even if they don’t use it frequently.
For starters, consider this. Using college counseling software means having a college counseling system. Having a system demonstrates organizational competence. Parents hire IECs for that reason: to keep their kids accountable, organized, and on track for their college applications. Thus, showing your parents the counseling software you use showcases that competence. It demonstrates that you have your act together, a plan, and a system that increases their chances of success.
And it does it far better than simply explaining it to your parents. Humans trust what they can see. We are visual creatures. Showing your parents the software you use, in a way, helps prove your skills might be as effective as you say they are.
The Problem With Not Having College Planning Software
Magic comes from the wizard, not the wand. However, when we imagine Harry Potter performing great feats of magic, we see him with a wand. That’s the tool a wizard uses in that context. And while we might forgive Gandalf for using the outdated and cumbersome magical staff, we can’t fault him for it. He has the tools for the job he performs. The point I’m making isn’t subtle. Professionals use the tools of their trade. My father was a master electrician. When he wasn’t wearing a tool belt, his instruments rested in his toolbox not far from his reach. My wife worked in theatre for twenty years as a costume designer. As such, she was never without a needle and thread or one of her trusty sewing machines.
As college counselors, we, too, have tools. These tools help us administer our services and build our products. However, unlike the professions I mentioned above (wizards included), the products we make don’t exist in physical form. You’ve never gone to the grocery store to pick up a six-pack of college counseling. You can’t see college counseling any more than you can see corporate law, psychology, or economics.
We, as counselors, need ways to make our services tangible to our clients. We do this by documenting their journey through the college admissions process. The more simple and seamlessly we do that, the more our clients will trust our expertise and see the value we provide. Otherwise, we become just another contact that shows up in their inbox.
Without a college counseling software solution, we are easily unable to track and share the value of our services.
The Benefits of Having College Planning Software
The inverse is true if you have college planning software (and use it). However, using robust college admissions software gives you more advantages than you may think.
College Counseling Software Benefit #1: Tracking and updating your students
First, it lets you track your students' progress and update your families. While that may only seem like one box on a checklist, it’s a big and important box. Putting everything on a spreadsheet seems nice initially, but it quickly becomes a mess. Also, spreadsheets are even messier to share with families. Furthermore, it becomes difficult to track every student with their corresponding spreadsheet (unless you then make a spreadsheet to keep track of your spreadsheets). The software organizes it all and is easy to share with families.
You want any message you share with your clients to be branded with your logo. A robust college admissions software solution allows you to brand your communications with your clients. This may not sound significant when you’re a solopreneur, but it becomes increasingly important as you grow your business and hire staff. This ensures continuity in the nexus of communication you establish with your clients.
College Counseling Software Benefit #2: Keep Track of Your College Counseling Research
You’re a college counselor. So much of the value you give your clients hinges on what you know about individual universities. However, according to a recent NCES report, there are 5,916 colleges in the United States. There’s no way you can simply remember all that in your skull. This is where a college counseling software solution comes in. Consider the different data points you might need about a particular university.
- Location
- Tuition Cost
- Scholarships
- Campus Size
- Available Majors
- Acceptance Rate
- Financial Aid Plans
- Average Sat or ACT Scores
Even with a nearly photographic memory, you can never keep track of it all. Nor should you. As an educational consultant, you likely run your own business. You barely have time to brush your teeth. You’re the director of sales, accounting, marketing, and a slew of other responsibilities too numerous to list. You can’t afford to burn brain cells on remembering data that reliable software can remember for you, and with far less effort. Look at the image below:
This is just the data for one college. You may be great at your job, but you are finite. There is only so much data you can, whereas the scope of what college counseling software can provide is virtually limitless.
College Counseling Software Benefit #3: Automating Your Student Assignments
As a new IEC, you’ll often feel the weight of your students on your shoulders. After all, your advice will shape their college career trajectory. Think about that. Many of them will get their first internship, job, and, oddly enough, even their spouse as a direct result of where you advise them to apply. There are a million things to do and even more to consider. However, while a lot does ride on your influence and decisions, much rides on the students themselves.
Your job will be enhanced or diminished by the assignments you give them. One way to enhance that process is to use college counseling software to automate those assignments.
For example, one of the first assignments I give my students is to start an open dialogue with their High School guidance counselors. The reason for this is simple: High School guidance counselors better understand the kinds of schools their students get into. So, I have students reach out to ask them. I start with having students email them, then drop by their office. I could spend a meeting doing that with them. However, I can easily keep track of their progress by automating the assignment via my college counseling software.
While you can technically email all this to your students, good luck getting them to keep track of it all, not to mention getting them to do it. Kids are kids. They haven’t reached the peak of physical or mental maturity. They are very busy and have a lot to do. As such, it’s easy for your assignments to get lost in their email. However, if they have a portal to log into that keeps track of their work with you, they will stay organized and, by extension, productive.
Free College Counseling Software
You need a college counseling platform to give you the edge to succeed. CounselMore, as it turns out, is a software company that makes… you guessed it… college counseling software. Feel free to SIGN UP FOR A FREE 14-day trial or attend an upcoming demo to see the software yourself. I’ve used CounselMore’s software solutions for three years in my college counseling business. I’ve never looked back, been more organized, and felt more in control of my practice.
Conclusion
This concludes our discussion on the importance of using college counseling software. We hope you found this article helpful in running your practice more effectively. If you’d like to learn about other topics in college counseling regularly, consider joining CounselMore’s email list. We send subscribers free resources like free webinars, training, and articles from college counselors like you.
Happy Counseling!
-Marc
About the Author
Marc Gray is the Founder and Director of Education for Odyssey College Prep. Marc uses advanced aptitude testing to simplify the college admissions process for students and parents. He also guides students to create targeted passion projects to differentiate their college applications. He currently serves as the Highlands Company’s ambassador to CounselMore. In that role, he enjoys helping other college counselors use aptitude testing to enhance their business. As an active member of CounselMore’s community, Marc hosts CounselMore’s Mentorship Community Roundtable Discussion, where college counselors can learn from one another and instruct each other in best practices.
