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Tools for Data-Informed Counseling
Online Platforms for MSquared Students
Read on to learn about two platforms that ground my reflection-oriented counseling relationships in clarifying data, while helping my students organize, communicate and plan.
Maia Learning/ Guided Path
MaiaLearning, recently merged with Guided Path, provides a platform for managing communication between the student and the counselor. We can add colleges to a research/ "considering" list, and students can launch their investigations from the page. By clicking through a college's thumbnail as seen here, they can find information on admission, academics, financial aid, even direct links to CampusReel student videos. As they finalize their list, colleges move from "Considering" to "Applying," and students have an additional set of deadline and task reminders, as well as a clear pathway for their senior year plans.
MaiaLearning is increasingly used by schools around the world, and I'm happy to be able to use its powerful database and well-developed interface as an independent counselor. My team at Shanghai American School adopted MaiaLearning early in its development, and so I am not only familiar with it, but having demo'd all the similar platforms available, I am confident in its usefulness and ease of navigation.
College Kickstart
I am especially pleased to be able to offer College Kickstart reporting to my clients.
College Kickstart is an incredibly powerful tool to help seniors finalize and balance their lists. Making use of recent admission data compiled from many school users around the world, as well as the Kickstart team's researchers, the system analyzes each student's profile and interest levels to assess admission probabilities. In turn, that information is used to advise on application deadline strategies (Early Decision, Early Action, Regular) to maximize outcomes and minimize application fees. Kickstart even assigns a letter grade to a list, encouraging balance between likely, target and reach categories, and a sensible number of applications.
As a subscriber, I am able to run reports on lists for each student as they evolve, and those can be shared in a PDF that families can review. It's an impressive platform that is not accessible independently, but used at some of the most expensive college prep schools to help students strategize their applications.
By the way, Kickstart publishes a free blog that contains thoughtful and helpful information on application outcomes that any family can use.
