Default College Data Menu - Columns, Reordering
How column order works in your Counselor List, Student List, and App Tracker — and why a list can look out of order when it isn't
Where can I set and reorder columns?
The short version
Column order works in two layers.
Settings holds your default order. This is the arrangement every new list inherits the moment it is first built for a student.
Each list is then yours to change. Once a list exists, you can drag its columns into any order you want and pull in extra data columns that were never part of your defaults. Your Counselor List, Student List, and App Tracker are each edited independently.
Understanding those two layers explains almost every question counselors ask about columns.
Setting your default order
Go to Settings > Data Menu. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
You will see your columns displayed as tiles, arranged in three stacks — one stack per list. One stack for your Counselor List, one for your Student List, one for your App Tracker.
Click, hold, and drag a tile to move it into a new position within its stack. Each stack is ordered independently, so your App Tracker can run in a completely different order from your Student List. Set each one the way you actually work.
To choose which columns are available in the first place, work higher up on the same page. Expand any banner and you will see three icons beside each data point — parent, student, and App Tracker. Highlight the icons for the lists that column should appear in. A column can appear in your Counselor List and stay out of the App Tracker entirely.
A note for new members: open every banner and read through the data points before you settle on defaults. There is far more available than most counselors expect, and a data point you assume is called one thing may be listed under another name. Use the search bar at the top of the page to hunt by keyword.
What a new student inherits
When you create a student and pull colleges over to the Counselor List for the first time, that list is built from your defaults — your chosen columns, in your chosen order, per list.
This is why it is worth setting your defaults thoughtfully before you add a large number of students. It costs nothing to get it right once and saves rework across every list you build afterward.
Changing a list after it is built
Every list belongs to the student it was built for. You are never locked into the defaults.
- Reorder: click, hold, and drag any column header into a new position.
- Add a column: open the College Data Menu from that list and turn on any data point you want, whether or not it is in your defaults.
- Remove a column from that one student: click the garbage can icon in the column header.
Changes you make inside one student's list affect only that student.
Pushing a new default order out to students you already have
Set your order in Settings, then click Apply changes to existing students.
This pushes the new order out to lists that already exist. It is the fastest way to bring a roster of students into a consistent arrangement.
"I applied changes and my list still looks out of order"
This is the most common question we get, and in nearly every case the list is not out of order. Here is what is happening.
Your lists hold two kinds of columns:
Columns the system gave you. These came from your defaults. Applying changes rearranges these into your new order.
Columns you went and got yourself. These are the ones you added by hand to one particular student. Applying changes does not move or remove them. They stay exactly where you put them.
CounselMore does this on purpose. You chose those columns deliberately, for a reason specific to that student, and the platform will not throw away a deliberate choice because you adjusted a global setting. Imagine five seasons of student records, each with custom columns you added for a reason, all wiped out by one click in Settings. That would be a bad day.
So when a list looks scrambled after you apply changes, what you are seeing is your custom columns sitting alongside the new default order. Nothing broke, and nothing was lost.
If you want a fully clean arrangement for that student: remove the custom columns you no longer need using the garbage can in each column header. What remains will be in your new default order. You can always add a column back later from the College Data Menu.
Cleanest reset for the App Tracker
If a student has only a few schools in the App Tracker and you want them rebuilt from your new defaults, push those schools back to the Student List and then forward to the App Tracker again. They will regenerate using the current default arrangement.
Typical default column arrangements
Many counselors find this a useful starting point.
Counselor List
State · College Profile · Selectivity · Test Policy · Opinions · My Chances · QuatroMoney · Links · Coll. Notes
Student List
Location · misc. · Sem/T/Q · % Accpt · % high GPA · Test Policy/IB · Class size Avg · Top 3 majors · Virtual Tour · EA/ED · Scholarships · Essay # · LOR · Essay · My Chances · Campus Impressions · Tuition · Fit · QuatroMoney · Notes
App Tracker
EA/ED · Test Policy Status · Essay Status · #LOR Status · Interview Status · Grade Report Status · custom column Status · custom column Status · Portfolio (custom) · FAFSA/CSS Status · Create Campus portal
Related articles
- Default College Data Menu - Basics
- Default College Data Menu - Columns Updated, Nothing Changed
- App Tracker - Status & Strategy Columns for application requirement columns