CounselMore Membership Newsletter, Feature Updates, Announcements

Members Only - Newsletter & Feature Updates, Announcements Members are informed of new features and other important news. Legacy members may not be able to engage all capabilities.

December 2024 - UPDATES - New to know

• Settings >> College Data Menu >> Order of Columns - Improved member experience in ordering columns and applying a default order of data columns. Now data column-tiles that represent the columns have been color coded so that a counselor may more easily order the columns, using Outcome columns & Status/Strategy columns as part of the organic App Tracking process. Per the request of customers desire to understand their overall admissions performance and have ability to report these numbers for marketing and grants. (Coming soon outcome reporting capture via email).
• New Custom Columns - New users have the benefit of previous counselor's experience using CounselMore. Custom columns frequently added will already be available to all new members. Each Counselor must retrieve custom data independently.
• Student Status Archive - When student status is changed to Archive the accepted decline modal will launch asking counselor to update the student's application outcomes. Per request of the Collaboration Lab to make recording outcomes easier in organic to the process. 
• Settings Button land on Account Setup for current members, only Trial-er land in Training
• Biographical Banners > Accepted/Declined - Is not titled Admissions Outcomes because Counselors introduce the Bio Banners early on in process and students were confused by the label. This report was also added to reporting.

• Google Drive 3 Option for Managers of large teams where Google Drive privacy is premium concern.
• Dashboard Reporting - 
• College Notes - The column located to the far right in every college list, is where counselors collect their per school notes. These are searchable by key-word for easy location of your notes in the future. A new tool added to college notes cell is the ability to format the text. Making it even easier to organize notes. When a counselor is on a campus tour they can open college notes from the phone and speak notes.
• Financial Aid Forms Data Column can now be found in the Application Guidelines Banner and added to the App Tracker. Assignments can be generated directly from the App Tracker Status columns.

• Dashboard Assignments Report - See all students assignments at once, several filters available. Now ability to search by the name of the assignment.
  
  

• Bulk Apply Expanded, Set Account Wide Assessment Choices - As students enter their student portal, they are greeted with questions. The answers populate into the student's record.
• Syncro search - Add one school to multiple students lists at one time. This option is located under the menu button in every college list. Oftentimes counselors will work in a region where a local school is on everybody's list. Save yourself time and add one school to multiple students lists at one time.
• Search by High School - Use the search bar at the top of the Quick List of Students to locate all students attending the same High School. (Also check out the ability to Tag students in their bio banner and search by Tag at the top of the Quick List of Students)
• Tile / Grid View option -  View the college list in tile view or grid view. Click on the Menu button in any college list and a toggle option will appear. Choose your preferred view per list, per student and click the icon to the left of the toggle to save that view as the default. CounselMore allows every counselor to express their personal style and what works best for the individual student.
 
• New Settings Menu - Renamed and reorganized sections to make look and feel more user friendly :) . Don't worry, nothing has been removed. Write support@counselmore.com if there's something you can't find.
• All Columns are now re-size-able. 😀 Thank you Ellen, Member since 2021!
• CollegeList Pro officially closes on Dec. 31 2024
• New Community Sourced lists added to My Lists - these can be imported to any counselor account. Allowing the Counselor to edit any pre-made topical school list.
• Enhanced Notifications: When a student adds a comment in the Discuss column (located in the App Tracker and Student List), the notification now includes the name of the college, ensuring clarity and accountability in school-specific conversations.
• Per customer request - when a Admin adds a Counselor license, the Admin will receive an immediate email invoice for the charge. 
• Dashboard Reporting Enhancements: A multiphase update to the Dashboard Reporting feature is underway. The latest addition is the "Run Custom Report" button, which allows users to manually command the system to compile a report with all the latest updates. Expanded export functionality will be available in an upcoming release.
• Custom Data Columns Management: Users can now add and delete custom data columns, and apply these changes automatically to all new accounts for streamlined customization.
• College Data Menu Default - UI Improvement: Enhanced user interface for easier navigation and management of default settings in the College Data Menu.
• Menu Button Update: The blue menu button now displays the word "Menu" instead of three lines, improving clarity and usability.
• Assignments Report Updates:
  • Title Change: The report is now titled "Readiness Assignments."
  • New Columns Added:
    • Start Date of Assignment: Placed to the left of the Due Date column.
    • Last Activity Date: Displays the last time the student or parent portal was accessed, placed at the far right of all columns.
• Biographical Banners / Student Information Section - Add New button enhanced
• The Folder icon to the right of student's name is grey until Google Folder is shared wih student. When the Student Portal has been shared but the Google Drive Folder has NOT yet been shared, an orange light will remind the counselor to share the Google Folder. Because counselors would invite to portal but forget to share Google Drive, leaving students unable to see files located in drive folder.
• Direct links from app into the Knowledge Base articles associated to the corresponding tools, functions, features: Tab Settings Custom Menu Student Data Import  Google Drive Routine Assignments 
• Submit Trouble Ticket - When submitting an issue, often times customers will tell us there is a student account associated with the issue but without the specific student name our team cannot resolve the issue. With this new tool, the customer will choose the associated student issue at the time of submitting the ticket. Further easing the burden on the customer. 

• New Subscribers will have the Data Default Column order prescribed to their account initially. The new customer can rearrange and make changes but if they choose can revert to factory settings of column order because all new accounts start with the columns most used by our membership - therefore, this will increase user adoption and also abide by the natural best practices of successful education entrepreneurs, advancing newcomers, growing the profession and counseling more students.
• Color Coded Assignments - Assignments generated by App Tracker and Assignments from Routines and New Assignments and Meeting Notes and Routine Meeting Agendas - are all color coded for easier usability.
• New Community Lists added: Hispanic, High-Merit, +4
• Class Rank is now Alternative GPA

November 2024 UPDATES - News to Know

• Ability to delete Custom Columns
• Done button is no longer blocked by new '?' bot helper.
• Rest Password/Verify Email: Improved user experience.
• Change of order of Biography Banners - Order of banners updated to reflect user feedback requests in Collaboration Lab
• My Database - added convenience of navigating to My Lists directly from list building tabs. My Lists are previously saved school lists by topic
• School Website - added convenience to click out to the school's website. Click on name of school.
• Icons off - All new members will find Tab customizations in Settings with icons turned off. 
• Fin Fit tab (Beta) Released - Read More
• Verify email address at time of login - Additional security measures have been introduced to mitigate variables and common user login errors.
• App Tracker - Pinning one column to the far left allows the counselor to set which data columns should be evergreen for student. This feature was available but temporarily removed purely by mistake. Hundreds of members wrote to say it was a valuable function of their App Tracker process and it was returned.
• The "Submit a Support Ticket" feature has been improved with the addition of video submission. Over 60% of customer issues are simple fixes (that a customer might deem a "Bug") that can be quickly resolved when Support can view the customer’s screen. Now, customers can click the "Record Issue" button while submitting a ticket to demonstrate and describe the issue directly on their screen. This automatic screen recording feature will enhance clarity and significantly speed up resolution times.
  • Update* after only a few weeks ticket resolution time has decreased by 15%!

Go Team CounselMore!!

• Direct Admit list added to Community Starter List - Direct admissions is a proactive admissions process that offers college admission to qualified students before they apply. Offers are based on data – like GPA – that students have entered into their Common App. This is one of our efforts to simplify and streamline the admissions process. Add these schools to your Student list. Any that appeal to the student can mean early knowledge of admitted status, improving the student's outlook on the process in general. - Read more
• More Starter Lists - Members have requested more topical lists to be added. Submit your list to support@counselmore.com
• Dashboard - Several improvements to Dashboard and ready-reports are in progress. A loading function caused the report to continuously attempt an update. A Generate Report button has been added to manage the search speed. Several new reports will be added in weeks ahead. Members are encouraged to send suggested reports to support@counselmore.com
• Members have expressed appreciation for "Danny Demo," the sample test student used to test various functions and create lists of colleges for future Counselor reference. In response, we've expanded Danny Demo's functionality, enhancing its utility as a testing tool. However, certain limitations remain to prevent its use as an actual client, preserving its intended purpose as a sample reference.
• The Author Box now supports adding hyperlinks, as well as underlining and bold text. This is part of a modified template currently under enhancement. A full replacement is scheduled, which will further extend these capabilities across all text boxes.
• Settings > Data Menu Defaults > Column Reordering has received another update to further improve the member's flow of use. Other updates have been identified and underway. Members are encouraged to remember that Danny Demo can choose Data and Column Order and pass the choices back to global functions by using the "Save to Default" option in the per student data column / column ordering screens.
• New Members Discounts added to Member benefits page
• Up coming:  Beta Fin Fit tab returning for feedback, Updates to customer billing conveniences, 2016 Legacy members upgrades (CLP closure), Increased reporting, Time per student report enhancement, Google Drive 3 expanded options, New Single School lookup receives design facelift and new candidate comparison tools in app, Educational Services Directory, Counselor-Customer improved SEO, and 2024 special project release. 

October 2024 UPDATES - NEWS TO KNOW

• Client Management Improvement - Student Portal Search Settings are now set to default 'on' - see check box at top of Settings > Student Search access.
• Design Improvement - In the Student Record Biographical Banners, there are button that initiate data entry into the student profile. These buttons have been redesigned.
• Manager Suite Improvements - Bulk Archive now available for Multi Licenses Accounts with Manager Suite. This article.
• Bug Data Reported - A member reported an issue where their data cells did not update, despite CounselMore having completed the 2024 application data. The solution involved removing the college from the App Tracker and then re-adding it to the list. This action prompted the server to retrieve the updated data, ensuring it was not relying on the cached information stored on the member's machine.

• Return of the Training Board - Several members contacted CounselMore Support requesting the reinstatement of the Training Board in the settings menu. We are pleased to announce that the Training Board has been restored, featuring a refreshed design and enhanced accessibility to "How-To" videos.

• Return of the Training Board - Several members contacted CounselMore Support requesting the reinstatement of the Training Board in the settings menu. We are pleased to announce that the Training Board has been restored, featuring a refreshed design and enhanced accessibility to "How-To" videos.
• Settings >> Default Column Ordering UI change - The UI has been changed so that each user can manipulate each list - order of information columns more easily. This is a long awaited request from the collaboration lab.
• View the Student Portal as the student - When a student is invited to their portal, a "Go to Student Portal" button will appear in the top right corner of the counselor's-portal, student's record. Clicking this button will log the counselor out of their portal and log them into the student's portal. To return to the counselor's portal, simply click the button again.
• Counselor Profile Registry - Located in Settings. Counselor may complete profile and be added to the Educational Services Directory. CounselMore wants YOU to counsel more students.
• Messaging Tab - Types of messages are not separated in the student record messages tab. This allows for easier location of message by type.
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• App Tracker -  Improved ability to track Student Application Outcomes, Enrollment, Scholarships. Blue outcome columns in App Tracker are now click, hold, drag into place.
• Multi License Members - Ability to add Management Suite to your portal and upgrade your ability to place visibility permissions between staff roles. Unlock additional reporting capabilities and branding.

• Phase one: Improvements to "My Account" where user can more comfortably understand current account charges from desk top.  
• Management Suite Improvements - Added functionality for managers: Ability to show time spent per student, adding average amount of time spent per student per counselor. Resulting in better counselor capacity management.
• Management Suite Improvements - The Administrator, Superuser can see all students assigned and not assigned to their respective roles, additionally only these roles will see Archived students. When a student record is archived the counselor role will not have access to the record.
• Management Suite Improvements - Ability to bulk assign students to counselors and counselors to students.

• App Season Improvements - When counselor chooses an Application Requirement Column to be added to the App Tracker list, there are mandatory Strategy / Status columns that are married to the requirement columns and will auto-populate the App Tracker when selected. Counselor may remove from list if not needed. This improves expectation of user and scaffolds best practices.
• App Season Improvements - The counselor now has access to a Strategy / Status column in App Tracker for "Deadline Strategy" - this is an edit-able cell, where the counselor can address deadline strategy agreements and document those agreements in the App Tracker as well as generate a progress summary specific to App strategy agreements.
• App Season Improvements - August Study Hall (every Friday morning) was dedicated to using the App Tracker. Community events dedicated to time-of-year planning was well-received and voted to continue these kinds of events.
• App Season Improvements - Navigate to Dashboard and Assignments Report has added navigation and filters to better identify Meeting Notes from Assignments and Scheduled Meetings.
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• App Season Improvements - Navigate to Dashboard and Assignments Report has added a tally of the number of status columns in the app tracker that are left "not done" and how many are completed. The report now pulls from status columns created in the Student List and the App Tracker. This was done because several counselors started app prep before the school was deemed an app school and moved to app tracker. We design to meet user behavior.

•  Phase One Grad Data upgrades completed - customer survey responses indicated that the majority of CounselMore members did not want grad data added. 

• Phase Two return of the Fin Fit tab moves to testing

JULY 2024 UPDATES - NEWS TO KNOW

• Reporting upgrades - taken directly from the collaboration lab. Customers are now able to choose the data that they would like to have in their reports. Continuous reporting upgrades are underway to enhance Integrations with other third-party applications.
• Current Data Collection Project: 

JUNE 2024 UPDATES - NEWS TO KNOW

• When a student is assigned to a counselor the counselor will receive an email alerting them to the student being assigned.
• CounselMore has always provided members with the option to export ready-made, client-facing reports, a feature that remains unchanged. In the latest update as of June 2024, students can input their answers in their student profile or within their student portal if prompted by the counselor. These responses are then compared against the school's common data set report. The counselor can access this report by adding the "View Comparison" column to any college list. Clicking on this column launches a report that presents a side-by-side comparison of the student's answers with the school's application requirements. This change was made to clarify the purpose of the report, moving away from the misleading term "What are my chances?" which could imply an algorithm determining admission probability. It's important to note that admissions decisions are complex and not solely determined by algorithms. The report now focuses on comparing the student's preparedness with the school's criteria, helping both counselor and student identify areas of alignment and improvement to enhance the student's profile for successful application.
• The Help menu located at the top of your app, launched a drop down menu and now it launches a Knowledge Base helper. This is a AI bot that CounselMore support team has trained to answer your most urgent questions. This is most helpful to us because it frees us up to chase down urgent issues that truly need human attention. Also included with the bot is to reach us live. So when there isn't a ready-answer we are still here to help.
• Out to Beta testers is the Assignments tab AI. CounselMore is seeking the feedback of our Peer Mentors Beta team through Aug. 1st.
• As of June 1st the default grad year was updated to Senior year is 2025
• Multi License Account holders have the Admin role, which serves as the account owner and oversees the appearance and functionality of all accounts linked to it. Any changes made by the Admin account in the Settings menu, such as turning off a tab, will apply to all accounts under its umbrella. If you are a Multi License account holder seeking more tab flexibility, reach out to CounselMore for personalized development solutions. While the platform aims to cater to the general needs of our users, we are also able to create bespoke features tailored to your specific requirements. Simply let us know how we can assist you.
• June 2024: Beta team returned over 3 hours of video reviews of the Fin Fit tab. Development team has received those and are moving through improvements now.
• The look and feel of the application is UP TO YOU! Don't like the colors? YOU can change that. Notice that in the last month we have standardize several menus.
• If the client-facing Comparison report in CounselMore shows no results when reviewed by a member, it may be due to incomplete data entry by either the counselor or the student. Once the necessary information is provided, the report will display comparisons between the student's preparations and the school's requirements, including the last admitted class profile. Encourage the student to fill out their student profile to ensure accurate results. A notification has been added to the comparison report to prompt both the student and counselor to complete this essential task.
• For Multi License Annual Plan Holders: Due to the enhanced features introduced in the January 2024 update of CounselMore, we kindly ask you to get in touch with us to renew your subscription for the upcoming year. We have included exciting new benefits to enhance your account, and we will also proactively reach out to each account holder before the renewal period to ensure a seamless transition.
• For Multi License plan holders: The Admin role serves as the account owner and makes decisions for all accounts linked to it. The logo displayed on invoices and communications will represent the admin and their associated company or program. If your program has a hierarchical reporting structure or involves reselling, you may want to enable counselors to sign their own communications. This can be easily arranged by contacting our support team. We are committed to meeting the general needs of our users while also offering custom features to meet your specific requirements. Feel free to reach out to us with any requests or concerns.

Monthly Features and News

May 2024 Updates Email Link
April 2024 Updates Email Link
March 2024 Updates Email Link
February 2024 Updates Email Link
January 2024 Updates Email Link

November 2023 Updates Email Link
October 2023 Updates Email Link