What's New in Apply Year 2

Check out the highlights of what's new in year 2 of Apply Coalition with Scoir!

Updates for the 2023-24 Application Cycle

Up to now, we've seen over 60,000 students apply with Scoir.

• 30% of them are first-generation
• 45% were eligible for fee waivers
• 44% are students of color

This academic year, students can now apply to almost 140 eligible colleges, all committed to graduating them on-time and with less debt! 🎉

We've been busy getting ready for the upcoming application cycle, and have made significant strides to continue improving the experience of applying with Scoir. Here's a rundown of what's new and improved.

Updates For Students

✅ Profile Updates

In year 2, applicants will benefit from an updated experience more fully integrated into Scoir's popular My Colleges. In addition to this enhanced experience, the profile itself has been updated based on the feedback we received from our partners in year 1. The complete details of these updates can be found in the Application Profile, but some more details include:

✅ Personal Information Updates

We expanded Legal Sex to include:

• Female
• Male
• X or another legal sex; the code passed for this new value is "X"

✅ Citizenship Information Updates

• We've reworked this section to better support scenarios that previously raised questions, including improvements to prompts for refugees and asylees
• We added a question to allow a student to share that they’ve applied for a Visa and are awaiting the decision

Members can use this information to tailor support for students.

✅ Family Information Updates

Instead of mother or father, sister or brother, we’re using more inclusive terms like parent, sibling, grandparent, etc.

✅ Pre-population of Basic Info & Importing

When ready, students will start their application right from My Colleges. We'll pre-populate their basic info and they can edit as needed!

The best part? When they apply to multiple colleges with Scoir, we'll help students re-use the parts of their application that are the same, from one application to the next.

✅ Improved Application Guidance

We've made efforts to encourage application completion, including more transparency and guidance for students on what to expect when they reach supplements, and clear instructions throughout the Scoir experience around things like testing policies, supplemental essay prompts, and more. We also now allow students to gauge their progress using dynamic checkmarks on the left rail in the experience. 

✅ Simpler Experience for Unlinked Students and Supporters

In year 2, we're improving the experience for students and supporters who are not at a Scoir-linked high school. Here's what we're adding:

• A dedicated space for students to manage document requests and review their status
• A dedicated space for supporters to see all of their students quickly

These efforts will help address challenges with unlinked students and counselors, many of whom were international.

Updates for Colleges

✅ Colleges Not on Slate Can Receive Applications

In year 2, we're offering colleges who aren't on Slate the option of using a separate application with daily batches of completed applications sent for import into their system of choice.

✅ Expansion of Fee Waiver Criteria

In addition to the Coalition fee waiver package, you have the option to extend fee waivers in other categories, without requiring documentation. Members can optionally extend no-proof-required fee waivers for all students, or only U.S. citizens or students who reside in the U.S.

New categories include:

1. Students who self-identify as the first in their family to attend college
2. Students whose family receives public assistance
3. Students enrolled in a federal, state, or local program that aids students from low-income families 
4. Students who live in federally subsidized public housing, a foster home or are homeless.
5. Students who are a ward of the state or an orphan 
6. Students who receive need-based scholarships elsewhere
7. Students who are being assisted by any college or university access program

✅ Additional Application Visibility

Colleges can now test their application experience to see exactly what the applicant sees. This will allow partners to generate test files to validate their process.

✅ More Opportunities to Personalize the Application 

When configuring applications, colleges can now add in more details on the supplemental essays, test score requirements, and more for students to see when they fill out those sections of the application.

Updates for High Schools

✅ Improved Docs & Recs Space

With the new Docs & Recs space for students, managing documents and recommendations is a breeze!

We summarize requirements and status in the new Docs & Recs space, accessed from My Colleges. While the process of sending documents hasn't changed, we hope this increased usability and visibility will decrease the number of questions counselors receive.

Updates for All Scoir Users

✅ A Separate Application for Each College

Instead of working on multiple applications in the same view, students will complete a separate application for each college. This makes it clearer what each institution requires, while also helping students reuse information from one application to the next. Students will have the option to import information from other applications, like test scores!

✅ New Stages

The new stages include:

• Personal
• Family
• Education
• Essay & More
• Review & Submit

The Review & Submit section now makes it crystal clear that students will be submitting Part 1 of their applications when they click "Submit."

✅ CBO Collaboration

For the first time, CBOs can collaborate with their students on the same platform where they’re searching for and applying to schools!

We're currently conducting a Community Based Organization Pilot with more than 35 CBOs, which will run from June 1 - October 31. Our goal is to collect feedback from these organizations and ascertain what their needs are and how we can support them. During this first iteration, they can: 

• Invite students to collaborate with them
• Review and manage student roster 
• Search for colleges 
• Recommend colleges to students
• Message directly with students

Not to worry, we are running this pilot to ensure all the proper safeguards are in place for all supporters, including counselors, so each party on Scoir can do their job effectively. More details to come!

✅ Increased Outreach

We're working to reach and teach high schools and counselors about the experience.

Always Improving

We’d love to hear what you think about these additional configuration options. Share your feedback!