Todays’ students are taking their decision when and where to go to college as seriously as ever due to the high costs. Some students will select their college of choice based on location and reputation. New waves of prospective students are making their college selection based on more than just aesthetics—they are making their choices based on which school they believe will be a best fit and set them up for career success.
In order to set themselves up for success, students are asking admissions counselors three questions:
- What programs does this college offer?
- What is the cost of attending this school?
- What career outcomes can I look forward to after completing said programs?
Students ask these questions because they are looking for the best opportunity to receive returns on their investment. Many families plan together for years to assist young adults in their college ventures. Students and their families wait and save money before being ready to tackle the challenge of a post-secondary degree. According to Statista, 20% of parents between the ages of 30 and 59 actively saved money for the child’s college education in 2017. For students, attending college is equally a financial investment as it is an investment of their time and talents.
If students can definitively get answers to these three questions they can make the best decisions for their personal and career goals. As potential students come to realize that they have more control in shaping their future than they thought possible, the style of their engagement in the college and career-planning process transforms.
Time and resources can impact how much admissions teams can learn about their prospective students
The three questions that students raise are complex, which deserve tailored responses. A prospective student will only be able to get partial answers when they walk up to a college fair table or sit through an admissions presentation.
To paint a complete picture, an admissions counselor needs to get a holistic view of their prospective students:
- What would pique the interest of this particular student out of the possible majors, minors, and combinations offered by your institution?
- What can this individual student handle in regards to academic and program rigor?
- Will this unique student feel satisfied and happy with the future career that they can enter within their chosen pathway?
To give detailed answers about programs, costs, and career outcomes, admissions counselors would have to spend a significant amount of time with each potential applicant.
Most admissions departments are stretched for time and workforce power as it is. Between high school visits, college fairs, campus events, and roughly 1000 applicants per admissions counselor at public institutions and nearly 500 at private institutions.
So how can an institution with limited time and resources improve the effectiveness of their admissions teams and give students the information they need?
Giving prospective students and admission counselors the data they need with Awato
Prospective students and admissions counselors are constantly seeking more information from each other:
- What if an admissions department could get to know a prospective student on a personal and focused level – in under 15 minutes?
- What if you could gather all of the relevant data to encourage an application submission and a connection that translates into enrollment, attendance, timely graduation, and post-graduate satisfaction
- What if a student could give you this information right from her phone?
With Awato, all of this is possible. We believe that it is the way of the future for college admissions. Our revolutionary process leads students through simple, yet powerful assessments. The results of these assessments will help students identify the careers and majors best suited for their goals.
Awato has combined complex, research-based theories into an innovative progression, leading prospective students through targeted interest analysis. Perhaps, the most ground-breaking aspect of Awato is that we connect students’ interest-based goals to a personalized path through an individual institution. These solutions layout, and display how a potential career path can develop into landing their dream job, even if they don’t yet know what they want to be when they “grow up.”
The true value of a personalized career pathway
The last thing a student wants in a roadmap is ambiguity. Have you ever tried to follow vague directions while driving? Directing students to imagine where they want to end up in life is as helpful as directing someone to “take a left at the next tall tree.” It’s just not clear enough. Students are investors, both in their selected colleges and in their future destinations.
Students want to feel that they are in the driver’s seat and that they understand the road ahead. The most appealing guidance is:
- customized to each student,
- student-centered, and
- invites the student to co-create the experience.
When prospective students engage with an individual college via Awato, they co-create a plan to identify a major at that institution, complete all their graduation requirements, and enter the workforce after graduation.
Prospective-students become planning-students as they work through Awato’s straightforward and self-reflective assessments and design a unique college and career path. The resulting plan is not handed to them by a parent or guidance counselor, nor is it a carbon-copied pamphlet produced for the masses: it is dynamic and relevant because it is inspired and curated by the student’s own self-reflection and decisions.
Like a detailed roadmap, Awato can help students understand how an institution can help them reach their goals. Simultaneously, institutions can better explain their value to students, increase enrollment, motivate their students to graduate, and provide a clear roadmap to a career.
