Cialfo allows counselors to manage and track student's individual college applications in the below ways, and this article includes all that, including troubleshooting:
Accessing an Application
To check which college or the university a student has applied to, click on Student's name or Student's Profile under Students > Active page and select Applications.
On the Applications page, you will see all the colleges students have applied for.
Once you click on the College or University name, it will take you to the application overview and activity page. On the overview page, you can fill in the application details like Application Portal, Course or Major, Scholarship, Round, Deadline, etc.
Table & Card View
The default view of the Applications page is a table view. Should you wish to view it in another way, such as a card view, simply select the overlapping squares icon next to "+Add University". If you'd like to change it back to the Table view, you can select the bullet point icon, found to the left of "Filter By."
Emojis & Application Limits
We've also added Emojis to the side of each section (Applying, Shortlist, Longlist) to help engage students! The emojis refer to the number of active applications divided by how many applications there are based on the Application limit set by you in your Configuration. The emojis and their meanings are as follows:
😢 = 0% added on the list
🙂= 33% added on the list
😃 = 66% added on the list
🤩 = 100% added on the list
Moving your applications by priority using the Grip icon
We've also added a way for you to move around the applications within the Application list or to the other lists.
Simply click the Grip icon and drag it where you want to. This is great for counselors who want their students to prioritize their applications in a specific order or if you quickly want to move an application back to a Shortlist or Longlist. Additionally, you can also remove the application if you wish.
Adding an Application
If you have given your students and/or their guardians the permissions within Account Configuration, they will be able to add applications to the student's Applying List. Once an application is added, information will need to be updated on that application. You may add an application in 2 ways:
Within the student's Schools > Search page
Within the student's Applications page
Method 1: Within the student's Schools > Search page
Head to student's Schools > Search tab, and using the search bar, type in the name of the School you want to add the application to. Once you have found the university, click on the 'Add to List button and add click on 'Applying.'
Method 2: Within the student's Applications page
Head to the student's Applications tab and click on the Add Application button. Type the name of the school you want to add in the search bar, which will appear at the bottom. Once you have found the university, select it, and the university will now appear in the student's Applications list.
Updating Application Information
You have 2 options to update Application information:
Table: you can select certain columns in the Applications table itself to make quick updates. Don't forget to scroll to the right to see more information. Editable columns are as follows:
Counselor Likelihood
Submitted tickbox
Round*
Deadline*
Application Result
Student Status
Edit: Click the "Edit" button next to the application and it'll lead you to that specific application so you can make the needed edits.
We recommend that counselors complete as much information as possible on each application to ensure that all other connected features like cDocs, Reports, and Scattergrams will be properly populated.
*Note: If your Cialfo - Common App Configuration of syncing rounds and deadlines is turned on, you will be unable to manually update the application round and application deadline.
Additionally, following data points are available in all applications:
Application Portal: This helps identify how the student will submit their application (via which application portal: Direct Apply, Common App, Other, etc.). The user can use the "Submitted" checkbox to indicate when the application is sent. The timestamp at the bottom reflected when the checkbox was last updated.
Course or Major: Indicate the course or major the student is applying for, if applicable.
Scholarship: Indicate if the student is applying for a scholarship and if awarded one, the quantity of said scholarship.
Round: Indicate the application's round (EA, RD, Spring Transfer, etc.) if applicable
Deadline: This is auto-generated based on your selected Round, but you can manually change the deadline later.
Test Submitted: Indicate whether a test was submitted as a part of the application or indicate if none were submitted (for test-optional colleges!)
Result: Indicate the result once received!
Notes: At the start of the application, there is a notes field; if a portal is not listed, the counselor can add that in the Notes section. The counselor may also want to include other helpful information about how the student applied here. The Notes are visible to students, while the Private Notes are for counselors only.
Flags: Counselors may want to track certain characteristics of student applications, hence Application Flags. These are only visible to counselors. The Application has a drop-down menu of preset flags to choose from. If a school needs custom flags, these can be created in Account - Configure. Multiple flags can be added per application if necessary.
Once all the details have been inputted, don't forget to click "Save."
Troubleshooting
(1) Unable to update Application rounds and deadlines
If you cannot add or edit the application round here, it's quite likely that due to an account configuration, student rounds and deadlines are getting auto-updated here from the Common app.
(2) Multiple Applications to One College or University
It is possible to have multiple applications to the same university. Schools in the UK, for example, may have more than one application to one institution. To add another application, click the blue "+ Add" button under "Save".
It is possible to track that an application was made. Just click Remove Application at the bottom of the relevant school.
(3) I don't want my students to edit application details
You can prevent students from going in and updating the applications page using one simple account configuration. Click the chevron on the top right corner and click Configuration. Scroll down to student connectivity and turn off Can Edit Application Details have been added under the Students Connectivity section.
When turned off, this option will prevent the student from making any changes to their applications. You can turn it back ON when you would like students to go ahead and make changes to their applications.
(4) Navigating to cDocs
You can also directly jump into students' cDocs from the Applications page. Upon clicking the Go to cDocs button from the top of the applications page, you can visit this student's cDocs from the new tab that opens.
Similarly, you can jump to the student's applications page from cDocs by clicking on Applications.
(5) Reports
You can do this in 2 ways!
Select the "Export Report" button on the Applications page, and you'll be prompted to download a .xls file providing you with the students' Applications as well as Shortlist and Longlist.
Download a summary report of Applications by College that includes all your students of a particular Graduation year and their corresponding application status. For more on Reports, go to this help article!