How Slate.org Works with Colleges
  • 25 Apr 2024
  • 5 minute read
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How Slate.org Works with Colleges

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Article summary

Slate.org directly links your institution to colleges and universities that use Slate. Each Slate institution determines which of the following applicant data, if any, to share with high schools in Slate.org:

  • Application Round and Deadline

  • Application Status

  • Application Decision and Decision Date

  • Checklist Items 

Data Sharing for High Schools

High schools can use Slate.org to help keep counselors up-to-date with their students' application statuses.  

Uploading Materials

Uploading materials for a high school student's application to a college is an easy process.  Uploading requires that the high school student have an active application and that the college accepts material uploads via Slate.org.

To upload a material for a single student:

  1. From the main navigation, select Students.

  2. Select the student of interest from the list.

  3. Select an Application from this section.

  4. Find the Supporting Documents section on the bottom right side of the page. Select an option from the Document Type list, then click Choose a File.

  5. Select the appropriate material for upload, then click Upload File

You can also upload materials in batch. This attaches the uploaded material to all institutions with which a student has an active application.

To upload a materials in batch to a student's record:

  1. From the main navigation, select Students.

  2. Select the student of interest from the list.

  3. Find the Supporting Documents section on the bottom left side of the student's page. Select an option from the Document Type list, then click Choose a File.  

How Colleges Interact with Slate.org

A college's view of Slate features a single configuration page for data sharing with high schools through Slate.org. Application Rounds reflect the different types of applications colleges offer. No data is shared with a high school via Slate.org unless a college chooses to share at least one Application Round.

Sharing Application Rounds

Colleges may choose to share specific applications via Slate.org. For example, a college might share information about their Freshman application, but not their Pre-College or Transfer Application. Colleges also control whether Slate.org users can view deadlines. In the example opposite, a college shares two application rounds, allowing Slate.org high schools to view data from those rounds.

Example_College_Application_Round_Sharing.png

Sharing Application Statuses

Application Statuses track the progress of the student's application as the application works it's way through the college's admission process.  Colleges may adjust the manner in which Application Statuses are shared which may lead to situations where the data displayed to a high school in Slate.org may appear or disappear.  For example, if a college decides to un-share a particular Application Status, that status will no longer appear to high school counselors.

Example_Application_Status_Sharing.png

Sharing Application Materials

Materials required by a college's admission process are contained in a Checklist.  Colleges may choose to share a Checklist with a high school, allowing the high school Counselor to see what materials have been  received or are missing.  Shared materials may be uploaded to the college directly through Slate.org.  

Example_Shared_Application_Materials.png

A college can also enable Batch Material Upload which allows a high school to upload a specific material to all colleges to which a student has applied.

Example_Shared_Batch_Materials.png

Sharing Application Decisions

Lastly, a college can choose to share decisions with high school counselors via Slate.org.  Decisions can be shared immediately or after a high school student sees the decision.  An additional choice allows the college to wait a number of days after the decision is released before sharing the decision with high school counselors.  

Example_Shared_Application_Decisions.png

📝 Note

Students can never view their decisions on Slate.org.  Depending on the college's preferences, students may need to log into their Slate Student Portal to view a decision, or they also may receive a decision via traditional mail, or both.

 The choices colleges make regarding data sharing with high schools vary widely from institution to institution.  Colleges can update their data sharing choices with high schools at any point in time causing the data displayed in Slate.org to change over time or appear radically different when viewing different colleges.

Gaining Efficiencies With Slate and Slate.org

In 2017, when Georgetown University, the oldest Jesuit university in the US, wanted to move their largely paper-based recruitment and review process to one that was more efficient and streamlined, they had a few guiding objectives. A major pain point was the paper review and manual process of receiving materials for over 20k applications. Georgetown administrators also wanted to improve the way they communicated with school counselors to provide the status of materials being gathered, as well as, ultimately, sharing of decisions.

The first step in their journey with Slate as their chosen CRM was to build out the application where the data would be gathered. Because Georgetown does not accept the Common App, it was essential that the CRM they selected could support the creation of their own unique application. In addition to Slate robust application building functionality, administrators at Georgetown also leveraged the Slate recommendation forms, student status pages, and Slate Reader to create an electronic and automated new process.

mceclip2.png
Heather Kim Senior Assistant Director of Admissions, Georgetown University

In 2019, with all of these previously manual processes fully migrated to Slate, admissions staff at Georgetown turned their attention to further improving communication with applicants and school counselors by opting in to share applicant data, statuses, checklists, and decisions in Slate.org--a free platform designed to strengthen communication between undergraduate admissions offices, counselors, and students during the college search and application process. 

As a result of Georgetown participating in Slate.org, counselors were able to view missing checklist items for their students and submit materials such as transcripts directly to the university. These materials were automatically matched to material types in Slate, which helped Georgetown gain efficiencies in completing applications for review. Georgetown has had over 19k materials submitted by counselors through Slate.org! Additionally, the unique integration between Slate and Slate.org has allowed Georgetown to share application decisions directly with counselors who are enrolled in Slate.org.

Slate.org was a welcome addition to our application process in 2019 and it has become an essential tool in our admissions cycle. We have found it very effective in communicating with high school counselors and improving our missing materials process. With greater efficiency in material collection, we are able to review a greater number of complete applications earlier in the review process than ever before. When it comes time to communicate decisions to counselors, the transparency that Slate.org provides has been helpful and refreshing, especially allowing counselors to follow their waitlisted student's process. We look forward to expanding our use of Slate.org with Slate.org portals to continue sharing information and increasing communication with our partners across the desk.

 


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