Page 6 - KnightTime News Winter 2019

KNIGHTtime News
GUIDING YOUR COLLEGE PROCESS
By Matt Mettille
The College Counseling office
has officially switched college counseling platforms from Naviance to SCOIR (pronounced “score”). We will continue to use Naviance for the Class of 2019 until they graduate, but for the Class of 2020 and onward we will exclusively use SCOIR for every facet of the college admissions process, including the college
search process and then ultimately electronically submitting materials and tracking outcomes.
Around this time last year, we spoke with several independent schools that made the same transition. They all unanimously sang the praises of the SCOIR platform, the features,
the functionality, and the customer service. Everyone on our staff completed an introductory webinar and the founder and CEO visited Menlo this past fall to tell us more about the program. Menlo joins over 500 high schools around the country that have adopted SCOIR for their students and families. At the end
of the day, we think the platform will best serve the needs of our community.
The SCOIR search function helps identify schools students might be interested in based on a number
Welcome to
SCOIR!
of search parameters including location, academic interests, hobbies, etc. SCOIR also curates social media and voices of students on campus to provide a glimpse into student life on campus. Our hope is that the SCOIR platform will help students learn about colleges they might overlook, but that could be a great match for them. Students are able to curate their own board, similar to Pinterest, filled with colleges and hashtags they are interested in following. It
is clear that SCOIR had students in mind when they were designing their product and also created a SCOIR mobile app so students can search and manage their profile through their phone. Students and families continue to
be able to view historical data of college admissions rates and
success of previous Menlo students, which is helpful in determining the likelihood of admissions. During senior year, the college office will use SCOIR to send all college-related documents including transcripts and recommendations to college (similar to Naviance).
We are excited to roll out SCOIR to the current juniors and then later on to the sophomores. Moving forward, each student and family will get a SCOIR account once they have been assigned to a college counselor. For more information, feel free to visit the SCOIR website.
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