How students track a college application
userEducator Xello productXello 6-12 Time8 minutes

In Xello, students use the college planning tool to create a tracker that provides them with a checklist for each application. The checklist allows students to create, monitor, and mark as complete the various tasks they need for each of their college applications. They can also request a recommendation letter or their transcript be sent, directly from the checklist.

Learn how students:

Create a college Application Tracker

The first thing a student must do to track their tasks, view their deadlines, request transcripts and recommendation letters be sent, is build an Application Tracker for each institution they’re applying to.

How students create a college applications tracker:

  1. From their dashboard, under Goals & Plans, students click College Planning.
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  2. Under College Applications, they click Create Your First Application.
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  3. They choose one of their saved schools and click Next.
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    • If they don't have any saved schools yet, they search for the institution and click Select, then Next.
  4. They select an application method and admission type. If available, the application deadline will automatically populate. They can review and edit the application deadline, if necessary.
    • The deadline is reported by the college, but students are encouraged to check the college website for any recent changes.
  5. To finish building the application tracker they click Create.
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Edit a college application tracker

Students can later edit their college application tracker. They can update the application method, application type, and application deadline.

noteNote: For schools using Common App: once a student has synced their Xello and Common App accounts, they will not be able to edit any Common App trackers in Xello. Any updates they want to make will have to be made directly in their Common App account.

To edit a college application tracker:

  1. From the top of the college application tracker they want to edit, they click the three dot menu.
  2. They click Edit application.
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  3. They make their changes and click Save.

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Add or create tasks

Once the college application tracker has been created, students are provided with an application checklist with mandatory requirements. In rare cases where the institution doesn't have any requirements listed, or when a student's application process is unique, they can add requirements or their own custom tasks to track.

How students add or create a task:

  1. From the institution's application tracker, the student clicks Add Task.
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  2. In the Add Task window, they click the Select a Task dropdown and select a suggested one, or click Create Custom Task.
    • If creating their own, they're required to give their task a name.
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  3. When finished, they click Add Task.

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Edit due dates

Students can add a due date to their custom tasks or edit a due date on mandatory tasks. When available, mandatory tasks with a deadline set by the college will be automatically populated.

How students add or edit a due date on a task:

  1. From the institution's application tracker, they find the task where they'd like to add a due date.
  2. They click the Options dropdown and select whichever is available: Add due date or Edit due date.
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  3. Once they choose the date, they click Save.
    • The due date will now show in the same line as the task.
noteNote: If they change or add the date to their recommendation letter task, the date will also show in the request sent to the referrer, and in your educator account.

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Mark as complete

To give students full control and freedom over their own application tracker, they can mark any of the tasks in their application checklist as complete. They can reopen a task the same way if they change their mind.

How students change a task's completion status:

  1. From the institution's application tracker, under Application Checklist, they find the task where they'd like to change the completion status.
  2. To the right, they click the Options dropdown and select Mark as complete.
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  3. By following the same steps, the student can reverse their action when they click Reopen Task.
FYIFYI: If a student marks every task on their list as complete, the application for that institution is considered complete, and a burst of confetti will mark the occasion!

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Delete an application

If a student creates an application tracker in Xello and decides they no longer wish to track the application, or if they made a mistake in creating the tracker, they can opt to delete it.

noteNote: Deleting an application tracker in Xello does not stop either a transcript or recommendation letter request already in progress from being completed. Institutions will still receive the transcript if sent, and referrers will still receive the request with a message stating it's no longer available. Deleting the application tracker removes the student's ability to view or track their tasks or requests.

How students delete an application:

  1. From the institution they want to stop tracking, at the bottom of the Application Checklist, students click the Delete Application link.
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  2. They need to confirm that they understand:
    • All tasks will be deleted and any progress made will be lost, and
    • They will no longer be able to view or track requests
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  3. Once they've checked both boxes, they click Delete Application.
    • That institution's application will be removed from the student's list of applications.

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