Explore schools

Students will find a lot of information in school profiles to help them decide if the institution is one they want to apply to.

Note: It's not necessary for students to explore and save schools before creating application trackers. If they already know which schools they're applying to, they can head straight to the steps in Create a college application below.

How students explore schools in Xello:

1. From top menu of any page in Xello, students click Explore.
2. From the Explore options page, students click Explore schools.
   

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3. They'll be able to browse through the list of institutions. Or they can click More filters to narrow the list by a variety of factors, including location, cost, areas of study, and more.
   

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4. Clicking on a school will open its profile.

Once they've clicked on a school to open the profile, they'll find lots of information, including an overview with high-level details like tuition costs, acceptance rate, important dates and similar schools.

As they scroll down, they'll find information such as majors offered at the institution, student body demographic, and campus life.

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In the Applying section, students can check out the chances of admission scattergram. This will show them the acceptance rates and average GPA at the school. They'll also be able to view their own chances of admission by comparing their SAT/ACT and GPA scores with historical data from past applicants. They'll see their own avatar on a graph alongside the data points of previous applicants. They can click filters to add or remove those who were accepted, waitlisted, or not accepted, and by admission type.

Tip: Uploading your students' test scores as they become available will help your students dynamically explore their chances of admission. SAT/ACT scores and GPA uploaded by an educator in Xello will contribute to more data for students to compare in upcoming years. Check out Upload test scores & GPA to learn how to upload their scores.

By scrolling down the school profile, students can get in-depth, dynamic information on costs at the institution.

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To quickly select the school when they create a tracker, students can click the Save button to record it to their list of Saved options. The options can be accessed at any time by clicking the heart in the top corner.

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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. They open Plans and 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.

Note: 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.

Add or create tasks

Once the college application tracker has been created, students are provided with an application checklist with any mandatory transcript or recommendation letter requirements. To help them better track their application submission, the checklist will also include a task to mark their application as submitted when they're ready. Students can also add any other 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.

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.

Note: 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.

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.

FYI: 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!

Record admission decisions

Once a student has heard back from the institution about their application, they can report the outcome in Xello. The available outcomes are:

• Accepted
• Waitlisted - accepted
• Waitlisted
• Waitlisted - not accepted
• Not accepted

Students can change their admission decision in Xello from College applications or from the institution's Application tracker page. Admission decisions can also be recorded by educators for the student on the student's profile. Additionally, parents/guardians can update from the student's profile while in Xello Family.

How a student records their admission decision in Xello:

1. On the College applications page, they scroll down to the Application tracker section and locate the institution they heard from. Or, they navigate to the institution's application profile.
2. In the Admission decision dropdown, they select a decision.
   

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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.

Note: 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.

Additional resources