How to use offer data effectively in university counselling

There is one data set that is most sought after by various stakeholders in the school. And you, as college counsellor, are its gatekeeper. 

It’s the offer data: which universities your students have acceptance letters from.

Offer data is so sought after because it can help paint pictures of many things quickly – such as the calibre of your school’s education and the success of your own counselling. 

Of course, we shouldn’t fall prey to assuming causation from correlation; we should also think about other markers of less visible, less quantifiable success – such as a struggling student showing up to a meeting and receiving best-fit offers. 

But to many stakeholders, offer data is one of the most understandable ways to measure and define success. 

Why do we gather offer data?

We use student offer data for a variety of purposes. Offer data is used to:

1. Inform and advise future students

With historical data of where the school’s previous students have received offers from, our advising can be taken to the next level. Instead of just relying on university websites’ minimum requirements, we can draw patterns in our own context with real scores and profiles, fitting current students into this.

2. Give hope and manage stress

Related to the previous purpose, but more pastoral. We can give hope to students who think they have nowhere to go by telling them how university admission is perfectly achievable with less-than-stellar scores, as per previous years’ offer data.

3. Understand larger admissions trends

As counsellors, we can better understand admissions trends when we see them with our own eyes. Or we might observe that our own student body is deviating from the broader pattern, and this can help us draw conclusions about our own context. 

4. Maintain diligent records

Maintaining diligent records is probably part of every counsellor’s job description, and keeping track of offer data is one aspect of it.

5. Promote our school through marketing

Counsellors are inadvertently marketing leads, because we have one of the data sets most valued by the marketing department. Offer data will invariably be used to promote our workplace. More on this later. 

What data should we gather exactly?

Here are some variables you can gather about each student. 

Basic data

This is data that is easy to gather and will give you enough information to fulfil the purposes above. 

• University name
• Country/region
• Major/course/programme
• Entry requirements

More advanced data

This might be optional but can help paint a more nuanced picture of your students’ destinations. 

• Date offer received/most recent grade at time of application.
• Advanced classes they took – what IB/AP/A-level courses did they select?
• SATs – advanced classes and SATs paint the student’s profile in more detail
• Scholarships – a caveat: calculating scholarships based on conditional offers can quickly lead to murky waters, and getting this information from students can be tricky. But some leadership or marketing departments might ask for this.
• Ranking of university – we might be hesitant to provide this, but marketing departments sometimes really want this data. 

How should we gather it? 

Platform

If you’re a counsellor without a budget, Excel or Google sheets can work wonders. You can also use college counselling platforms, such as BridgeU (free), Maialearning, Cialfo and Unifrog, to track student offer data.

Logistics

Some offers are released to counsellors through platforms such as Ucas and Slate.org. However, the majority are not. 

Create and clearly communicate a system of students telling you when they receive offers because they might not realise counsellors cannot magically figure this out. 

Conducting an exit survey or interview when year 13 students (seniors) graduate could be a helpful way to gather acceptances should they accidentally forget to tell you (and they will forget to tell you). 

How do we analyse the data?

The platforms previously mentioned have analysis options built into them. However, if you’re using Excel, here are some basic suggestions. 

You can analyse data by country (create a pie chart; list the top five) or by the most popular universities (by offers, by matriculation). You can highlight how many universities are top-ranked (although this may be against your philosophy as a counsellor). You can add the variable of time by analysing all this data historically as well.

When should we gather it? When should we release it?

As previously said, offer data should be gathered as soon as it is released. Send regular reminders and create a culture where students come to you to report offers. 

Release depends on your marketing team. They might ask for this information shortly before enrolment season, so have some data analysis ready around this time. 

Where do we use it? 

Digital spaces, such as school marketing channels and counsellors’ LinkedIn profiles, are where we commonly see offer data.

Counsellors can also create physical boards to display offer data. This can motivate younger students, who envisage themselves attending the universities that the oldest students are going to. 

Who uses it? 

This question helps us understand the various stakeholders and why they’re invested in the offer data. 

Counsellor: to inform and advise students, keep track of success and acquire knowledge of admissions trends

School leadership team: to understand the community’s needs and directions, and the school’s academic performance

Marketing: to promote school’s success stories and draw in prospective parents 

Parents: to set realistic expectations and goals, and to ensure their child is successful in their applications

Students: to create effective lists with realistic reach, match and safety choices, which result in successful university applications

Tangent: what is the relationship between marketing and college counselling?

We, as counsellors, are the gatekeepers of the offer data and might sometimes find ourselves in a tug of war with the marketing department about this. 

Keep in mind that we are educators and the marketing team are not, so we might have different approaches towards this. For instance, we should keep in mind the principles of data privacy and safeguarding, as well as legal considerations, when releasing details to the public. For example, getting consent from the student is key before we broadcast their successes to the world. 

Releasing offer data is a balancing act of two duties. We have a duty to help our school be marketed well and to be successful. However, we also have a duty to protect students. 

As caring and professional counsellors, let us be mindful of how we are collecting, using and promoting offer data, for our school community and students alike. 

Many thanks to Kevin Jones, with whom I collaborated on a presentation on this topic.