Applying for college can be stressful for high school students. But the process could get a little easier with the help of a free app on Facebook.
The mega social media site popular with many college-hopefuls (and their parents) has an app called Acceptly that helps students apply for schools, as well as provide them with college prep tools and connecting students to the admissions offices of their top schools.
Acceptly acts as a personal guidance counselor for the student. Students create a profile and list their top three schools. The app then compiles a list of “to-dos” for the student to complete, like taking a college personality quiz and listing all of their academic, extracurricular, and community service activities.
The app was created to answer complaints by students and their parents that the students were not getting enough attention from their guidance counselors.
“The average high school student gets 30 min/year with their guidance counselor,” Acceptly says on their website. “To us, providing our youth with that level of resources is a crime. We’re here to fight that crime.”
The app’s layout is simple, with a side toolbar that breaks down the application parts to “Academics,” “Activities,” “Testing,” “College Choice,” “Applications,” and even “Financial Aid.” It also has a feature that allows students to send questions to admissions counselors from their top schools.
The goal is to make the application process more manageable so that students can track their own progress.
Students can either access Acceptly through Facebook or, if they do not want it connected to their Facebook profiles, create a profile directly on the website. It also has a Twitter account that tweets college application tips. It continues to update its site to reflect user feedback, including expanding student profiles and reminder emails that could remind students to finish parts of their profile or update them on deadlines.
Students and their parents appear to be fans of the app, but colleges seem to be getting on board as well.
“As an instructor at the University of Oregon, I appreciate the complexity of the college application process. Acceptly is a valuable resource that adds efficiency and thoroughness to this experience,” Doug Wilson, a professor at the University of Oregon, told The Next Web. “It increases the potential to present a more attractive story about those applying.”