The college admissions process is often associated with the pressure of deadlines and emotional decision-making. Craig Powell '01, founder and president of ConnectEdu, is looking to make this process more efficient, if not less stressful.
ConnectEdu is an online program that allows counselors, students and parents to communicate and organize their applications. Students can do everything from uploading their college essays to checking the status of financial aid applications. Guidance counselors can also look online to check the status of their students' applications to various schools.
ConnectEdu opened up its first office on Waterman Street in 1998. "We started with 200 families of differing socioeconomic backgrounds and watched and learned," Powell said. ConnectEdu has since relocated and expanded into high schools in 35 states and as well as schools in Canada and the District of Columbia.
Powell said he believes the admissions process benefits from the streamlining his company provides.
"We've taken a decades-old process and modernized it," Powell said. When students apply to more than five or so schools, "that adds up to a lot of paperwork," he added.
"Admissions is an industry with a tremendous communications problem, and we can use technology and help students make better decisions," he said.
Powell said ConnectEdu makes the process more efficient in three ways. First, it enables "guidance counselors to move out of an administrative mode back into counseling," he said. It also helps parents find information and serves to "empower students in a format that is useful for them."
Before designing the program, Powell evaluated what he perceives as the shortcomings of the existing admissions process.
Even forms that are submitted online are "eventually printed out" in many cases, Powell said. When offices process forms, this can also lead to errors. "Transcripts are re-keyed once they reach the admissions office, which leads to a statistic of something like 16 percent errors made in this transition."
Powell first came up with the idea for ConnectEdu while he was an undergraduate at Brown.
"The genesis of it was born out of my own experience - or lack thereof - of how whimsical the process is for students," Powell said.
He had previously created a company called Ivy Tutor, which sent tutors into the homes of Providence students to offer one-on-one sessions. Much of the money from this project went toward paying for tutoring services, but profits also allowed the company to provide free tutoring to students and their families.
Powell said he was struck by how focused families were on the college admissions process, even when children were still in middle school.
"I saw early on what a cumbersome and emotional process applying for colleges was," Powell said.
The company is "predominantly funded" by Brown alums, according to Powell, who referred to it as "a very Brown-esque idea."
ConnectEdu in Providence
The Providence Public School District is one of a growing number of school districts that have begun the process of integrating ConnectEdu into their schools. Hope High School served as a pilot for the district.
"Hope High School is the first(in the district) to implement the program, they're actually the ones who proposed it to the school district," said Brian Baldizar, special assistant to PPSD Superintendent Donnie Evans. "Other schools are just starting to train their staff, and we hope that these schools will soon have the program as well."
According to Lynn Harrigan, a guidance counselor at Hope High, ConnectEdu particularly benefits "students (who) don't have as much home support when it comes to applying to colleges."
Baldizar said the program increases students' access to technological resources frequently used during the admissions process, thereby countering disadvantages stemming from high rates of poverty in the city.
"A majority of our families don't have access to technology outside the school," Baldizar said.
A large percentage of students at Hope High "are on some sort of assisted meal plan, which means that Providence has a high poverty rate," Baldizar said. The ability of ConnectEdu to simplify the process of applying for financial aid "definitely helps the students who need aid the most," he added.
Harrigan said the program "is definitely a step forward."
"I have approximately 72 seniors, and I can just send out one e-mail to my entire group of students, reminding about their deadlines," Harrigan said. "This works in reverse as well - my students find it a lot easier to e-mail me about questions they have."
Powell said he believes ConnectEdu helps make the admissions process seem less daunting to students who might not proactively seek out support.
"We need to make sure that every kid in America can have a series of interactions with their counselors to help build a relationship with them," he said. "Those with initiative are the ones who show up at my door. Unfortunately, not many students are proactive."
Harrigan and other guidance counselors have created an after-school club called "Future Forward," which bring students together to use the program every Thursday.
The club devotes the first 45 minutes to a group discussion that can touch on anything from requirements for college to application essays. For the rest of the time, students are free to use ConnectEdu.
"We have approximately 18 to 20 students each week, and it allows us as counselors to give some more individualized attention," Harrigan said. "We were only going to do this program for six weeks, but we have gotten so much response, I think we might extend it for the rest of the school year."
For Powell, the power of ConnectEdu to help out communities like those served by the Providence Public School District is one of the company's most redeeming aspects.
"Take the SATs - an applicant who has received little to no prep, cannot be compared to those who have received a lot of test prep," he said. "Our ultimate goal is to democratize access (and ensure) every student and parent has the tools and resources they need to equalize the process."
