The Admissibility Indicator

The Smart Search Admissibility Indicator (AI) compares a student's test scores and GPA to the colleges in Smart Search's database utilizing a proprietary algorithm. The algorithm returns one of the following indicators for each college: Far Reach, Reach, Possible, Likely or Very Likely. Moreover, each college in the database has been carefully reviewed by our admissions team, and weighted according to the college's unique admissions profile.

The Admissibility Indicator is based only on grades and test scores. No single admissibility factor tells the applicant's whole story and simultaneously accounts for the admissions nuances of each college.

With this understanding, the only logical way to give a student a sense of his/her likelihood of admissibility at a given college is to start with the lowest common denominators, GPA and test scores. 90% of the time these are the two biggest "concrete" factors in a student's admissibility at colleges throughout the country. If a student doesn't have the grades and test scores to reasonably match up with a college's applicant pool, he likely doesn't have a great chance of being accepted. Thus, Smart Search's Admissibility Indicator uses GPA and Test Scores as it foundation.

Exclusive feature for college counselors and consultants.

As a college professional, you may possess a greater knowledge of a student's overall admissions story, beyond GPA and test scores. Therefore, we have created a feature called MyAI that allows you to adjust the calculated Admissibility Indicator. As a result, you can apply your knowledge of the applicant and all of those subjective factors that "can" move a kid with a 3.2 and modest test scores up the list at even the most selective colleges.

To activate the MyAI feature, you must check the MyAI box on the order form.

The Affordability Indicator

Affordability is the final piece in the Smart Search puzzle. Once you know which colleges your student can get into and what each college is likely to cost you, you need to know whether you are going to be able to afford the college. The Affordability section in the report asks several questions about the amount of resources that you would like to set aside for college and about your willingness to borrow money? Once you have entered the data, Smart Search will project the cost of each college out for four years and determine if the resources that you set aside will be enough to cover the net cost of each college. A simple green, yellow or red icon is displayed beside each college to indicate the affordability of that college. This completes the picture for each school. You now know your student's likelihood of admission, an estimate of their financial aid, what the college will cost you, and whether you can afford it. Knowing all of this information about one college is helpful, but knowing all of this about all of the colleges you are interested gives you extraordinary decision making ability.

Personalized Notes

You can view the Final Report and add your own notes to the report at the same time. This function allows you to share your professional insights about the Smart Search results with your clients.

Guide to your Report

The Smart Search report includes several pages for information about college admissions, financial aid, education funding and personal finances. It gives you detailed explanations for all of the items in the report. There are also a couple of tables to help you maximize the resources you have available to fund your child's education.