For Colleges: Connect with YES

YES Prep has a four part process to schedule a high school visit with YES Prep.

First, colleges will be asked to scheduled their visit at least two weeks in advance.  At the moment we are scheduling for visits between September 8 and December 18, 2020.

Second, students will RSVP for sessions by filling out a digital contact card that will be shared with the colleges.

Third, admission officers will receive their calendar invite with a link to Microsoft Teams. A YES Prep College Counselor will be present on the call to moderate questions and answers, assist the representative with any technology issues, and capture notes to share with other College Counselors across the district.

Fourth, following the event you will get an attendance report with the contact cards, as well as a list of any unanswered questions, and the information of students who asked them, so you can continue connect with students.

Colleges can register for a high school visit using our Microsoft Bookings webpage for the College Visit series.

Register Here

Availability for sessions will begin September 8 and will continue through the end of the fall semester.  Check back later in the fall for information on spring visits. 

Colleges are asked to booked appointments at least two weeks in advance for adequate time to promote your visit to YES Prep students.  

When scheduling, you will receive an initial confirmation from Outlook. Within 2 to 3 business days, you will receive a Microsoft Teams invitation. YES Prep Public Schools uses Microsoft Teams as our LMS, and all YES Prep students and families actively use it. Hosting your high school visit on Microsoft Teams is designed to lower barriers to participation for our students, whether students are learning on campus or at home.

Colleges are encouraged to schedule multiple college visits throughout the fall semester. We will be hosting up to two colleges per day on weekdays, and offer a 5 and 6 pm time-slots on Tuesday evenings.

YES Prep Public Schools is using Microsoft Teams for College's High School Visits this fall. All YES Prep Students and families actively use Microsoft Teams currently as our LMS. By hosting you on Teams, we are lowering barriers to participation for our students, whether students are learning on campus or at home.

You will have a YES Prep College Counselor with you on the call. They will assist you in moderating the discussion, asking questions to you from the Q&A, and helping you if you have any technical issues.

When registering, you will be able to indicate whether you want the session to be a Microsoft Teams Call or Live Event.

• Teams Calls are ideal for smaller conversations. If you select a Teams Call, we suggest that we cap the number of attendees for each visit to 49 or less. These calls will be interactive where students can raise their hands, turn on their camera, and ask questions.
• Teams Live Events are ideal for large groups. Students will be able to ask questions through a chat-based interface, and you, and co-presenters, and the College Counselor producing the live-event will be the only ones on camera.

If you are interested in learning more about Microsoft Teams or Live Events, you can find out more on Microsoft's Teams Resource Page.

For students to participate in the High School Visit, they will RSVP for the session in advance.  The RSVP form will include most of the standard fields on university contact cards, including:

• Name
• Contact Information
• Current School Information
• High School Graduation Year / Enterance Term
• Demographics
• Majors/Academic Interest

You will receive this information as a ".CSV" file following your visit with an attendance report.  The report will also include any unanswered questions from the session to allow you to continue to connect with YES Prep Students.

We know that High School visits are about connecting with both students and College Counselors, due to their influential role in the students' college application process.  To ensure you have the opportunity to connect with our College Counseling Staff, one YES Prep College Counselor will be your host during this process.  This counselor will be your point of contact.  They would be able to answer any questions you have about YES Prep in advance of the session or help you if you have any technical issues.

During the session, they will help moderate conversations and student Q&A while also capturing information for their fellow counselors.  Each College Counselor will complete a visit report.  This report will include any updates you share that are significant.  These reports will be available to other college counselors who cannot join the call so that they can use the information for their professional development.

Additionally, if you opt into having your visit recorded, the playlist will be shared within our counselor community.  This way, counselors can also review this information to grow their college knowledge and share it with students and families who did not attend the session when discussing their college lists. 

YES Prep is excited about how virtual visits open up new possibilities for High School Visits. College and Universities have shared how they are changing their formats to make these programs engaging. Some possibilities are:

• Invite YES Prep Alumni at your University to do a panel during the presentation or Q&A portion.
• Having an admissions student ambassador serves as a co-presenter to include a student's voice.
• Offering a campus visit for a specific field of majors that your college is promoting enrollment in, and inviting a faculty member from that department to join you.

Additionally, when registering for your session, there is a space for you to share two-to-three sentences about your University or your session that we will use to advertise the campus visit.  

YES Prep recognizes the technology barriers that can prevent access to educational programs, including campus visits. To close the gap to access, YES Prep is providing devices and/or WiFi to all students in grades K – 12 who need them, whether they're learning virtually or in-person. YES Prep has committed to a 1-to-1 laptop program for our students, so all YES Prep Students will have the equipment necessary to access the campus visits whether they are studying in-person at our schools or at home.

We are utilizing Microsoft Teams this fall as YES Prep's learning management system.  By using the same environment for your high school visit, we are working to remove additional barriers for our students and families.

StriveScan’s 6x6 Virtual college fair format exposes students to a wide range of colleges, while still being time- and cost-efficient for you!

StriveScan hosted their nationwide Strive Virtual College Exploration program this spring and it was an overwhelming success with over 180,000 students and 500 colleges and universities from around the world. YES Prep is partnering with StriveScan to bring a more tailored version of this program designed to serve the students in our community.

StriveScan’s 6x6 Virtual College Fair Format

• After college registration closes, you will be assigned by us to a group with up to 5 other institutions (total of 6 colleges per group). Your group’s will have a panel which will be 45-minutes long, allowing for each institution to present for 6 minutes.
• Throughout the entire 45 minutes, students will be able to ask questions via a Q&A.
• There will be multiple concurrent group sessions happening each hour. 
• Students will register through StriveScan for each group session they want to attend. 
• All 6 institutions in the group will receive the StriveScan student data for all of the students who registered for your group’s session.
• Your total time commitment is approximately one hour.
• Sessions are hosted by StriveScan via Zoom Webinars (students will not be on camera).
• Learn more about StriveScan’s 6x6 virtual college fair format

YES Prep participates in TACRAO's Houston College Night and Days Program, to ensure that our college fair does not conflict with other Houston and Texas College Fairs. Our fair will be hosted on:

Tuesday, October 6, 2020, from 9 AM to 12:00 PM

During this time, there will be three-time blocks:

• 9:00 AM - 9:45 AM
• 10:00 AM - 10:45 AM
• 11:00 AM - 11:45 AM

Each college will be assigned to a panel during one of those three time periods, so each college's time commitment is one hour. Students will attend all three hours, with the possibility to see up to 18 colleges. If a student is interested in two sessions offered at the same time, the student will be able to view one panel live, and see the other asynchronously later in the week. All panels will be recorded.

To sign up and reserve space, CLICK HERE.  YES Prep has extended the registration deadline due the delayed release of the TACRAO schedule and Hurricane Laura disrupting our first week of operations.  Registration is open until Thursday, September 3, 2020.  Registration this year costs $60 for the StriveScan fee, which includes set up in their system to receive the export of contact cards.  YES Prep does not receive any money from this fee.

Once college registration closes, YES Prep and Strive Scan will publish the schedule and notify you of your hour-long time block and the other institutions you will be presenting with during your session. 

You may have up to two representatives from your institution as panelists during the session. Some institutions may want to have one representative dedicated to answering questions in the chat. 

What You Receive with Your Registration

• 45-minute session to answer student questions via chat
• 6 minutes during the session to present about your institution
• StriveScan student data on all students who register for your group’s session
• Up to two representatives from your institution

For Colleges and Universities who believe that find the $60 registration fee prohibitive toward your participation, please contact William.Keaton@yesprep.org. YES Prep has limited funding to assist colleges and universities with this registration fee.

Register Here

YES Prep recognizes that colleges are still currently making decisions around budget authorization, or scheduling. If your college is interested in registering, but are currently waiting on either budget approval or other authorization, you can indicate your interest by completing this survey.  This will allow YES Prep to include your college as we initially plan panel groups.  

YES Prep Students will begin registering for the panels they want to attend in September and will have the opportunity to ask questions via a Q&A chat throughout the presentation.

YES Prep recognizes the technology barriers that can prevent access to educational programs, including this college fair. To close the gap to access, YES Prep is providing devices and/or WiFi to all students in grades K – 12 who need them, whether they're learning virtually or in-person. YES Prep has committed to a 1-to-1 laptop program for our students, so all YES Prep Students will have the equipment necessary to access the College Fair.