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Counselor workspace

Admissions counselor software that starts with today.

Each counselor starts the day with Today's Tasks: what's overdue, what's due today, and a calendar in Month, Week, Day or Agenda view, filtered by team and follow-up type. Their dashboard tracks progress against targets, and one click opens the applicant, with calls, WhatsApp chats, emails and documents on one lead record.

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  1. Month view: follow-ups as chips in their type's color
  2. Teams: open the team list
  3. Pick Undergraduate Admissions to see its members
  4. Tick Chloe Martin: her follow-ups join the month
  5. Follow-up types: untick Phone Call
  6. Day view: today's follow-ups by the hour
  7. Open the campus visit: parents are joining
Recreated product screens with fictional sample data.

A counselor's day

Less hunting for the next task. More conversations.

Messages in five places, calls with no notes and handoffs that start from zero eat a counselor's day. The workspace follows the job instead: plan, talk to applicants, log it and hand over cleanly.

  1. Stage 1: Plan

    A daily task panel that puts overdue work first

    Overdue follow-ups sit at the top, then today, tomorrow and the days ahead, beside a calendar of follow-ups in Month, Week, Day or Agenda view. Each one shows its type, so a counselor can group their calls and messages without opening every record.
    • Overdue, today, tomorrow and upcoming
    • Today's targets, my notes and a mini calendar
    • Configurable follow-up types: call, email, WhatsApp, campus visit and more

  2. Stage 2: Talk

    Reply and call from the applicant's record

    Two-way WhatsApp and Messenger chats sit in one inbox next to sent email and SMS history, and chatbots can take the first questions before handing the chat to a person. Click-to-call opens the browser softphone on the lead, and recordings and missed calls land on the same record.
    • Team and status filters in the inbox
    • Email, SMS and WhatsApp templates
    • Browser softphone with recordings
    See the conversations inbox

  3. Stage 3: Follow up

    Follow-ups and notes that keep the record current

    Mark a follow-up complete from the task panel, then schedule the next one from the lead toolbar with its type, date and time. Notes have their own drawer. Calls and messages log themselves, and targets and dashboards update from the same activity.
    • Mark follow-ups complete in one click
    • Follow-up and note drawers on every lead
    • Every entry shows on the lead record

  4. Stage 4: Understand

    The whole applicant on one lead record

    The lead record brings together details, follow-ups and notes, the communication log, call logs, application stages, documents and recorded payments, and a full audit history. Counselors pick up any conversation without asking the applicant to repeat themselves.
    • Communication log and call logs side by side
    • Stage progress and rule-based lead score
    • Call, WhatsApp, follow-up and reassign from the toolbar
    See lead management

  5. Stage 5: Hand over

    Reassign cleanly when plans change

    When someone is away, a team lead selects their leads and moves them to one colleague or shares them round robin across a team. When a counselor leaves, deactivating them shows each colleague's active leads and capacity before the caseload moves.
    • Bulk reassign or distribute from the lead list
    • Workload and capacity shown when a counselor leaves
    • Current load shown when you reassign one lead

Targets for individuals and teams, on the work that matters.

Set targets per counselor, or team defaults that split equally across members, then track achievement as the work happens. Nobody waits for a month-end spreadsheet to find out they're behind.

  • Calls
  • Leads
  • Applications
  • Follow-ups
  • Emails
  • SMS
  • WhatsApp
  • Meetings
  • Individual targets and team defaults
  • Achievement tracked from logged activity
  • Green at 80% or more, yellow from 50%, red below 50%

For admissions directors and team leads

Coach from the same numbers counselors see.

The activity counselors log every day rolls up in the same CRM for colleges and universities: the team dashboard marks each member on track, at risk or behind, so a director knows who needs help before a deadline, not after it.

Team and organization dashboards

See team progress, lead stage funnels and channel performance alongside each counselor's targets.

Learn more

Staff activity analytics

Reports on how the CRM is being used help you see who needs support or a lighter caseload.

Routing that respects capacity

Round robin, weighted, load-balanced, zone-based and source-based rules, with soft or hard capacity limits.

Learn more

Contact masking by role

Counselors can call and message applicants without seeing full phone numbers or emails.

Learn more

Calling in the browser

Click-to-call and a browser softphone, with call logs and recordings on the lead.

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Follow-ups created for you

Workflows can create a follow-up when a stage changes or an applicant goes quiet, so the next touch is on someone's list.

Learn more

See the workspace through a counselor's eyes.

In the walkthrough we follow one counselor's day: morning tasks, a WhatsApp reply, a call, the next follow-up and the targets at 5 PM.

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Good to know: follow-ups and notes open in their own drawers from the lead toolbar, which has keyboard shortcuts; there is no single quick-log form. Calls from unknown numbers are logged but don’t create an inquiry. There are no native mobile apps: higheredcrm.ai runs in the browser, softphone included.

The other screens a counselor opens in a day.

FAQ

Questions from counselors and team leads

What does an admissions counselor see at the start of the day?

Their own performance dashboard: lead, application and conversion counts, today's targets, today's tasks, overdue follow-ups, a 14-day trend and recent activity. The task panel groups follow-ups into overdue, today, tomorrow and upcoming, next to today's targets, personal notes and a mini calendar, and a calendar shows follow-ups in Month, Week, Day or Agenda view, filtered by team member and follow-up type. Each task opens the applicant it belongs to.

Can counselors answer WhatsApp and Messenger without a personal phone?

Yes. The conversations inbox holds two-way WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger chats on your connected accounts, with sent email and SMS history for the same lead and templates for each channel. When a counselor is away, the conversation stays with the lead record for whoever picks it up.

Which activities can a director set targets for?

Calls, leads, applications, follow-ups, collections, emails, SMS, WhatsApp messages, meetings, conversions and notes. Targets can be set per counselor, or as team defaults split equally across members, and progress updates as the work is logged: green at 80% or more, yellow from 50% and red below 50%.

How do new inquiries reach a counselor?

Assignment rules pick an owner the moment an inquiry arrives, by round robin, workload, source or region. A notification workflow can alert the counselor in the app or by email when a lead is assigned to them, and the new lead appears in their list and task panel.

Will a counselor see what the chatbot already told an applicant?

Yes. In the conversations inbox, bot messages carry a chip with the chatbot's name, auto-replies are marked, and messages from staff show who sent them, so the counselor picks up where the bot left off.

Can we add follow-up types for campus visits and interviews?

Yes. Follow-up types are configurable, so a graduate office can add interviews and a recruitment team can add campus visits next to calls, emails and WhatsApp messages. Each type can have sub-types and a default duration, and each follow-up has a date, time, type and owner.

How do caseloads move when a counselor leaves mid-cycle?

Select their leads in the lead list and reassign them to one colleague, or distribute them round robin across the counselors or teams you choose. When you remove or deactivate a counselor, higheredcrm.ai shows each colleague's active leads and capacity warnings before the caseload moves, and reassigning a single lead shows the new owner's current load. New inquiries keep flowing through your assignment rules.

Can student workers or call-center staff contact applicants without seeing full details?

Yes. Contact details can be masked by role, so staff in that role see a partial phone number or email and can still call, text and email the applicant from the CRM. Masking also applies to exports and conversations.

Do counselors need a separate phone system?

Not for calling from the CRM. Counselors can click to call and use a browser softphone with mute, keypad and hang up, connected through a supported cloud telephony provider. Calls are logged on the lead with recordings, and transcripts come with a supported telephony provider.

Give every counselor a clear day.

Bring a counselor or two to the demo. We'll run a morning's work with them on the task panel, the inbox and a lead record, set up with your follow-up types, targets and teams.

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