Hobsons, the leading provider of college and career readiness and founder of the Naviance technology that is used in over 10,000 U.S. schools and districts has announced that it will soon be integrating RepVisits for no extra cost into the Naviance platform.

That means for high schools already using Naviance, they will soon get access to a digital tool that helps bridge the gap between schools and college admissions offices by providing guidance counselors with an all-in-one tool to schedule representative visits.

According to RepVisits.com, which will remain as is for the next few months until the changeover occurs, the tool helps high schools:

• Set up, maintain and schedule college rep visits easily and efficiently
• Customize college rep appointments according to bell schedule
• Offer unique appointment times for days when you have an altered schedule

To get started, all a high school counselor has to do is set up a calendar to book college appointments. A college rep then searches available appointments and meetings are scheduled, in which case a notification is sent to both parties. To ensure that both parties remember scheduled meetings, appointments from RepVisits can sync with Outlook or Google Calendar.

The tool was developed by a high school counselor, Erica White, who noticed that scheduling representative visits was a frustrating process bogged down by emails, phone calls and frequent rescheduling.

Hobsons has acquired the tool as part of its mission to continue providing students with the "right-fit postsecondary options."

"We believe this is an important way to bridge the communications gap between college admissions and high schools, ensuring that all students have access to the best information possible in their college search. We are excited to welcome Erica to the Hobsons team. She brings invaluable experience as both a counselor and an entrepreneur," said Amy Reitz, Hobsons Principal Product Manager for Matching Solutions in a statement.

At the moment, RepVisits says it is used by more than 11,000 users at 1,600 high schools and more than 2,000 colleges and universities.

"RepVisits has changed the way I request visits...It allows me the ability to request instantaneously without waiting until the next day to hear from the school. It eliminates the 'waiting' for a response and later hearing that the date and time is unavailable," said Sam Deleon from Benedictine University to the International Association for College Admission Counseling.

Hobsons expects to integrate RepVisits with its Naviance platform by the end of this year.

Nicole Gorman, Senior Education World Contributor

2/1/2017