*This post is sponsored by Loper.
The college search brings undoubtable excitement, but it can also bring our students apprehension as they freeze up before they even start the process.
I want to introduce you to Loper, a college search app that is the ultimate hack for high school students! Loper is revolutionizing a process that can feel overwhelming (finding the perfect college fit) and packing it with personality and fun. (I know, I know—it’s hard to imagine… but stay with me here.)
I’d love to walk you through how to set up a Loper account on your phone as if you are a high school student so that you can get a feel for what an incredible, free college search tool this truly is.
I’ll highlight the ways Loper is making college searching FUN and personal.
Lastly, I’ll share with you some of my favorite, don’t-miss features of Loper.
You’ll love exploring this app on your own as an adult, but you’ll love even more having a new, free tool to offer your students!
1- Here's How to Set Up Loper to Start Your College Search
When you first download the Loper app from the App Store, setup is extremely easy.
As the high school counselor, I’d encourage you to sign up and experiment with the app so that you can see what your students will see—I highly recommend doing this!
When you first open Loper to get started, a “chat-like” feature starts generating conversation questions to get to know you better. (This feels very reminiscent of a text message conversation with a friend.)
This chatbot asks questions like “Are you currently in high school?” and “What year will you graduate?”
For the purposes of playing with the app, I signed up as if I were a clueless junior in high school to get a feel for the student experience.
I answered about 10-15 demographic and interest-based questions for Loper to set up my profile to learn who I was (as a fake student). I found it much easier to answer these questions in this conversation style than filter by filter on a big search engine.
While answering the questions, you get the option to share information with institutions or opt out of this. If you give explicit permission to share, Loper will help connect you to schools directly if you want to demonstrate your own personal interest in the school.
2- A College Search Process That's Personalized and Fun
Obviously, the college search process is personal to a student and their family. When a student can identify their values and their non-negotiables in their post-secondary planning, they will have more confidence in their next steps.
However, most of the high school students we’re working with are still trying to discern what their options are and what their preferences are. They procrastinate on starting the process because it feels like such a HUGE to-do without knowing where to start.
Maybe they’ve considered evaluating the size of a school, but they haven’t considered more nuanced preferences like their desire to participate in ROTC or do research with a professor.
One of the main features that sets Loper apart from other college search tools that I’m obsessed with? Meet “SWIPES.”
Students will find the ease of navigation through “swipes” actually (dare-I-say) FUN.
They’ll explore features of colleges by swiping left (SKIP), right (IMPORTANT), or up (ESSENTIAL) on their preferences.
This navigation is quite intuitive to our technology-native students. When a question is asked, there is a text description to help the user understand what that preference means if they’re unfamiliar.
Loper may give examples of schools that meet a student’s preferential criteria WHILE they’re searching and swiping… in which case they can pause and head to the school’s profile to read about it or hit save for later.
Everything is clean and visually appealing, including the authentic pictures of students on campus and videos produced by students.
Once you’ve swiped on some preferences, your swipes may get interrupted by a new match!
I’m not going to lie; it felt exciting every time I was matched with a school.
Loper has truly figured out how to gamify the college search process… I could lose track of time swiping left, right, and up on preferences so tailored to my interests.
3- A Few Features I LOVE About Loper
I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t highlight some of my absolute favorite features of Loper.
The first delight I stumbled upon was the “specific types of institutions” you may be interested in. Now, even in my counselor-mind, I don’t always consider the number of unique experiences that are available to our students.
When the “specific institutions” preference popped up in my initial chat, I was surprised to see more than just 4-year college, 2-year college, military, and work (because those are my default lines for students).
Loper included a LONG list of pathways for students to consider like:
- HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities)
- HSIs (Hispanic Serving Institutions)
- Community colleges
- Gap year programs
- All-male schools
- All-female schools
- Art institutes
- Conservatories
- Tech institutes
- Trade schools
- Bootcamps
- Apprenticeships
A truly comprehensive list!
As Loper continues to expand its platform to highlight more pathways beyond the traditional 4-year college route, they are looking for recommendations from counselors on programs with strong student outcomes.
If you know of trade schools, apprenticeships, gap year programs, or other alternatives that you’d like to share with the Loper team, take a moment to fill out this form.
Next, I loved the ease of toggling over to my saved schools whenever I wanted an update on what I had saved back when I was swiping.
On the “Schools” tab, not only could I see my saved schools, but I could also see some curated recommendations based on my interests.
This is extremely helpful for the student who wants to expand their search but feels good about some of the preferences they’ve narrowed in on so far in their search.
Lastly, a feature counselors will love to see is the “My Apps” section. This portion of the Loper app gives a summary of all the stats a student needs to know about the schools they saved including:
- how many days until their next deadline
- how many essays are required for their final list of schools
- the total cost of application fees (perfect if they’re trying to budget wisely for this)
- how many application portals they’re going to be using
These features in “My Apps” give a comprehensive summary tool for students to keep the process moving forward without missing anything important. Students can even share their list with parents and counselors.
Can you imagine the power of Loper in your students’ post-secondary planning?
Whether you’re taking it into classrooms, running a small group where you’re coaching 5-10 students at a time on it, or you’re incorporating it into your individual planning meetings, I am certain Loper should be added to your counselor toolkit as you’re helping students explore and plan for their life after high school.
Loper’s free college search tool will equip and empower your students to steer the ship on their own post-secondary planning experience.
Download the Loper app, and check it out for yourself!
