Product Blog

Lost Boyz Inc. & Successful Youth Leaders case study

July 12, 2022

Bringing personal responsibility, post-secondary educational attainment, and workforce readiness to vulnerable students on Chicago’s South Side.

How myKlovr helps the Youth Mentors at the Lost Boyz Inc. Successful Youth Leaders program empower their students to succeed.

“myKlovr provided our participants with a one-stop shop to provide information needed to successfully prepare for college and the workforce” – LaVonte Stewart, Executive Director of Lost Boyz, Inc. and leader of Successful Youth Leaders program

 

Learn how myKlovr worked with the Successful Youth Leaders program to:

  • provide college & career guidance to at-risk youth
  • develop tools for student accountability
  • deploy dashboard & reporting for mentor visibility into student actions
  • support frontline youth mentors

 

HR Leader’s Guide – A Case for College & Career Counseling Benefits for Employee Families

June 8, 2022

College & Career counseling benefits for employee families has fast become a key benefit for Employers to showcase their commitment to reducing employee stress, improving employee financial wellness, show support for diversity & inclusion, and more. Get our HR Leader’s Guide : A Case for College & Career Counseling Benefits for Employee Families to ensure you have all the information you need for evaluating your solution.

The HR Leader’s Guide covers:

  • The value of providing college & career planning benefits for your employees.
  • How to communicate the case for college & career counseling.
  • The critical pieces to consider when evaluating a college & career planning solution

 

Welcome to myKlovr!
How to Make the Most of Your Membership

February 10, 2021

 

MyKlovr is a first-of-its-kind college and career counseling technology solution for high-school students. Our single-minded focus is to help every myKlovr user increase their chances of college and career success.

Why is it important to us? 90% of the 16 million high-school students in the US are planning to go to college. But over 20% never enroll. Then, over 40% of college students do not obtain a degree within six years of starting. Eventually, college graduates are left with the burden of student loan debts of $40,000 on average.

If you attend college, it’s important to start at a school that’s right for you, one that can deliver the greatest benefit, and for you to be ready to get the most out of your investment.  If you decide college is not the right path for you, how you prepare for life after high-school can make a huge difference in how much you get paid, how secure your job is, and what kind of career you build.

Having a college degree can be very important. Studies demonstrate that on average college graduates earn $22,000 more per year than high-school graduates. Education opens doors to more opportunities and helps find satisfaction and fulfillment in life.

At myKlovr we want to help every student achieve their education and career goals. Using myKlovr is not difficult and follows a simple process:

At the beginning, a myKlovr user needs to tell us something about themselves so that we can understand their strengths, opportunities, interests, ambitions, etc. This is the role of the Student Portfolio.

Based on that information, our artificial intelligence engine formulates personalized Goal Recommendations for every user. This is our digital college prep.

Finally, every myKlovr user needs to decide which Goal Recommendations they want to focus on. Thus, they build their own, unique Action Plan, which will increase their chances of college admission.

MyKlovr also includes valuable tools for career exploration, preparation, and planning for students who choose not to attend college.

There are 8 steps to make the most of your myKlovr membership:

  1. Your Student Portfolio Overview
  2. The Academic Part of Your Student Portfolio
  3. The Personal Part of Your Student Portfolio
  4. The Career Part of Your Student Portfolio
  5. Your Goal Recommendations
  6. Your Goals
  7. Your College Plan
  8. Financial Resources

Step 1 – Your Student Portfolio Overview

Your Student Portfolio is the first thing you should use once you start with myKlovr.  Until you enter at least some of the information, we can’t provide you with any counseling or advice. This is how it works:

Your Student Portfolio consists of three parts that we will talk about in the next four topics. Why so many? Because college admissions are not only about grades and test scores. Good grades are not always enough. And not-so-good grades don’t have to be a road-block, if you tell a compelling personal story. This is what your myKlovr Student Portfolio is for.

As you start building your Student Portfolio keep in mind the following:

  • Most students complete the Academic part first, but you can start wherever you want
  • You don’t have to complete the whole lot in one sitting
  • The more detailed your input, the better your myKlovr Goal Recommendations
  • Keep your Student Portfolio up-to-date so that your Goal Recommendations remain useful.

The best way to use your Student Portfolio is to start early and keep fine-tuning it over time. You are crafting your personal story so that when you submit your college applications, you are ready to tell your unique story, one that will make you stand out in a crowd of applicants.

 

Step 2 – The Academic Foundation of Your Student Portfolio

Academic performance is not everything when you apply to college. But it is still very, very important. College admissions officers pay a lot of attention to your transcripts, test scores, etc. We know what colleges look for and will provide you with guidance that will put you in the best possible position as a college applicant.

Many students complain that when they start preparing their college applications they can’t find all the required grades, scores, etc. Guess what? You can keep all of your transcript info in your myKlovr Portfolio.

A tip before you dive in: Always keep your data up-to-date. Otherwise, myKlovr Goal Recommendations can become less relevant to where you are.

The Academic part of your Student Portfolio has the following sections:

    • Schools – This is a part of your individual profile.  Include your school, most recent GPAs, grading scale, marking periods per year, grades attended, and the date you enter / graduate from high school.
    • Transcripts – Provide us with your course grades as of your 8thgrade. Colleges want to know your entire high school history and evaluate the trends / changes from one year to another.
    • Standardized Tests – Almost all colleges require SAT or ACT scores and they are one of the first things that admission officers look at. Put in all tests that you have taken, including PSATs and Pre-ACT.
    • Writing and Language Skills – This is your self-assessment. You may ask other people, including your teachers, for their feedback.
    • Academic Achievements & Awards – Brag about the accolades that you have won. They can become an important part of your personal essay.

We’ll send you reminders  near the end of each marking period or semester to update your portfolio, but you don’t have to wait for us.

Step 3 – The Personal Part of Your Student Portfolio

It is amazing how much your passions and interests can help your admission chances. But you need to tell a concise and compelling story. This is what the Personal part of your Student Portfolio is going to help you with.

 

The first four sections here cover Cross-Cultural Experience, Extracurricular Activities, Hobbies & Interests, and Volunteering & Community Services. At the beginning write about everything that you could tell a friend. Nothing is insignificant. Try not to skip any detail like dates, awards, leadership. We ask about them for a reason and we use them in the analysis of your profile. Over time, myKlovr will help you select the activities and events that can most boost your attractiveness as a college applicant.

What follows is an assessment of your Achievements & Awards. It’s bragging time! Include only accolades that are connected to the Personal part of your portfolio. Other recognition belongs to the other parts.

Now we want to learn about what personal qualities make you shine in your Personal Qualities assessment. After talking to many college admissions officers, we have selected 12 that they look for when evaluating college candidates. Don’t think that you are expected to max out on all of them. Nobody does. We want you to understand what your 2-3 top personal qualities are so that when you write your application essay you can tell a unique story of what makes you an amazing candidate.

The next section is your Personal Video, this is where myKlovr encourages you to talk about yourself, your passions, and about what makes you different. You can produce a short video and feature it here. If you are involved in performing arts, if you play an instrument, or if you are an athlete, you can upload video clips of your performances or games.

Last but not least there is the Statement of Purpose. You are invited to think and write about the vision of your own future, and about the difference that you want to make in the world.  When you apply to colleges, you’ll need to write a personal statement, and the thoughts you have captured in your Statement of Purpose can serve as a starting point.

Step 4 – The Career Part of Your Student Portfolio

The Career part of your Student Portfolio is there for two reasons.

Firstly, we want to encourage you to think about what you want to do in life. There is no rush. You have plenty of time to decide. But if you know your career preferences, it will be easier to select the right colleges for you. If you understand your strengths and where your energy is, you can use them to your advantage.

Most colleges do not expect their applicants to select their career path or even their college major. But they are likely to ask you to explain why you have chosen to apply to their college. When you can talk about your future and how their college can help you get there, it will be easier to convince the admissions counselors that you are the right candidate for their institution.

Secondly, we invite you to capture any internship, work experience or even related recognition, that you may have. Experiences like that give you a taste of what a specific profession can be like. Spend a few weeks at an attorney’s office. Do you still want to be a lawyer? Besides, this is a chapter of your personal story that may connect with an admissions officer at your dream college.

 

Step 5 – Your Goal Recommendations

Goal Recommendations are the core benefit of our digital college prep. In response to your input in your Student Portfolio, our Artificial Intelligence-driven engine formulates these recommendations of focus areas that, if addressed, will significantly increase your chances of college admissions.

The advice we give depends on the tier of college you plan to attend. More selective colleges have higher standards for admission, and may require more preparation on your part.  Use the “Find My Tier” tool to find the college tier that’s the best match for you, then select that target tier in the Goal Recommendations section.

The Goal Recommendations are arranged under the following tabs: Academic, Personal, Career, and Declined Recommended Goals. Click on a Recommendation to see details about why it is important and what steps you’ll need to take to acheive it.

 

You can do two things with a Recommended Goal:

1 – Press the ✓ icon to accept the recommendation, if you want to work on it,
2 – Press the ✕ icon to decline if you don’t like it or it is not the right time for you to work on it,

Remember, every time you update your Student Portfolio your Goal Recommendations will be updated accordingly so that you always receive the most relevant counseling from myKlovr.

Step 6 – Your Goals

Your Goals are the tasks you have decided to take on to increase your chances of college admission. But a goal is a goal and you need to be able to work with it.

Under the My Goals Custom tab, click on plus sign icon if you want to create a completely new goal. It can be anything, even something like ‘Wash the dishes every Thursday night’. After a second thought … even though admirable, it probably won’t help you much with your college chances.

 

Another cool feature of My Goals is that you can mark specific steps or entire goals as complete so that at any moment you can see what progress you have made. Trust me, it will helps your motivation to see that the work is done, so come back often to check your goal steps off.

There is one important thing about Your Goals. It will only be useful to you if you do something about it. A goal without any effort put behind it is wishful thinking. A plan that you carry out is progress.

Step 7 – Your College Plan

My College Plan contains four unique features:

  • Find My Tier
  • College Finder
  • Target List
  • Athletic Eligibility Status

Find My Tier helps you identify a college tier that best fits your profile based on your Student Portfolio. This would normally be your match tier. Your GPA and standardized test scores will affect your current match tier, so be sure to keep this information up-to-date.

The next tool is the College Finder. Our College Finder has seven different filter sections, each of which offers a range of search criteria. There are a lot of colleges and universities in our database, so you’d better use the filters if you want to find the colleges that are right for you.

You can jump from one search section to another, go back, add, change and remove filters as much as you want. The search results will be continuously updated. If you see very few colleges there, it may be because you have added too many search filters, or some criteria are inconsistent. In that case, you try reducing the number of search criteria or adjust them.

Play with the College Finder as much as you want. Try different searches. Selecting colleges is important because you are choosing a place where you are going to spend an important part of your life. Make sure that you love every day of your college years.

You can click on each college in the Finder results to see more detail or to save the college in your Target List Clipboard. Many colleges have virtual tours available, so click the video tour icon when you see it.

On the following tab, you will find your Target List. Colleges you save from the College Finder are listed in the Clipboard section. From there,  you can move colleges to your reach, match, or safety lists.

You can specify the target tier for each of your Reach, Match, and Safety lists, and you’ll see a warning icon if a college in one of the lists is from the wrong tier.

Finally, we have the Academic Eligibility Status tab. If you indicated that you might be interested in playing collegiate sports, you’ll want to keep track of your academic eligibility according to NCAA regulations. (If you don’t see this tool, it might be because you said you didn’t plan to play college sports. You can change the setting in the Settings tab.) Understand that you’ll have to confirm your eligibility directly through the NCAA website for a final determination.

 

Step 8 – Financial Resources

Recognizing that nearly three-quarters of U.S. families are concerned about paying for college as higher education costs continue to increase, myKlovr has partnered with several partners to provide resources for you and your parents.  The “Paying for College” tab has information about financial aid (Over 70% of college students receive some sort of financial aid, ranging from reduced tuition and scholarships to personal loans.)

Screenshot of Paying for College Section, buttons: Financial Aid Info, True Cost of College, Scholarships and Grants

The Finanical Aid Info section contains information about financial aid resources, different kinds of financial aid, information on applying for aid, and how to research scholarships, grants, work-study programs, and loans.

The True Cost of College tool helps you understand how much you and your family are likely to pay to attend a specific school considering the school’s history of tuition reduction, grants, work-study programs, as well as your family’s financial situation.

The Scholarships and Grants tool can help you search for scholarships and grants that will reduce your cost of college with no obligation to repay the funds.

We have now completed the 8 steps to make the most of your myKlovr experience. We look forward to helping you take control of your future and setting you on a journey towards growth and fulfillment.

myKlovr: A Short Primer for Benefits Brokers

December 3, 2019

By Thomas Broderick

As a benefits broker, you give one or more clients expert advice on how to provide the best benefits at a cost affordable to employees, answer employers and employees’ questions, and stay up to date with the latest laws and regulations. As a result, you need to keep on top of the rapidly evolving benefits landscape to succeed at your job.

In this brief article, we at myKlovr want to introduce you to our employee and member benefit, one that appeals to mid-career professionals with middle and high school-aged children. We feel confident that by the time you finish reading, you will recognize myKlovr’s value and want to offer it to your clients.

What Is myKlovr?

MyKlovr answers a question many high school students have: ‘How do I get into my dream college?’ Unfortunately, high schools across the country lack proper college counseling resources, and the best private college admissions counselors charge as much as some lawyers. Many families go into the process blind, and without help, prospective college students cannot attend the right school.

To help families in need, myKlovr developed a first-of-its-kind virtual college admissions counseling service that combines seven key functions:

  • A student portfolio where users can curate their best academic and extracurricular work
  • Personalized goal recommendations (e.g., improve a grade, join a club) that align to the user’s top college picks
    • Users can modify these recommendations, also known as an action plan, at any time
  • A progress dashboard that visualizes users’ accomplishments
  • An advanced college finder with multiple filters
  • A support network wherein users can invite trusted adults (e.g., teachers, parents) to offer advice, keep up to date with progress, and confirm milestones
  • Specialized courses that teach users how to create college-friendly social media accounts
  • Financial education modules that provide valuable information on how to pay and save for college

Users receive all of these services the moment they sign up for myKlovr. Once they input personal and academic information, they can begin improving their chances of college admissions success.

How Does Offering myKlovr Differ From Other Benefits?

You’ve likely come across dozens of voluntary benefits that appeal not only to employees but also their families (e.g., public transportation passes, discounts on entertainment, gym memberships, etc.). myKlovr stands apart in one crucial aspect – cost.

Our low cost not only attracts new users but can help your clients, as well. Unlike with other, more expensive traditional and voluntary benefits, your clients can offer myKlovr at any time of year. Without the need for an open enrollment period, new employees in our target demographic can sign up on their first day of work. Your clients can use this fact to their advantage as they try to recruit the best talent.

Final Thoughts

Please visit our website to learn more about myKlovr and how it helps students and their families. Also, feel free to contact us if you have questions or would like to start offering myKlovr to your clients.

We look forward to working with you.

5 Questions To Ask College Alumni

September 23, 2019

Selecting a college is an important choice with long-term implications for your future. Wherever you choose to go, you are dedicating four years and thousands of dollars to that college, and in return, you expect a positive and worthwhile experience. Even more important, the college you select needs to give you the best chance to succeed. It must offer you multiple opportunities to prepare you for your chosen career and the real world that awaits you. It also must provide the type of environment that will help you to learn and grow as a student and as a person.

So, how do you know if the college you are looking at will deliver these things? Yes, you should research the college ahead of time. One of the most important steps in your college selection process is taking campus tours and asking questions. We covered what questions to ask your campus tour guide in an earlier blog post. While you are visiting the school, you may meet alumni who went to that school. It is fine to ask them questions – but remember that they were chosen to be at that tour or open house for a reason. The school knows they are going to speak about them in a positive light.

To ensure you are getting the whole story, make sure to reach out to at least 3 alumni via social media or mutual connections. This is where you will get the full truth, the good and the bad, about the school you are considering. Once you find these graduates, you should ask them specific questions to get the information you need and not waste anyone’s time since many will be working professionals. Here are 5 questions to ask and what types of answers to look for.

What was your major, and are you working in that field today?

This question is important because a student’s experience can vary depending on what their major was. Out of the three alumni you speak to, ensure at least once studied the same subject(s) you plan on pursuing. Doing so gives you an idea of what your time will be like. If certain classes are difficult, you can plan ahead by ensuring you take that class at a time where you function at a high level.

The second part of this question is just as important. This will give you insight into how well the school prepared its graduates for the real world. If the graduate responds by telling you that he is not working in his major you may want to dig deeper. This may lead to an important discovery, such as finding out the school has a lackluster career center or has no process in setting their graduates up with companies after graduation.

On the other hand, you may discover that the school in question does a great job assisting students in their transition into the workforce. These types of positives should be documented and will come in handy when you are comparing schools. Again, it is important to understand every aspect of this school before making this crucial decision.

What was the biggest transitional issue you faced when you started at the college?

 Even if you do all your research and choose the ideal college for your needs and goals, the transition can still be difficult. If you are going away to school, then you are starting a new routine, with new people, in a new environment. If you are not careful, then this massive change can overwhelm you. Your grades may suffer.

 By asking this question you are getting advice from someone who has already been there. Not only can they tell you what to expect, but they may also bring up something you never even thought of before. This lets you prepare ahead of time and ensure that whatever is coming will not distract from your schoolwork and knock you off course.

 You may also learn something interesting specifically about the school. For example, several students I have spoken to were not prepared to follow a bus schedule to get to class. Many of them missed at least one class due to this issue. Students also talk about the weather at their school and how different it is from where they grew up. It’s up to you and your needs as to whether or not these are disqualifying factors. For some, learning a bus schedule is no big deal. For others, they may prefer to walk to and from class and have complete control over their schedule. The important thing is that you know these issues exist ahead of time and can plan for them.

Did you feel the college prepared you for the workforce and the real world?

Almost any school can teach you the basics of any course of study. However, you want to be sure you attend a college that goes above and beyond that. Not only are you going to college to learn, but you are also going to prepare for the next steps in life and start to build a career and life you will enjoy. This question lets you know if the college offers the opportunity you need to do just that.

This is also where you will most likely get the most passionate answer from alumni. Did the college provide them with a great education, valuable internships, and help in finding a job? 

This is where you want to look for trends in the answers you are getting. If you hear the same positive or negative things, it can help you paint a picture of what it will be like to attend that school. Be sure to document these answers so you can refer to them later. The biggest thing to look out for is whether or not the school is going to help you reach your goals and start your career off in the right direction.

What was your favorite and least favorite thing about the school?

Again you are looking for two things in the answers you get here – emotion and trends. This is where you can tell if an alumnus feels passionately one way or another about the school. It also helps continue to paint that picture we started in the last question. Either way, these answers should help you understand if the school you are looking at is worth your time and money.

Pay attention to how much time they spend answering both parts of this question. If they go on and on about all their favorite things and cannot name anything negative, then that is a great sign. On the other hand, if the conversation once again turns negative, that is a red flag that needs to be explored. Again, you should not disqualify a school because someone has something negative to say about it. 

Lastly, examine the quality of these answers. If the best part of the school is the parties or the ice cream, that is not a good enough reason to go there. Just like if the worst part of the school is that the football team is in last place or you have to walk up several hills, that is not a good reason to cross it off your list. You want to look for answers such as the quality of the lecture halls, campus life, access to resources, and other things that are rooted in education and academics. 

If you could go back in time, would you attend the school again?

If you are in a situation where you feel like you can only ask one or two of these questions, be sure to ask this one. You will get an honest answer and most likely get the reasoning behind it. Notice the emotion and passion when they answer this question. If they say they would attend again, they will speak highly of the school and you will be able to tell that they enjoyed their time there. If they would not attend again, you will learn why and it could be the main reason you decide not to go to that school.

Conclusion

Speaking to alumni is just one part of the college selection process. In the end, you will need to choose a college that fits your specific needs and goals. Talking to people who went to that school is an ideal way to learn about what to expect. However, the most important thing is to look for trends among the answers you get. If you’re lucky enough to speak with alumni in person, be sure to notice their emotions and overall attitude about their time in school. By asking these questions, you will have the information that will help you pick the right school.

Working with an online college advisor like myKlovr is a great way to receive personalized expert advice to help with this important decision. Online college advisors are a powerful tool that guides students through the complicated world of college admissions and helps them stay organized and on schedule. You can start as early as 9th grade by signing up for a free myKlovr account HERE. The earlier you start using myKlovr, the better your chance of getting into your dream school.

Why High School Counselors Struggle (And What We Can Do About It)

September 20, 2019

By Thomas Broderick

I spent my entire K-12 education attending public schools in the same district. I received excellent academic support services from my schools’ counselors, without which I would have never been able to attend Vanderbilt University as an undergraduate.

Years later, I returned to my old school district – one of the richest in the United States – to teach at a high school just down the street from the one where I graduated. Over the next four years, I saw a different side of education, one where students lacked the counseling resources that had helped me succeed.

Many of my students, not knowing much about higher education, wrote off college as an unattainable dream. Also, they had no time during the school day to explore career-preparation programs, trade schools, or other educational opportunities that could have prepared them for the next stages of their lives. These issues were not entirely the fault of the counselor. Yes, you read that right. The entire high school, one that catered to at-risk students, had only one counselor.

Unfortunately, this isn’t uncommon in the United States. The average high school counselor works with approximately double the recommended number of students that the American School Counselor Association recommends. And in many parts of the country, the counselor-to-student ratio is growing.

In this article, we’ll look at how proper counseling can help students, why this isn’t happening, and how myKlovr has stepped up to provide a service that assists high school students with college admissions and makes counselors more effective professionals.

The Challenge High School Counselors Face

In a perfect world, counselors would have time to analyze students’ academic – as well as emotional and social – needs. Counselors would meet with students at multiple points throughout the year to discuss progress, challenges, and goals. Finally, counselors would have detailed notes to refer to before working with a student – much like a patient file a doctor uses during a checkup. In this world, high school students would not only receive excellent advice but would also have a solid action plan for after high school.

However, the typical high school counselor is responsible for nearly 500 students. This workload leaves them little time to address students’ needs, let alone learn names. As a result, students spend only a few minutes each year with a counselor.

Sadly, too few counselors working with too many students is only one part of the problem that 21st-century counselors face.

Only So Many Hours in the Day

School counselors’ job responsibilities extend much further than what most people realize, and when Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)in 2001, counselors found themselves with an even larger job description. Before NCLB, high school counselors were responsible for administering some high-stakes standardized tests (e.g., AP, ACT, SAT). In the district where I grew up and taught, each of these tests took place during school hours, further reducing counselors’ time for other activities.

By the time I started teaching 10 years after NCLB became law, my school’s counselor was responsible for state- and district-level assessments. There were pre-assessments, formative assessments, and benchmarks sprinkled throughout the year. Although teachers administered these tests, it was the counselor’s responsibility to analyze the data, further taking time away from students.

Besides additional responsibilities, counselors are some of the first targets when a school or district tightens its budget. Districts make this choice despite overwhelming evidence that reducing the number of counselors increases the dropout rate.

Although some school districts have embraced change and hired additional counselors, most counselors still struggle with finding time for their primary duty: serving students. For this reason, counselors need resources that can make their limited time with students more efficient and effective.

One such resource is myKlovr.  

The myKlovr Advantage

Our goal at myKlovr to provide college-bound students with personalized college admissions advice. Our service helps students identify their academic strengths and weaknesses, create an action plan, and research colleges that would be a good fit. Concerning the latter, we develop a College Match for each user – a list of schools that a student would have an excellent chance of receiving admission if he or she followed the action plan we recommend. Parents, counselors, teachers, and other trusted adults can stay up to date with that student’s academic and extracurricular progress by receiving notifications or accessing the student’s profile.

Final Thoughts

High schoolers throughout the nation suffer from a lack of counseling resources, and counselors are overburdened to the point where they cannot provide their limited resources effectively. MyKlovr aims to close the gap. Students receive individualized advice, and counselors can keep up to date with their students’ evolving needs.

[Press Release] MyKlovr, World’s First Ever Digital College Counselor Announces Two Major Strategic Additions to its Advisory Board

June 18, 2019

By myKlovr

(New York City, June 18, 2019) MyKlovr is delighted to announce the appointment of two new advisory board members who bring more than 65 combined years of business, benefits, and human resource experience. MyKlovr’s new board members are pillars in Fortune 500 companies, industry leaders, and humanitarians.

Nancy Newman is SVP of HR at Viacom Inc. Ms. Newman leads all HR-directed practices throughout the organization and previously served as the EVP and Chief of Staff to the divisional president of MTV Networks, VH1, CMT, and LOGO, acting as a senior strategic partner to the president for all business and organizational decisions within the $2 billion enterprise. Ms. Newman is a member of Viacom’s Executive Global Inclusion Advisory Board and was named Working Mother of the Year by Working Mother Media. Ms. Newman holds an M.A. in organizational psychology from Columbia University and a B.A. in psychology with a minor in business from Trinity University.

Ms. Newman praised the myKlovr platform by saying, “I have never seen a product that can do so much, for so many, at such a low cost. The fact that myKlovr can be offered as a Total Rewards Benefit package makes it a compelling proposition for Benefits Managers. Kudos to myKlovr, you fixed one of the most pressing HR issues, how to attract and retain talent.”

Larry Kirshner is Co-President at Frenkel Benefits – an EPIC Company. Joining Frenkel as EVP and an equity-holding partner in 2001, Mr. Kirshner has played a significant role in the exponential growth that Frenkel Benefits has achieved along with the firm’s leadership position in the industry. Mr. Kirshner graduated from State University of NY at Oneonta with degrees in history and political science. Mr. Kirshner has been recognized as an Alumni of Distinction after establishing the Kirshner Family Scholarship in 2017 for first-generation college students.

“As a parent who has recently gone through the college admissions process, I appreciate the incredible weight that myKlovr takes off families’ shoulders. As a benefits provider, I am thrilled to offer the first ever virtual college counselor to our dedicated workforce and clients alike,” Mr. Kirshner commented.

MyKlovr’s founder and CEO, Gustavo G. Dolfino added, “It is a privilege and an honor to have Nancy and Larry join our advisory board. Their guidance and expertise will prove crucial to myKlovr’s scalability.”

With a rate of nearly 500 children per high-school counselor, college admissions is a major issue facing most families. MyKlovr’s artificial intelligence driven virtual college counselor, helps students get admitted to the school of their dreams, by focusing on both EQ and IQ, and doing so at an early age, where strategic interventions are more likely to succeed.

The myKlovr benefit is provided by companies to their employees for the benefit of their families, either on a company paid basis, as part of a total rewards benefit offering, or employee paid, on a voluntary after-tax basis.

[Press Release] MyKlovr Offers Best-In-Class Virtual College Counseling Benefits via Namely’s Brokerage Services

June 4, 2019

By myKlovr

Partnership Makes Disruptive College Planning Technology Available to Namely’s Clients as Voluntary Benefit

(New York City, June 4, 2019) MyKlovr, a growing virtual counselor for college-bound students and their parents, has entered into a partnership with Namely, a leading HR platform for mid-sized companies, to offer a first-of-its-kind benefit to its 1,300 corporate clients. Starting today, companies that use Namely’s brokerage services to manage employee benefits can offer myKlovr’s virtual college counseling services as an innovative education planning benefit.

Founded in 2016, myKlovr enables students and parents to leverage artificial intelligence to receive personalized, step-by-step guidance to increase their chances of being admitted into the college that suits them best. The platform offers in-depth support for the whole college-planning process, from school identification and academic readiness to detailed action plans and financial preparation.

“Planning for college is one of the most important life phases for a student and their parents, and it is often one of the most stressful,” says Gustavo Dolfino, CEO of myKlovr. “We wanted to work with an innovative partner like Namely to ensure we are bringing our platform to a wider audience who can benefit from the relieved pressure and stress our first-of-its-kind platform offers.”

With this partnership, Namely now offers myKlovr as an efficient post-tax voluntary benefit for clients’ employees and their families through seamless, convenient payroll deductions.

“We are thrilled to offer myKlovr’s suite of products to our valued brokerage services clients as part of our growing portfolio of both traditional and non-traditional benefit options,” said Vin DiDonna, benefits director at Namely. “We are always looking for ways to extend the innovative benefits we offer, so we can help our clients differentiate their mid-sized businesses by better serving employees, and we expect this college planning platform to provide immense value.”

Namely’s award-winning, powerful, easy-to-use technology allows companies to handle all of their HR, payroll, time management, and benefits in one place. Coupled with best-in-class account support, every Namely client gets the software and service they need to deliver great HR and a strong, engaged company culture.

About myKlovr
MyKlovr is a media division of Student Global, LLC, established in New York in 2016. MyKlovr is the first-of-its-kind virtual college counseling platform that utilizes predictive data analytics and artificial intelligence to increase every high school student’s chances of college admission. For more information, visit www.myklovr.com.

[Press Release] World Leader in Virtual College Counseling, myKlovr, and Ground Breaking Social Media Training Provider, Social Assurity, Sign Strategic Alliance to Bolster College Admissions Success

May 29, 2019

By myKlovr

AI-powered college counseling platform will now provide social media training to its users to help them get into college

(New York City, May 29, 2019) – With big data algorithms and predictive analytics now driving college admission and merit aid decisions, myKlovr announced today that they have partnered with Social Assurity to incorporate social media training into the myKlovr college counseling platform. Acknowledging that 75% of colleges routinely monitor an applicant’s social media presence, online social media training will now be available to myKlovr users as an additional membership benefit.

Social Assurity provides students with online social media training, teaching students how to utilize popular social media platforms to curate a digital self-portrait that showcases their interests and achievements, all while building a lifelong network.

MyKlovr’s CEO and Founder, Gustavo Dolfino said: “Social media is a valuable mechanism to convey information about an applicant. College admission offices, scholarship committees, alumni interviewers, and financial aid offices routinely evaluate a student’s social media interactions and online presence as a way to make better decisions about qualified applicants. MyKlovr is committed to positioning students for college success and social media plays a critical role in college admissions.”

Social Assurity’s founder, Alan Katzman added: “We are thrilled to be working with the myKlovr network of parents, students, and companies, and look forward to showing students how to use social media to distinguish themselves and to leverage enrollment management algorithms for the college admissions process.”

The strategic alliance between both leaders was put together over many months; it is a logical progression of a shifting paradigm in the college admissions world, where a one-stop shop solution was badly needed. By agreeing to cooperate and leverage each other’s platforms for the benefit of students and parents, myKlovr and Social Assurity have filled the void which had never been successfully addressed before.

About myKlovr
MyKlovr is a media division of Student Global, LLC, established in New York in 2016. MyKlovr is the first-of-its-kind virtual college counseling platform that utilizes predictive data analytics and artificial intelligence to increase every high school student’s chances of college admission. For more information, please visit https://myklovr.com.

About Social Assurity
Social Assurity is the leading online social media training provider for students, parents, and schools. Social Assurity empowers high school and college students to harness and leverage the power of social media to create informative and persuasive social media profiles that reflect their interests, unique qualities, and character traits. For more information, please visit https://socialassurity.com.

[Press Release] MyKlovr Signs Strategic Alliance with National Benefit Partners and Premier Health Solutions Dramatically Extending Its National Footprint

May 21, 2019

By myKlovr

Predictive analytics guidance platform now available as part of HR offered Total Rewards and Voluntary Benefits package.

(New York City, May 21, 2019) – Healthcare and college costs consistently appear as two of the top five financial concerns for families, according to Gallup polls. To ease the burden and support families interested in higher education, myKlovr has signed contracts with market leaders, National Benefit Partners (NBP), and Premier Health Solutions (PHS), to deliver artificial intelligence driven college acceptance services, to clients of both national organizations.

National Benefit Partners is an independent marketing organization that specializes in best-in-class voluntary benefit solutions to employers and their families. Premier Health Solutions helps businesses and the self-employed, enjoy corporate human resource type benefits at a discount. By adding myKlovr to the major distribution channels covered by these two firms, the company is substantially enhancing its reach on a national basis.

“We recognize that higher education planning can be burdensome and overwhelming for most families and individuals struggling to get the valuable information they need, to succeed on the road to college and in business,” said Gustavo G. Dolfino, founder and CEO of myKlovr. “We are pleased to partner with National Benefit Partners and Premier Health Solutions to deliver the myKlovr promise to students and their parents, in their quest to research, and get admitted to the college of their dreams.”

“Premier Health Solutions offers healthcare discounts and many other money-saving benefits to businesses. This new partnership with myKlovr allows us to offer our clients, the latest artificial intelligence driven algorithmic solutions, enabling them to participate in the most comprehensive educational solution available today,” said Brandon Wood, Partner of Premier Health Solutions. “What myKlovr has done is revolutionary; a new bar in the benefits space has been set.”

“As an organization dedicated to identifying products and services that can help employees solve a need, this partnership is the perfect fit to help our clients prepare for, and maximize, their families’ probability of getting into the college of their choice,” said Doug Kreszl, President of National Benefit Partners, East.

About myKlovr
MyKlovr is a media division of Student Global, LLC, established in New York in 2016. MyKlovr is the first-of-its-kind virtual college counseling platform that utilizes predictive data analytics and artificial intelligence to increase every high school student’s chances of college admission. For more information, please visit https://myklovr.com.

About Premier Health Solutions
Premier Health Solutions is dedicated to offering innovative benefits management and administration services that make it easy for our customers to provide best-in-class benefits to the individuals they serve. 

About National Benefit Partners
National Benefit Partners (NBP) is an independent marketing organization specializing in voluntary benefits and delivering turn-key product and service platforms to our Allied Distributors.

[Press Release] Early Stage Company Tackles the College Admissions Scandal

April 2, 2019

By myKlovr

MyKlovr’s AI-based virtual college counselor outperforms human coaches; costs a tiny fraction thereof. And it is legal!

(New York City, April 2, 2019) – With the recent college admissions scandal continuing to unfold, new evidence sheds light on the grueling college admissions process, and the extent parents are willing to go to get their children admitted to the “right school.” College admissions leader, myKlovr, recognized the problem three years ago, and put together cutting-edge AI technology thereby, leveling the playing field.

Offered as a human resources sponsored corporate benefit, myKlovr has solved two issues at once – first, it has allowed companies to attract and retain best of breed employee talent, and second – it has made it possible for corporate employees to provide the luxury of college coaching to their families, either as a company sponsored or a voluntary benefit. Major benefit marketplaces such as Benefitfocus, and some of the largest benefit brokers in the industry, including USI and Lockton, have chomped at the bit to distribute the myKlovr’s revolutionary solution.

“As we saw last week, some parents will go to any length, to get their children into a top school, even if it means breaking the law. We do not do it on behalf of the kids; rather, we help them maximize the chances of doing it for themselves.” said Gustavo G. Dolfino, founder and CEO of myKlovr. “We believe, every student who aspires to attend college, should have that opportunity, regardless of background and race. We are proud our platform is affordable to families of all walks of life. That is our promise to them. And we provide a money back guarantee.”

In addition to using artificial intelligence to provide every college-bound student with personalized guidance, the enhanced college planning platform includes:

  • A college planning tool, which makes it easier for users to discover, build and refine a college list, and provides college recommendations based on each student’s individual profile;
  • An enhanced parent portal, designed for parent/student interaction, allowing families to navigate the college planning journey together;
  • A powerful goal recommendation engine delivering individual insightful recommendations, while tracking ongoing milestones;

MyKlovr’s extensive client pipeline, has made college counseling available and affordable to more than three million households, and their children.

About myKlovr
MyKlovr is a media division of Student Global, LLC, established in New York in 2016. MyKlovr is the first-of-its-kind virtual college counseling platform that utilizes predictive data analytics and artificial intelligence to increase every high school student’s chances of college admission. For more information, please visit myklovr.com/

4 Steps With myKlovr That Will Help You Write a Compelling College Application Essay

May 24, 2018

By myKlovr

The changing landscape of college admissions

Technology has facilitated many aspects of our lives including college applications. With The Common Application platform, it has become easier than ever to apply to many colleges at the same time. In 2015, According to the National Association for College Admission Counseling, 36 percent of first-time freshmen applied to seven or more colleges, while 10 years earlier, this number was only 17 percent. What are the consequences of this increase in applications? College applicants can ‘cast their net wider’ and increase their odds of admission. On the other hand, college admissions officers have to review this ever-growing number of applications. The average number to be reviewed is as high as 850 applications per admissions counselor.

These changes pose new challenges for the high school seniors preparing their college applications. Transcripts, grades, and test scores remain very important, and nothing can compensate for poor academic performance. But when there are hundreds of applicants with similar academic results like your own, how can you increase the chances that an admissions officer chooses your application among many? A college application essay may be the answer.

The importance of the application essay

According to the research that we conducted in 2017, an application essay plays an important role in the candidate assessment process. In general, there are three types of essay topics:

  • Tell us about yourself.
  • Tell us why you have chosen to apply to our college.
  • Write a creative essay.

Colleges ask for essays to evaluate students’ writing skills and his or her ability to formulate a logical argument, as well as to learn more about them. This task helps to assess the student’s overall fit with the college, along with understanding how a student can contribute to the college’s community and culture. Last but not least, colleges want to see how well a candidate can complete a major piece of work that assignments like writing an essay constitute.

When working on your essay, you have to make sure that it is well structured and written, factually true, and meets all the formal criteria that a college expects to be met. But an essay is also an opportunity to tell your personal story, engage your reader: the admissions officer. It helps to make you stand out in a crowd of applicants. Just imagine how many essays an admissions counselor has to read. Do not fall into the ‘dull’ category.

At myKlovr, we propose that you take four steps to be better prepared to tell your own story.

1. Discover what makes you special

College admissions officers are not looking for personal essays that are biographies or full of dates and places. They are in search of young people who will be successful in college and will make great contributions to the school.

We believe that everyone is special, but not everyone has discovered what it is that makes them special.

The research that we conducted among college counselors and admissions officers revealed 12 personal qualities that are associated with college success. Six of them, which we call interpersonal, are related to how we interact with other people (e.g. collaboration, empathy, leadership), and the other six, intrapersonal, describe traits in themselves (e.g. enthusiasm, critical thinking, perseverance). In the Personal part of the myKlovr Student Portfolio, you will find a short assessment where we invite you to reflect on which of these character features define you as a person. It is a great idea to ask others for their feedback. Remember that your parents, friends, and teachers may see you differently than what you think.

The objective of the assessment is to help you identify what makes you special and which personal qualities can constitute the main thread of your own story. Do not expect to max out on every personal quality. This is unrealistic and perhaps not very helpful when you want to tell a unique and compelling personal story.

2. Don’t tell, prove it

Admissions officers are skeptical by nature. They need to be great listeners but equally, they need to read between the lines and to separate ‘the wheat from the chaff’. They will expect you not only to tell them how great of a candidate you are, but to prove it and convince them of this.

How do you do that? With facts. Your myKlovr Student Portfolio has a few sections where you can capture your experiences, roles, achievements and recognition that you were awarded. These parts are there so that when you are writing your essay, you can look there for evidence that endorses your story. Claiming that you have great leadership skills is one thing, but explaining how you organized a group of fellow students to clean up your neighborhood’s  animal shelter after it was flooded is quite something else.

Sometimes, it is hard to remember these events when you need them. Details may be difficult to recall. This is why we encourage you to include all these events in your Student Portfolio. You will not need to use them all, but a well selected, relevant story can give your essay a lot of credibility and make it a more memorably engaging read for an admissions officer.

3. Engage through storytelling

Everybody has heard about the power of storytelling. Human beings pay more attention and better remember stories than data. In fact, our ancestors accumulated and passed knowledge on from generation to generation via stories; think only of the ancient Greek mythology or the Bible.

Once you have chosen what personal qualities will provide the backbone for your own story, and selected the facts and events to substantiate them, it is time to articulate your story. The ‘About Me’ part of your myKlovr Student Portfolio is there specifically to help you put together, practice, and elaborate your story. Start writing it early and come back to change and improve it as often as you want. Invite other people to read it and offer you their advice. If you do that early enough, you will be less nervous in your senior year.

We also encourage you to produce a personal video. All it takes is a script that you can write yourself, a smartphone (plus a tripod if you want to be really fancy), and a free YouTube account. Why would you produce a video? Just think about an admissions officer who is reading through a pile of essays. Wouldn’t it be a welcome change for them to check out an applicant’s video and see a real human face? Your video (must be under 2 minutes or otherwise few people will watch it) gives you an opportunity to connect with an admissions counselor, tell your story, convey your emotions, and ultimately be remembered.

4. Share your vision

Colleges look into their applicants’ pasts, but also assess their future students’ and graduates’ chances. Once a college admits you, they really want you to do well and graduate successfully. They care because a graduation rate. It is an important indicator that affects a school’s reputation.

Admissions officers would like to know what your vision of your future is so that they can assess if their college is the right place for you to achieve your goals. If you love animals and want to become a veterinarian, and they do not offer a relevant major, there would be high likelihood that you’d not be happy at their college and transfer to another one – something that colleges do not like.

In your myKlovr Student Portfolio, we have included a section entitled ‘Statement of Purpose’. We invite you to write about your future here. What do you want to achieve in life? How do you want to get there? What is a college of your dreams? What majors are you excited about? These reflections are important for two reasons. First, they will help you formulate your expectations, and secondly, you will be much better prepared to choose a college that is right for you. Moreover, you will be able to convincingly explain to an admissions officer why you are applying to their college and how you expect it to help you achieve your life’s destination.

Nobody can write your college application essay for you better than you will because an authentic and emotionally engaging essay has to come from a true source.

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