As the largest capstone AP school in Canada, Appleby College offers students in grades 7 through 12 access to an abundance of opportunities that align with Appleby’s spirit of innovation, inclusivity, and ambition, and shared values of respect, responsibility, integrity, and compassion.  

"We offer a well-rounded education with a strong emphasis on co-curricular activities," shared Rudianne Grigson, Admissions Officer at Appleby College. "From arts and sports to service and global education, our programs are designed to develop versatile individuals."

“Every year, we have more than a dozen global education opportunities for students that allow them to travel to different cities and countries around the world, each with a different subject focus,” she explained. “If they go to Indonesia, they’ll focus on sustainability in the environment. If they choose Iceland, the focus is on climate change. For Germany, the focus is on language and culture. There’s always a fantastic learning experience waiting for each of our students.”

“Admission to Appleby College is quite competitive,” Grigson continued. “To ensure that we’re enrolling the students who will take full advantage of the opportunities we offer, we ask families to complete a multi-step admissions process. They fill out the online application, submit report cards and a confidential teacher reference, and complete an in-person or Zoom interview. Then the last piece is the Asynchronous Assessment in Kira Talent.”

Creating a scalable process for a growing pool of students

“We were first introduced to Kira at the EMA annual conference,” explained Grigson. “After seeing the success that other schools were having with the platform, we began exploring how Kira could help us adapt to the challenges we were facing in our own admissions process.”

"In 2022, we had a 40% increase in applications," she continued. 

“Kira allowed us to handle the increased volume without compromising the quality of our assessments."

“When we’re torn between two students with stellar applications, Kira gives us that extra depth of insight that we previously didn’t have access to,” Grigson explained. 

“Kira helps us differentiate between strong applicants.” 

“Being able to pull up the recorded Kira responses and watch it together as an admissions committee helps us reach a final decision faster and with greater confidence,” she added. 

Getting a full picture of applicant ability

"Kira allows you to customize the assessment to really focus on whatever factor you’re looking to assess," shared Grigson. “We evaluate students’ traits and soft skills, such as resilience, engagement, and respect, as well as their hard skills, such as language, and academic aptitude.”

“We don't have a formal ESL program at Appleby, so students need an intermediate to advanced level of English,” she explained. “For our applicants whose first language is not English, we require a standard English proficiency test, and then Kira gives us another opportunity to get an informal assessment of their confidence in and command of the language.”

“We want to ensure that students have the set of skills necessary to flourish in our rigorous AP curriculum, while participating in the experiential trips and various language programs,” Grigson explained. 

“Having that extra layer of analysis from Kira is invaluable in making those determinations.”

With Kira’s built-in integrity metrics, Appleby can ensure that they’re making those decisions based on a fair and accurate representation of the students’ abilities. By flagging any non-standard applicant behaviors within the platform, from typing speeds to browser refreshes, Kira automatically alerts reviewers so they can take a closer look. 

“Academic integrity is a high priority for our team, especially as we scale our admissions process,” Grigson shared. 

“Kira helps us do our due diligence and reinforces the defensibility of our decision-making process.”

"Kira’s integrity flags alerted us to some activity that we would have never caught before,” she added. 

Delivering and receiving an exceptional experience

With an applicant experience score of 4.6/5, earning a rating of ‘Exceptional’, Appleby’s applicants were keen to share their positive experiences in completing the assessment. 

“We’ve received really positive feedback from our applicants,” Grigson shared. 

“Kira creates such a wonderful touch point with students and their families, which helps us ensure that we’re maintaining a high level of care and personalization even as we scale the enrollment process.”

“The support from Kira behind the scenes is a big part of that,” she continued. “The Kira team is so responsive and friendly. When our team went to Kira with any questions or requests, they were quick to help us make whatever changes we needed.”

“Having a team that’s always on hand and willing to teach you makes the whole process feel effortless,” Grigson added.