Step-by-step guide:
Sign In. Log into your CollegeVine account.
Navigate to the page to upload lead files. Go to "Students" under the "AI Recruiter" tab, then click “Manual Imports & Export > Import students" to open up the file upload and field mapping interface.
Prepare your file. First, determine which leads you want to pull from your CRM and upload for treatment by your AI Recruiter. Then, follow the instructions below to prepare the lead file for upload.
File Format:
Your file must be a UTF-8 encoded CSV. Click here if you need help converting your file to UTF-8.
Fields you should include:
Your file must include the five required fields (columns) with matching value formats where specified in blue below:
First name
Last name
Email
Admission year (Format: YYYY; Example value: 2025)
Date of birth
Note: If you use the exact field names (including spacing) shown above, you will save a little time mapping your fields in Step 5, but it’s not required.
Your file can also include any additional data columns you would like your AI Recruiter to know about to nurture your leads in a more personalized way.
If you include additional fields, they must all have a column/field name.
In Step 5, you will map each of your additional fields to a CollegeVine default property or create a custom property.
Highly-recommended fields
Phone number (Format: +1XXXXXXXXXX)
required to call students and gather consent to call
E.164 is the preferred format (+1XXXXXXXXXX), but can be accepted without country code for US numbers (XXXXXXXXXX)
Consents to AI phone calls (Format: true/false or leave the value empty)
required to identify leads that have already consented to AI phone calls
Please use the following values:
true = lead has explicitly opted in
AI Recruiter will make phone calls without emailing for consent first
false = lead has explicitly opted out
AI Recruiter will neither make phone calls nor email for consent
Leave the field empty if you are missing consent information for the lead
AI Recruiter will email the lead to ask for consent and then make phone calls accordingly
Lead stage fields to indicate where in the enrollment funnel your leads are
Most partners include 1 or 2 lead stage fields, and use these fields for two main purposes:
To tell the AI Recruiter when to start/stop treating a lead
To give the AI Recruiter custom instructions on how to treat each lead (e.g., If stage = Application-Started then encourage the student to log back into their application portal at www.university.edu/apply/login)
Later, your team will work with your CollegeVine Project Manager to map your 1-2 lead stage field values to the funnel stages your AI Recruiter understands (see below) and set the logic for when to start/stop treatment.
Prospect
Inquiry
Application - started
Application - completed
Decision - accepted
Decision - rejected
Decision - waitlisted
Enrolled
If you have one stage field that maps nicely to the above options, great!
Otherwise, you can use up to two fields that, when combined, map to the funnel stages. For example, here’s what one partner did:
Field 1 (Lead Stage):
Prospect
Inquiry
Applicant
Enrolled
Field 2 (Application Status):
Started
Completed
In Review
Accepted
Rejected
Waitlisted
In this example:
Applicant + Waitlisted = Decision - waitlisted
Prospect = Prospect
Other suggested fields:
Any other fields you have that would be helpful for the AI recruiter to use to personalize messages to leads. Examples include:
Location fields: Street address, City, State, Zip code, or Country
Intended major
Gender
Preferred Name
FAFSA completed
Has visited campus
Quantity of leads to include:
You can include as many leads as you want up to your annual contract limit.
If you don’t recall how many leads are in your partnership, you can reference your kickoff slides, ask your Project Manager, or ask [email protected].
You don’t have to upload all your leads in one file. You can upload multiple files if it is easier to separate them out based on your strategy and queries.
Choose a Name, Browse Files, and Confirm. Navigate back to your CollegeVine account, give your import a name (for your own tracking), click “Browse Files”, and then select the lead file you prepared in Step 3. Then confirm that you have permission to use the contact information you’re uploading and click “Next” to continue.
Map Your Data Fields. Map the data fields from your file to canonical fields in CollegeVine or create a custom property. After you’ve mapped all your fields, click “Next” to continue.
For DOB Fields, you may now set your preferred format that better align with how your CRM is structured. Be sure to use a consistent format to import your leads successfully as this is one of the required fields.
If a corresponding data field does not exist in the CollegeVine system by default, create a custom property to map to by selecting “Create custom property” from the dropdown menu.
Add a field name and description, select the field type, and click “Create property”. Together, the field name and description will guide your AI recruiter in interpreting this field.
Reconcile Your Data. Determine which data source to prioritize. Your AI Recruiter will confirm whether or not any of the uploaded students already have a CollegeVine profile. If so, your AI Recruiter will augment the student’s record to personalize the communication further. If there are data discrepancies, which data source do you want to prioritize? Select one!
Finish Import. To complete the upload, click “Finish” in the bottom right. The import will take up to 15-30 minutes to process because we check every record to ensure they have the 5 required fields and every email for its likelihood to bounce.
If an email is flagged as having a high potential to bounce, we won’t import that lead to protect your AI Recruiter’s email-sending reputation. You will get an error file if there are any errors.
You’re done! Repeat the steps above to add more leads or update the status of previously uploaded students. Updating previously uploaded leads will not create brand-new records.
FAQ Guide:
1. How to convert your file to a UTF-8 encoded CSV: Re-open your file in either Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel (instructions differ below, accordingly).
Method A: Using Microsoft Excel
Open the file in Excel.
Re-save it to ensure it's UTF-8 encoded:
Go to File > Save As.
In the dialog that appears, select CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (.csv) from the list of file types.
Save the file.
Try to re-upload.
Method B: Using Google Sheets
Open the file in Google Sheets.
Export it as a UTF-8 encoded CSV:
Go to File > Download > Comma-separated values (.csv, current sheet).
This file will automatically be encoded in UTF-8.
Try to re-upload.
2. How should I decide which additional fields to upload beyond the 5 required?
Ask yourself/your team:
What data do I have in my CRM that my AI Recruiter should know about each lead to better personalize communication?
Do I/my team want to build any custom instructions for our AI Recruiter to follow based on lead data (e.g., Promote our special Biology Leadership Scholarship program to students in California interested in Biology, or stop treating students after they’ve applied)
If so, be sure to upload your Intended Major and State fields!
You are only required to include the 5 required fields (see Step 4 above), so if your team does not wish to include additional fields, that is OK too.
3. Can I re-upload leads I’ve already uploaded? Will that count toward my lead upload total?
You can absolutely re-upload leads. It’s recommended you do so if you have fields that could be updated frequently, as you’ll want your AI Recruiter operating on the most updated data.
If you re-upload/update a lead that you’ve already uploaded, it will not count toward your total. If you’ve uploaded Student X once, you can re-upload Student X as many times as you need.
4. This process works for now, but I’d love to automate it!
Great!! If you’d prefer to automate your uploads and updates, you can do so via an SFTP sync. See below for links to the relevant guides based on your CRM, and your Project Manager will happily assist you if you have questions.
For partners using Slate as their CRM: Here’s your guide to automate
For partners using any other CRM: Here’s your guide to automate
5. I successfully uploaded a file but I’m seeing a portion of my lead records failed. What does each of the associated errors mean?
There are a handful of errors that could occur per lead when you attempt uploading.
Date of birth missing - DoB is a required field and if a student record is missing a value in your DoB field, they cannot be imported
First name missing - First name is a required field and if a student record is missing a value in your first name field, they cannot be imported
Last name missing - Last name is a required field and if a student record is missing a value in your last name field, they cannot be imported
Email missing - Email is a required field and if a student record is missing a value in your email field, they cannot be imported
Admission year missing - Admission year (YYYY), also known as Entry or Enrollment Year, is a required field so if a student record is missing a value in your Admission year field, they cannot be imported
Invalid email format - The email address provided is not formatted as an email. This often happens when you pass a name or phone number in the email field by accident.
Unsafe email - The email associated with the record was flagged by our email validation process, which screens all emails for potential bounces before importing them. If an email is likely to bounce, we mark it as “unsafe” and exclude that contact from the import. They won’t count toward your total amount. This process helps keep your AI Recruiter’s email deliverability high and maintains a strong sending reputation. There’s no action needed on your end for these records, it’s simply a tool in our verification system to ensure your AI Recruiter email health remains in top shape!
Internal record creation failure - This means something went wrong during the import process on the CollegeVine side. We monitor these errors closely, but if you see this error, please flag it to your Project Manager or [email protected].
6. Can I see the history of my past uploads and how many uploads I’ve used?
Yes! Navigate to your Import History page where you can see a record of all past imports and your total unique leads uploaded to date.
Here’s an example. Your total is in the top right, and the table logs all imports (manual imports and imports via SFTP if you’ve set that up) along with a link to download associated error files.