This article covers which fields you need to include when sending student records to CollegeVine — both the fields that are required for records to process, and the additional fields that significantly improve your AI agent's effectiveness.
You can always add or adjust import fields as needed. See Adding or removing data fields from your import
Required fields
These five fields must be present on every record. Missing or incorrectly formatted values will prevent records from importing successfully.
Field | Format |
First Name | Text |
Last Name | Text |
Email Address | Valid email format |
Admission Year | 4-digit year: |
Date of Birth | See accepted formats below |
Accepted Date of Birth formats:
YYYY-MM-DD(e.g.2005-03-15)MM/DD/YYYY(e.g.03/15/2005)MM-DD-YYYY(e.g.03-15-2005)YYYY/MM/DD(e.g.2005/03/15)DD-MM-YYYY(e.g.15-03-2005)DD/MM/YYYY(e.g.15/03/2005)
You'll select your preferred format when mapping fields in the CollegeVine platform. Whatever format you choose, consistency across all records is essential — mixed formats will cause import errors.
⚠️ Why do we require date of birth? DOB is required for COPPA compliance. Because your AI agent communicates with students via phone and SMS, we are required to verify that students are of appropriate age before initiating outreach.
Highly recommended fields
These fields are not required but significantly improve your agent's ability to personalize outreach and operate effectively. Focus on fields that are accurate and consistently populated — sending incomplete or unreliable data can create conflicting signals for your agent.
Field | Format / notes |
Mobile Phone | E.164 preferred: |
Consents to AI phone calls |
|
Existing opt-out fields | Map your current CRM opt-out fields here — these can proactively suppress students from AI outreach before the sync begins. |
Lead stage / Application status | 1–2 fields indicating where the student is in the enrollment funnel. Used to guide agent behavior and start/stop treatment logic. |
Program / Major of Interest | Text. Tailors academic conversation. |
Self-Reported Identity | Text. Required if you have a website recruiter or chatbot. |
Unique Identifier | Text. Typically a CRM specific ID. This can be used as a unique identifier in CollegeVine, and help when you map back export files to your CRM. |
Fields for Missions
Your AI agent can send targeted communications — called Missions — to a specific subset of your students. To enable this, the relevant fields need to be included in your import so your agent can identify the right audience.
Think about which targeted campaigns you want to run, then make sure the fields needed to define those audiences are included in your import.
Examples:
Has registered for Open House — use this to send a Mission inviting unregistered students to your open house
Scholarship eligibility or application status — use this to reach students eligible for specific scholarships and drive them to apply
Any other field that defines a meaningful subset of your student population
💡 These fields will be mapped to CollegeVine properties during setup. Work with your CollegeVine Implementation Manager to identify which are most useful for the campaigns you have in mind.
A note on data volume
More data isn't always better. Sending too many fields, especially fields that are inconsistently populated or redundant, can create conflicting information and reduce the quality of your agent's interactions. Only include what is accurate, relevant, and useful to the student experience you want to deliver.