Call US admissions offices in their hours from a +1 number, and let parents in the US reach you without an international call.
Study-abroad agents and education consultants outside the US use a US virtual number to call US admissions offices and to let parents in the US reach them on a familiar +1 number. The TripoSIM number rings in an app, takes voicemail and includes 300 minutes a month of calls to the US and Canada. It receives texts but cannot send them.
Most contact with US colleges runs through email and application portals. The phone matters when email is slow: checking whether a transcript arrived, asking a scholarship or financial aid office how to read a letter, or sorting out housing before a student flies. With a +1 number, you call in their hours and leave a number the office can ring back like any US number, with no international dialing.
The TripoSIM US Virtual Number runs in an app on your phone over Wi-Fi or mobile data, next to your local SIM. Calls out include Canada too, which helps if you also place students at Canadian colleges.
Offices decide for themselves what they can discuss with someone other than the applicant. When an office asks to speak with the student, sit with them and put the call on speaker, or have the student write in from their own email.
Admissions offices keep office hours in their own time zone. New York is UTC-5 in the US winter and UTC-4 in the US summer, and Los Angeles is three hours behind New York. Here is when their day starts where you work:
| Where you work | New York 9 a.m. in your time | Los Angeles 9 a.m. in your time | A call window that works |
|---|---|---|---|
| India | 6:30 p.m. in the US summer, 7:30 p.m. in the US winter | 9:30 p.m. in the US summer, 10:30 p.m. in the US winter | East Coast offices in your early evening; West Coast on one late evening a week |
| Nigeria | 2 p.m. in the US summer, 3 p.m. in the US winter | 5 p.m. in the US summer, 6 p.m. in the US winter | Most of your afternoon, for both coasts |
| Vietnam | 8 p.m. in the US summer, 9 p.m. in the US winter | 11 p.m. in the US summer, midnight in the US winter | East Coast offices in your evening; West Coast by email |
India, Nigeria and Vietnam do not change their clocks, so US clock changes on the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November, according to NIST, move these times by an hour. Many campuses also close for a few days around the new year, right in the busiest weeks, so check each office's hours on its website before you plan a call day. The US time-zone clock shows the time in each zone right now.
An admissions officer who calls you back may reach voicemail at night your time. Make it easy for them:
"You have reached [your name] at [agency], working with students applying to US colleges. I am in [city], and I return calls between 9 and 11 a.m. Eastern. Please leave your name, your office and the student's name, and I will call you back the next working day. You can also email [your address]."
Messages can be up to 2 minutes, up to 30 a month, kept 30 days. The voicemail guide has setup steps.
For many agents, October to January is the rush, with early and regular deadlines close together. Calls parents and offices make to you are included up to a fair use of 300 minutes a month. Only calls you place use your 300 minutes to the US and Canada. Each outgoing call is rounded up to the next full minute; unanswered calls are free. Calls to a busy office can include time waiting in its phone queue, so allow for it. Three example months for one counselor, worked out for a year:
| Example | Calls out to the US and Canada | Extra minutes | One year on the yearly plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quiet months | 2 office calls a week, 15 minutes each: about 130 minutes a month | None: within the included minutes | $100 |
| Application season | 6 office calls a week, 15 minutes each: about 390 minutes a month | 11 × $5 = $55 a year | $155 |
| Season plus parent updates | the same, plus 2 calls a week of 15 minutes to parents: about 520 minutes a month | 27 × $5 = $135 a year | $235 |
Incoming calls do not use your minutes (fair use 300 minutes a month). Each plan includes 300 minutes a month out; extra minutes are $5 per 100, and unused extra minutes carry over to the next month, so the year counts the packs for all 12 months together. Prices before tax.
The minutes belong to each number. If two counselors share that busy third row, each on their own number, it is about 260 minutes each, within the plan. The monthly plan is $12.99 with the same minutes. Try your own numbers in the cost calculator.
Usually, yes. The same person can have as many TripoSIM US numbers as they like on one account, each with its own plan, minutes and voicemail, and each counselor can have a number in their own app. Parents always reach the counselor who knows their child's file, and each greeting names the right person. Four counselors on the yearly plan cost $400 a year.
Each number is one person's line. It does not ring the whole office or queue callers, and it is not for calling lists of colleges to market your agency: spam, robocalls and call centers are not allowed.
The number receives texts from US and Canadian senders, but sending texts is not included. A parent's text arrives in the app; answer with a call or an email. Many families abroad prefer WhatsApp: the number receives the WhatsApp verification code, so you can set up WhatsApp Business on the same +1 number. See WhatsApp on a US number.
Put the student's own phone number and email on their application accounts, not yours. The college can then reach the student directly, and sign-in codes go to them. If your students need a US number of their own before they fly, the guide for international students covers it.
Two plans with the same number, minutes and app.
$100per year
About $8.33 a month, paid once a year
Renews yearly until you cancel
$12.99per month
Cancel the renewal anytime. $155.88 over 12 months
Renews monthly until you cancel
Prices in US dollars as published by TripoSIM. Payments are not refunded, except a full refund if your ID check fails or your number is not delivered within 72 hours, or where local law requires. Checkout continues on TripoSIM. Right after payment you complete an ID check with a selfie, then choose from the numbers available.