2014 Graduate Application and GRADS Enhancements Lori Anne Stania Lori Cottrill

Major Changes Include Centralization of the receipt of official transcripts Elimination of paper decision sheets through automation Implementation of online acceptance for applicants offered admission

Major Changes Include “Transcript Required” indicator in GRADS for certificates Application redesign – accessibility & usability

Why? Graduate program offices requested change Program staff no longer need to process official transcripts saving time/reducing workload Improve efficiency of admission process

Why? Application experience for prospective students more transparent and often less costly Saves every applicant from requesting/paying for official transcripts until acceptance Common at other Big 10 institutions

Transcript Centralization Applicants must upload a copy of his/her official transcript at time of application Upon program offer acceptance - applicants will be directed to submit official transcripts to appropriate admissions staff (GES, GV, CL) Centralized transcript receipt and upload to GRADS

Program Offer- Decision Sheet All the same information will be collected in an online form GES and CL/GV admission offices will not process decision until applicant indicates acceptance

Online Acceptance by Applicant When program offers admission (GRPOF) applicant will receive notification to check Status Page Applicant will accept or decline at Status Page Upon acceptance, status page will update, providing information indicating where transcripts should be sent and due date

Official Transcript Deadlines If degree has already been conferred – 4 weeks from acceptance If degree is yet to be conferred – 6 weeks from conferral (will use last day of month reported) If we expect original document will need to be brought in person (certain international degrees) – by end of second week of admit semester

Applicant Status in GRADS GRPOF - Program staff will be required to indicate program offer status GRPRM – Will no longer be actively used as only accepted applicants will be reviewed. Will be used for Resumes and Change of Majors GRACP – Central admission staff (GES/CL/GV) will utilize this status in place of GRPRM GRWAP – Automatically assigned, if applicant declines program offer from the status page

Deferrals Recommend that applicant’s status is changed in GRADS to GRINC by the program staff (level 2 user) Update information to appropriate semester GRPOF Applicant will need to accept new semester offer

Program Offer Declined If applicant declines program offer, status automatically changes to GRWAP We’ve recommended a new status after new student information system (LionPATH) is implemented

Other Status Changes Programs will still need to refuse, cancel, and make other status changes, as in the past. Programs are encouraged to cancel/rescind offers that never receive an accept/decline from the applicant, at an appropriate time for their program. The Graduate School has not, at this time, scheduled a clean up of these accounts.

When? GRADS changes will be in place by 8 AM on Monday, November 10th 2014 Changes to the application will be implemented during a downtime beginning at 9AM on Monday, November 10th 2014 In-progress applicants will be emailed at this time with instructions to revisit the Education section GRADS will be down from 7-8 AM on 11/10 Application expected to be back up by noon

Certificates Program offices will have the ability to indicate in GRADS whether or not the transcript is required If yes, applicant will upload transcript at time of application Remainder of certificate processing remains the same

Non-degree No change Transcripts will not be required for non-degree application

Application Semester/Year Limiting how far out an applicant can apply Current semester plus 3 additional future semesters Programs can still define semester choices (FA/SP/SU) – one, two or all three

Demonstration New application Education section GRADS transcript view GRADS automated decision sheet Applicant Status Page GRADS Certificate checkbox

Transcript Upload on Education Section of Application

GRADS Automated Decision Sheet

GRADS Transcript View and Upload

Require Certificate Transcripts

Status Page Automated Accept/Decline

Status Page Transcript Section

Thank you