On-Line: Undergraduate Admissions Applications

College of Charleston Profile•13th oldest college in the nation founded in 1770

•Traditional Liberal Arts & Sciences Curriculum

•42 Undergraduate Majors 15 Graduate Degrees

•State assisted College/University

•Undergraduate students: 9,787

•Graduate students: 1,977

•Number of Faculty: 439

•Average class size: 25

•Student/Faculty Ratio: 18/1

•SCT SIS+

Why On-Line?• Applicant Benefits• Rapid access and

submission in a rolling admissions environment

• International Application time reduced

• On-line Payments

• Institution Benefits• Data Entry Time

Reduced• Minimize Errors• Collect Fees

Electronically• Rapid

acknowledgement of submission

• Limited in-house staff resources to devote to initial production and maintaining the process

• Multiple, customized versions of the application are available on-line

• Security of payment and records information were handled by the vendor

Outsource vs. In-house

Choosing the Vendor•Transparent to applicant, apply from CofC web site

•Autonomy & control remains with institution

•Rapid response to application edits and modifications

•No wait to print updated paper versions of applications

•Data analysis capabilities

•Cost-effective for medium-size college

•No software or hardware to purchase

•Charged only for valid submissions, minimal investment risk

Technology Involved

•Upfront time spent on the form design

•SCT SIS+ records system running on Alphas with RMS files

•Batch uploads nightly to update records

•FOCUS to create update transactions to system

•CofC created a master file description to read the file from CollegeNet

•Files uploaded via in-house programming

Technology Process

•The transactions are loaded into SIS+ via the maintenance cycle

•Totally automated process with no staff intervention

•Admissions prints and checks data loaded for accuracy

CollegeNet downloads applications into a data file by date

CofC picks up the data via FTP and runs a FOCUS program against it to create transactions

Implementing the Process•Review application versions and send to vendor

•Review & integrate with CofC web site

•Review current application processing operations and align paper & electronic workflow

•Training and changing work tasks and patterns

•Downloading applications & data from vendor

•Building links to web site

1999 ResultsOn October 4, 1998, the College of Charleston provided an electronic method of undergraduate degree application via the institutional web site.

 9.6 % of total undergraduate applications were received electronically for Fall 1999.

These applications were received from 42 states of the United States and 13 Foreign Countries.

More than 35 % of the electronic applications received were from South Carolina with 55 % submitted from the Southeastern United States.

Fall 2000 ResultsApplications were accepted from August 1 through April 26 on-line.

15% of all applications received were submitted online from:

-43 states of the US -18 foreign countries, -29% South Carolina -60% Southeastern US

Applicant Profile Comparisons1999

Electronic All Other

% Accepted 5% 95%

Average GPA 3.14 3.25

Average Class Rank 68% 73%

23 and younger 78% 85%

24 and older 22% 15%

Male 47% 36%

Female 53% 64%

Applicant Profile ComparisonsFall 2000

Electronic All Other

% Accepted 13% 87%

Average GPA 3.3 3.3

Average Class Rank 72% 75%

23 and younger 89% 88%

24 and older 11% 12%

Male 43% 34%

Female 57% 66%

The Future• Optical Scanning

• SCT Web products (Faculty and Student)

•eCommerce options

• Operations and work flow refinement

• Management of technology tools

•EDI Enhancements

•Automated response refinements

•Other forms-inquiry, graduation, etc.•Esponse email management•Triggers as notification tool to applicants•For the Enterprise-notifications to other departments •Extra – Enterprise (data portability)

–State System–Career services

Application Enhancements

Don Burkard, Dean, Admissions & Adult Student Services, College of Charleston burkard@cofc.edu

Dorinda Harmon, Director, Transfer & Adult Student Services, College of Charleston harmond@cofc.edu

Eileen Mansfield, SIS Program Manager, Admin, Computing & Telecommunications, College of Charleston mansfielde@admin.cofc.edu

Heidi Doebel, CollegeNet, hdoebel@collegenet.com

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