Change Proposal: Admissions web-based application

Each fall, the University enrolls more than 5,000 new undergraduate students and 1,200 first-time graduate students. As every other institution of higher education, the University requires that students who wish to enroll submit an application for admission. The quantity of applications received by the University is large: for the fall of 1999, 19,708 undergraduate first-year applications and 8,586 applications for graduate admissions were received. Until recent years, the information exchanged in this process has been largely paper-based.

The data from all of these paper applications must be manually entered into the admissions computer system. Until very recently, the University Admissions Offices were working with software developed internally in the late 1970's. In the summer of 1999, the Undergraduate and Graduate Admissions Offices began transferring operations to PeopleSoft, the first offices at the University to go "live" with the new system.

With a web-based application, students will be able to view the application form and submit the required information on-line, at one sitting. Students will no longer need to request an application form from either Admissions Office. When they complete the application online, most elements of students' demographic data will be downloaded directly into PeopleSoft, obviating the need for entry of this data at the University.

Nationally, between 15-20% of undergraduate applications are being made via the web. In the future, Undergraduate Admissions expects to receive an amount of applications via the web which reflects the national norm. The Graduate Admissions Office anticipates that 30% of its applications will be received electronically within two years. The primary outcome of the implementation of a web-based application will be the reduction in the use of paper applications.

In addition, a web-based application also provides a backdoor to data entry into PeopleSoft. Because data entry in PeopleSoft is significantly slower than in the previous system, Undergraduate Admissions staff may type inquiry and applicant data into the web application for downloading into PeopleSoft, rather than into PeopleSoft directly.

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