GRADUATE ADMISSIONS ANNUAL UPDATES

Below are 2009 updates for both the Graduate School Admissions Office and the ApplyYourself online admissions system. Please join us for our 2009 Process & Updates sessions where some of these items will be discussed in more detail. There will also be an overview of the application process and international credentialing. Click here for more information. 

ADMISSIONS OFFICE UPDATES

ETS presentation

On October 21 a representative from the Educational Testing Service (ETS) gave a presentation about updates to the GRE and TOEFL tests. Click here for a copy of her presentation slides.

Deferral policy

An overview of the deferral process for both programs and applicants is now available online. See the Admissions Toolkit page for more information.

U of M undergraduate student transcripts

Unless otherwise instructed by your graduate program, applicants who have been previously enrolled at the University of Minnesota do not need to submit U of M transcripts to the Admissions Office. We will obtain these materials for them. See the Application Information page for more information.  

Scanned email transcripts resolution

For those programs receiving scanned email transcripts, we have increased the resolution on our digital scanner to provide clearer documents. Please be aware that this will increase file size somewhat, but so far this has not caused issues for programs. Please contact us with any concerns.

APPLYYOURSELF UPDATES

Each year over the summer months, the Graduate School Admissions Office completes its Annual Updates process to the ApplyYourself system. Many of the enhancements are a direct result of graduate program feedback. This year we focused on creating a more streamlined, user-friendly application intended to capture more program-specific information. If you have not already done so, please use the following login to experience the online application yourself.

Login: https://app.applyyourself.com/?id=UMN-GRAD

PIN: 8537F737F

PW:  Maroon2009

Applicant Statements

As you likely know, Statements #2 and #3 have been combined into one statement. Click here for more information. Also, all applicant statements are no longer required, but if you would like to make these or any other uploads mandatory for your applicants, please contact our office.

Department/Program Forms (Dynamic Sections) You will notice on the main AY application that Social Work and Civil/Geological Engineering program forms are now available. These programs are piloting the current version of AY’s dynamic sections. Starting in 2010, these sections will be significantly enhanced and made available to more UMN programs. This added functionality is an enormous upgrade in the system as it will eliminate redundancy by finally allowing individual graduate programs to provide customized instructions, use program-specific questions, offer upload sections (for resumes, transcripts, etc.), and generate customized exportable data at no additional annual cost. For those programs that want their sections to electronically “map” to a PDF document, there will be an annual charge per form. This price has not been finalized, but bulk pricing will be available for large clients like the UMN Graduate School. These new program forms will not be offered until decisions are announced by the Administrative Processes/Student Services Work Group.

Application PDF

The application PDF was shortened from four to three pages, and the entire document was reformatted to be easier to read. Scores from the new self-reported Test Information section will appear as well. View a blank application at:

http://www.grad.umn.edu/prospective_students/umngradmain2010.pdf 

Export Folders AY has finally made and export folder available for storing export templates which we have labeled the PROGRAM EXPORTS folder. If you are using exports, please take a few minutes to move them for storage in this folder - click here for instructions.

Test Information 1. Official GRE Subject Test - scores will now appear in the Credentials section of AY when they are sent electronically from ETS. 2. Test Information Section - the self-reported test information section was expanded to include both GRE and GRE Subject test information. Until now, this section had only been used for English proficiency test scores (TOEFL, etc.). These scores will also appear on the application PDF. You may wish to revise your program web sites or supplemental application material as a result of this change. For those programs using exports from AY, please contact us if you would like to expand your reports to include this new information. Self-reported test scores are NOT required items on the application. Please note that this new section will NOT replace official scores, which will continue to be sent from ETS and will display in both the Credentials section and the printable PDF application. Reasons for self-reported Test Information: - a number of UMN graduate programs reported such information would be useful, or had already been requiring self-reported scores on their supplemental applications  - self-reported scores can be gathered from tests that currently don’t offer electronic reporting to institutions (e.g. IELTS, MELAB) - if an applicant has taken a TOEFL or GRE too close the application deadline, the scores will not be sent from ETS to the University in time to print with the application. This sometimes caused confusion for applicants, and could delay admissions review for program - most peer universities have already been using self-reported scores sections successfully

New Race/Ethnicity Categories

Both ApplyYourself and PeopleSoft systems were modified to comply with the new Race and Ethnicity definitions mandated by the U.S. Department of Education. The section is voluntary and is intended to help the University meet its federal reporting obligations. Applicants are informed that this information is voluntary, and will not be used as a basis for admission or in a discriminatory manner.

Credentials Upload feature

Two new “Credentials” upload buttons were added in the Graduate Program Supplementary Information section in response to requests from a small number of programs wanting applicants to upload unofficial copies of transcripts themselves. We may provide a more comprehensive transcript upload section to all programs next year, but will not pursue this until decisions are announced by the Administrative Processes/Student Services Work Group. If you are planning on using this feature, we recommend you contact our office for more information.  

GRE subject test data

An upload process has been set up for official GRE Subject test data to appear in both the Credentials section and on the application PDF.  Click here to read more about GRE Subject tests.

Un-submitting recommendations

The current two page recommendation PDF will be condensed to a single page. Also, we have added more specific instructions reminding recommendation providers to upload a document if it is required by the program. However, if you have issues with recommendation providers not uploading documents, please contact the admissions office so we can provide you with access to un-submit recommendations.

New query tutorial

A revised query tutorial is available on the Admissions Toolkit page that introduces the most popular queries used by UMN grad programs. If there is a specific query you need that is not already in AY, the Admissions Office will build one for you.

Program-specific instructions

Text and the program listing link was added throughout the application reminding applicants to be sure to carefully follow their program’s admissions requirements. This includes: an automated email that is sent to all applicants immediately upon starting an application For a copy of the email, click here.

instructions in all sections of the application requiring uploads:

Please locate and carefully read the application instructions specific to the program to which you are applying. Please note that failure to submit your online application according to the specific instructions provided by the academic program to which you are applying could result in your application not being reviewed for admission. Links to specific programs' application instructions can be found at: http://www.grad.umn.edu/Programs/index.html.

• a message on the final submission page instructing applicants to ensure they have completed the  online application according to their program’s instructions

Signature Section

The signature section that was accessible from the main screen was capturing the same data as the standard submission screen which appears after credit card payment, so it was eliminated.

Honors, Awards, Scholarships, Activities, and Certificates section

This section name has been shortened to Awards and Activities. In addition, the upload button will now be the only means of submitting an answer to the honors, extra-curricular activities, question.

Credentials section

Applicants’ names will soon appear in the top corner of the Credentials section.

• “Package Status” box will be deleted (no longer used)

The INTERNAL APPRAISAL FORM link was highlighted in blue to distinguish it from the new Department/Program forms link

Printing problems

A few programs have reported issues with printing using Adobe Reader version 9. This issue has been reported to AY, but in the meantime you should use Adobe Reader 8 if possible. Also, if you experience issues, you may try updating the Print Driver on the computer.

Applicant name problems

First and last names sometimes appear switched in AY, particularly with international students.  For example, when you use the "prog & term" query, the applicant’s first name coculd be listed as the last name, but after clicking on details the name displays properly.

The cause of this is problem is actually applicant error. Users initially create profiles (required by AY), but then change their name once they start an application. Applicants can fix this themselves any time by reversing their applicant info in the “Update Profile” section at the top of the online application. (see screenshot). To try to minimize applicant data entry errors in the future, we have changed the formatting in the name section to be exactly the same as AY’s profile name section. So we now ask for “First/Given Name” and “Last/Family Name.” We expect this will help, but it is still up to the applicant to be consistent. 

Whenever possible, we recommend using email addresses, rather than names, to search for applicants. You don’t have to know the entire email, you can just use a wildcard search using the % symbol. (Goldy Gopher for example can be searched by Gol% or Goph%).

As always, contact the admissions office or AY for help when needed.