Kira Talent and CAS Integration

What is Kira Talent?

Kira provides schools with the ability to create video and writing prompts that applicants must respond to electronically, either by recording a video response or writing their response to a question. Kira calls these prompts Assessments. Faculty can then view applicant responses to the assessments and use them in the application review process.

Is the Kira assessment a live interview, like Skype or Zoom?

No, Kira assessments are not live interviews. Applicants will respond to previously recorded questions with a timed video or written segment. Their responses are recorded and can be reviewed at a later date as part of reviewing their overall application.

Why have we created an integration with CAS?

Allowing our CAS partners to incorporate spontaneous video responses to questions as part of their CAS applications supports holistic admissions and can provide a more robust picture of an applicant, especially during times when it is challenging or not possible to bring applicants to campus locations for in-person interviews.

Is a contract with Kira required to use this integration?

Yes, to participate in the integration, a contract between the school and Kira is necessary. Once a school has contracted with Kira and set up their account, they can create assessments in Kira. These assessments can then be linked to the school's program(s) within the CAS so that applicant answers can be recorded as part of the CAS application.

Schools that are interested can submit a Kira demo request.

Is this a CAS-level or a program-level integration?

The current integration is a program-level integration. Each program in a CAS can independently choose whether to turn on the Kira Assessment as part of their Program Materials section of the application. A CAS-level integration, where a standard Kira Assessment would be presented to all applicants in the Supporting Information section of the application, is not currently available but can be discussed as part of a future roadmap with our association partners based on interest.

What happens when a CAS enables the Kira Assessment section as part of their cycle setup?

If a CAS enables the Kira Assessment section, then it will be available to programs in the Configuration Portal, similar to the Questions or Documents sections. The Kira Assessment section will only appear in the Applicant Portal for programs that have enabled and configured the integration.

How do programs invite applicants to a Kira assessment?

On the Kira Assessment page in the Configuration Portal, the Applicant Requirements section specifies if applicants can submit the program's Kira assessment through the Program Materials section. Programs have two options:

• If the program selects Yes under Applicant Requirements, then all applicants are invited to complete the program's assessment when they view the Program Materials section.
  • Additionally, programs can select if applicants must complete the program's Kira assessment before they submit their CAS application.
    • If the program selects Yes, then all applicants must submit a Kira Assessment.
    • If the program selects No, then applicants can choose to either voluntarily complete the program's Kira assessment or opt out.
• If the program selects No under Applicant Requirements, then the program must invite applicants to complete their assessment at a later time (see question below). Applicants are alerted in the Program Materials section that they do not need to complete anything at this time but that they may be invited to complete an assessment later.

You can view more information about configuration options and example applicant views on the Linking Kira Assessments page.

If a program chooses to invite applicants at a later time, how do they invite them?

Applicants can be invited by generating a list of eligible applicants in WebAdMIT (based on the program's desired criteria for inviting them), then sending out a generic invite link (generated through Kira) to the applicants' emails.

Alternatively, programs can invite applicants directly from their CRM (e.g., TargetX, Slate, etc.) based on the program's desired criteria for inviting them.

Finally, programs can create a .csv file of applicant emails and invite them directly through the Kira platform. 

What happens when an applicant completes the Kira assessment?

If the applicant received an invitation through the Program Materials section, then once they complete the assessment, the Kira Assessment section within the Program Materials section is marked complete.

Once an assessment is completed in Kira, the program can click a link on the Applicant Details Page in WebAdMIT to view the Kira response, along with the assessment name and date completed.

If a program is using the CAS API instead of WebAdMIT, they can access a link to the applicant's response and the date completed through the CAS API.

Do faculty scores in Kira also appear in WebAdMIT?

Not at this time. WebAdMIT only provides a link to the applicants' assessment responses in Kira. As we gauge interest, this may be considered as a future enhancement.

As a best practice for programs that are leveraging WebAdMIT to review applications, we recommend that faculty score applicant Kira responses directly within WebAdMIT using the Assignments feature.