Exporting Data

#4

Export types

Review additional information by clicking each link below:

Export type definitions

You can select the following export types:

• Comma-Separated Values (.csv): a delimited text file that uses a comma to separate values.
• Microsoft Excel (.xls): Microsoft's proprietary binary file format.
• Fixed Width Report (.txt): columns have ;a fixed width, specified in characters, which determines the maximum amount of data the column can contain. No delimiters are used to separate the fields in the file.
• Comma-Separated Values in Multiple Files (.zip): for fields that have multiple values (e.g., colleges attended, standardized tests, etc.), .csv files are produced to capture multiple values individually and delivered in batch in one .zip file. Note that this export type is only available to AACOMAS and VMCAS users to support legacy processes; it cannot be used for other CASs.
• Multi-row Designation file (.csv): a delimited text file that uses a comma to separate values. If an applicant applied to more than one designation, then each designation is listed on its own row. See examples below.
• Multi-row Designation file (.xls): Microsoft's proprietary binary file format. If an applicant applied to more than one designation, then each designation is listed on its own row. See examples below.

Best practices and scenarios when using Multi-row Designation files

If an applicant applies to more than one program at your school (i.e., organization), you can choose if an applicant’s Designation field grouping data will be listed on one or multiple rows. For example, if Aimee Applicant applied to program A and B at your program, you can choose:

• Comma-Separated Values (.csv) or Microsoft Excel (.xls). In this scenario, the applicant’s information will populate on one row and all fields under the Designation field grouping (e.g., designation, application status, local status, etc.) will be repeated (e.g., Designation_0, Designation_1, Application_Status_0, Application_Status_1, etc.). This is the standard behavior in WebAdMIT.
• Multi-row Designation file (.csv) or Multi-row Designation file (.xls). In this scenario, the applicant’s information will populate on two rows, one for each program they applied to, and all fields under the Designation field grouping (e.g., designation, application status, local status, etc.) will be listed as one column (e.g., Designation, Application_Status, etc.).

Note the following details for multi-row designation files:

• Exports are limited to which programs you have access to. For example, if Aimee Applicant applied to program A and B, but you only have access to program A, you can only export data related to her program A application.
• If you select Multi-row Designation file (.csv) or Multi-row Designation file (.xls), only the data in the Designation field grouping are separated on each row. Program-specific questions, evaluations, etc., are repeated on each row.
• If you select Multi-row Designation file (.csv) or Multi-row Designation file (.xls) but do not include any fields from the Designations field grouping, then the applicant’s data will populate on one row.

Office and MS Excel versions prior to 2007 common issues and solutions

An Office 2007 security feature may prevent you from opening an export or report in .xls format. Adjust your export type to .csv to avoid this issue. Additionally, versions of MS Excel before 2007 limit data to 255 columns, including data points that may generate more than one column, such as Colleges Attended. For larger exports, use .csv format. These files can be opened in MS Excel 2007 and later, even if they exceed 255 columns. Exceeding the export fields limit will result in an "Internal Server Error" message. To export all fields, try dividing the fields into two or more separate exports.

Understanding how .csv files address data values written as sentences

Some fields in WebAdMIT include data values written as sentences. For example, this can be custom fields, reviewer comments, or interviewer remarks you enter in WebAdMIT, or it can be an applicant's essay or personal statement they enter in the application.

When exporting these fields in .csv format, the values appear with quotes. This is how .csv files are created as a standard. Any values containing a comma or a line break will be wrapped in quotes to signify the included data makes up one value in the field. This prevents your software from misinterpreting typed commas as commas used as separators to start new values. If you're viewing the same .csv file in Excel, you'll notice the quotation marks don't appear, because Excel recognizes their purpose. You can learn more about .csv standards here: https://techterms.com/definition/csv.

#8

Exports honoring designation criteria in lists

If you create a list that searches for applicants based on any field in the Designations field grouping (e.g., Designation, Application Status, etc.), you can export applicant data that adheres to your list's criteria. For example, suppose an applicant applied to both Program A and B, and you create a list that searches for applicants in Program B. In that case, when you export the list, only the applicant's Program B information will populate in the Designation field grouping fields (e.g., Designation, Application Status, etc.) you select in the export. Previously, the export extracted all applicant designation information, regardless of the Designation fields you filtered by in the list.

The data you export from the Designation field grouping matches the data you filtered by in your list. For example, if your list searches for applicants who applied to Program B, then all Designation field grouping data in your export will be for Program B.

This feature only affects exports with fields in the Designation field grouping. If you include program-specific fields outside of the Designation field grouping in your export, such as program-specific questions, this information will still populate. For example, a program-specific question for Program A will contain data in your export, even if your list searches for applicants who applied to Program B.

#11

The Last Export Date timestamp

The Last Export Date can be cleared individually for an applicant by clicking the trash icon in the Designation panel, or it can be cleared in batch from List Actions, Search Actions, or Clipboard Actions.

If an applicant has applied to more than one of your designations, this field updates for all their designations together, provided you run the export and have access to all of those designations. For example, if you run the export and only have access to one of your three designations, the Last Export Date field updates only for that one designation, and the other two are left unchanged.

Additionally, if an applicant applies to another of your designations after they've been exported, their Last Export Date doesn't update for the new designation until you include them in another export. For example, if the applicant applies to program A and you export that program's application data, the Last Export Date updates for program A. If the applicant later applies to program B, you must export that program's application data to update the Last Export Date for program B.

#12

Selecting fields

Be aware that the export data order for "many" fields is arbitrary; it does not follow the order from the application, least important to most important, chronological, alphabetical, etc.

Additionally, the order that data exports in one field grouping does not necessarily match the order that data exports in a similar field grouping. For example, ABC University may be listed as college 1 in the College(s) Attended field grouping while in the Transcript field grouping, it may be listed as college 3.

If you're exporting college, transcript, and GPA data for an applicant, note that the college code ID is unique for each college and can be used to manually match data across different field groupings. To do so, include these fields where applicable:

• College(s) Attended field grouping, College Code field
• Transcript field grouping, Transcript College Code field
• GPAs by Transcript field grouping, GPAs by Transcript College ID field

For example, the college code ID "3127" for the University of Dayton is the same in the College Code, Transcript College Code, and GPAs by Transcript College ID fields.

College Code field

Transcript College Code field

GPAs by Transcript College ID field

#13

Selecting filters and transformations

Certain fields have a filter or transformation option. Review the descriptions below to learn more about filters and transformations.

Boolean fields (i.e., Yes/No), Date fields, and Datetime fields

Review Data Dictionaries and Master Code Lists to learn the transformation options for these fields.

Colleges Attended

• Primary College: the college the applicant selected as their primary college (i.e., where they took the most coursework or earned a degree). Be aware that the applicant selects this indicator in the application. If you want the college where an applicant earned or will earn a degree, consider using the Colleges Attended with Degrees report from the Report Manager.

Standardized Tests

• Average: the average score of the selected component.
• Highest Overall: the component taken from the test with the highest overall score (regardless of whether the applicant scored higher on that selected component in another test).
• Maximum: the highest score obtained for the selected component.
• Most Recent: the most recent score for the selected component.

To understand the difference between Highest Overall and Maximum, review this scenario: an applicant took the GRE test twice, with the scores below.

If you select Maximum for Quantitative and Verbal, your export pulls Test 1 score (550) for Quantitative and Test 2 score (690) for Verbal. Selecting Maximum for each section creates a "superscore" that presents the best scores for each section, regardless of whether they were obtained during the same session.

If you select Highest Overall for Quantitative and Verbal, your export pulls Test 2 score (530) for Quantitative and Test 2 score (690) for Verbal. Selecting Highest Overall uses the score originating from the test with the highest overall result (1220).