The Consortium Program User Guide
This guide provides you with documentation, reference guides, and direct links that answer common admissions questions about The Consortium Applicant Portal, Configuration Portal, and Outcomes. It also contains resources that may help you work more efficiently throughout your admissions process.
Cycle Timeframes
Applicant Portal
The Applicant Portal opens in mid-August and closes in late January. You can view the specific cycle dates, including final processing dates (e.g., last date to request letters of recommendation, etc.), on The Consortium Application Cycle Dates page.
Configuration Portal
Between late May and mid-July, configurations are entered into the prelaunch environment. The account team and The Consortium review submitted configurations in July.
Outcomes
You can view new applicants in mid-October.
Program Participation Requirements
The Consortium requires all programs to designate at least one contact at your institution, preferably two, who will receive all communication from The Consortium, including the configuration, application, and Outcomes launch notifications.
Applicant Portal
The first three sections of The Consortium application (i.e., Personal Information, Academic History, and Supporting Information) compose the core application. They contain questions that are commonly asked of applicants across all participating programs, such as an applicant's biographic information, standardized test scores, and experiences. The fourth section of the application is Program Materials, which is customized by you through the Configuration Portal.
You can access The Consortium application and The Consortium Applicant Help Center to review the applicant experience. You can also create a test application in the Applicant Portal; we recommend creating a new account and adding "test" to your name (e.g., TestJohn TestDoe).
For a general overview of the applicant experience, review the following documents:
- Review the requirements for The Consortium Complete application status.
- The Consortium Quick Start Guide and FAQs: a suggested timeline for completing and submitting the application, links to important pages including cycle dates and fees, and a FAQs section.
You can direct any applicant inquiries related to the application to The Consortium Customer Service.
Outcomes
Review the Outcomes Help Center for any questions related to working in Outcomes.
- The Consortium Quick Start Guide: documentation, step-by-step instructions, and other information you need to get started with Outcomes.
- Data Dictionary: a file that lists every field available for export and how it populates.
- Navigating the Dashboard: the landing page where you arrive after logging in. Dashboards are created as Reports, after which administrators can assign them to other users to serve as their landing page.
- Working with the Dashboard: the Dashboard in Outcomes is the landing page where you arrive after logging in.
- Navigating the Applications Grid: the Applications section is the central hub for viewing, editing, and processing applications to any of your programs.
- Navigating an Application: review your applications and learn how to edit the layout of this page.
- Managing Roles: create Roles to customize a user's permissions and access to Outcomes (e.g., Reviewers, Interviewers, IT Team members, etc.). Review our guide to see how Roles can impact you.
The Release Notes feature new enhancements in Outcomes, in addition to upcoming training opportunities.
For any questions, contact the Client Support Specialist Team.
Cycle Enhancements
2023-2024
The table below contains enhancements for The Consortium for the cycle timeframes noted at the top of this page. Note that some sections have multiple enhancements. If an action is required by participating programs to use the enhancement, click the links under Enhancement Details to learn more. Additional enhancements may have been automatically released; review the Release Notes to learn more.
|
Portal |
Section |
Enhancement Details |
Implementation |
Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Applicant Portal |
Dashboard |
A new notification banner is available for the application dashboard. CASs can share best tips and tricks with applicants as they complete their applications. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Supporting Information – Experiences |
Applicants can edit in progress experiences after they submit their application. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Personal Information – Other Information |
2024 was added to the Fellowship Consideration Entry Year question. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
2022-2023
The table below contains enhancements for The Consortium for the cycle timeframes noted at the top of this page. Note that some sections have multiple enhancements. If an action is required by participating programs to use the enhancement, click the links under Enhancement Details to learn more. Additional enhancements may have been automatically released; review the Release Notes to learn more.
|
Portal |
Section |
Enhancement Details |
Implementation |
Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Applicant Portal |
Add Program |
The instructional text was updated to better assist applicants. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Academic History – Colleges Attended |
If an applicant selects Unlisted French Speaking Canadian or Other Foreign Institution, they must complete a new required field for the college’s country. If you created exports to pull a college's country data, you must edit and select the new college country fields. Review the Country Field for Manually Entered Foreign Institutions release note for more information. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Academic History – Executive Assessment Test |
All questions in the Executive Assessment Test section have an EA: prefix. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Fees |
Applicants can apply to as many programs as they want. Additionally, the application fees were updated to the following:
|
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Coupon Codes |
Coupon codes are no longer available. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Personal Information – Biographic Information |
The Sexual Orientation question was updated to Do you identify as LGBTQIA+? |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Personal Information – Contact Information |
A Current Mailing Address question was added. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Personal Information – Race & Ethnicity |
The questions in this section are now required. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Personal Information – Other Information |
The following updates were made to the Fellowship Consideration questions:
The following updates were made to the Consortium-specific questions:
The following questions were removed from the Admissions Related questions:
|
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Submit Application Page |
Applicants are no longer required to rank their program preference order. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Supporting Information – Core Application Essays |
The Core Application Essays section was removed. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Supporting Information – Documents |
The following document types were added:
|
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Supporting Information – Application Requirements Checklist |
A new Application Requirements Checklist section was added. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Various |
The country drop-down answer values were updated throughout the application. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Chatbot |
Liaison has partnered with Ada to offer an AI chatbot. The chatbot, nicknamed Cassie, leverages an API with CXone Expert, which hosts the CAS-specific Applicant Help Centers. Applicants can access this chatbot once they are logged in to the application. The chatbot responds with information and links to the CAS-specific Applicant Help Center and, if needed, directs the applicant to live support with customer service. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Configuration Portal |
Organization Details |
You can only access the Add Program and Copy Program buttons in the Configuration Portal prelaunch environment. |
Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement. |
Available now |