Exporting Applicants from the UAP

Overview

The UAP allows you to create a rich data file containing selected applicant data elements. Exports are especially useful for reporting purposes. For example, you can run exports to determine:

The following video provides an overview of the options available to you when creating an export. Note that one option when creating exports is to limit the exported applicants to a specific list you've created. For detailed instructions on creating lists, review the Using Lists in the UAP article.

Creating Exports

  1. Using the Menu Bar, open the Reports & Exports panel, then click Export Manager.
  2. Click New Export.
  3. Select an existing list to run the export against, if applicable.
  4. Select an export type (.csv, .xls, .txt, or .zip). See Notes and Consideration below for additional guidance.
  5. Enter a name for your export.
  6. Select whether to include column headings. The names of the fields you select in the export become the column headings in the file.
  7. Select how you want to export fields with more than one result. This includes fields like college names, test scores, evaluations, etc.
    • Select as many columns as needed to expand the field to display as many results as needed, based on the applicant pool you have chosen (i.e., if an applicant attended 10 colleges, the college field and all fields in that grouping will expand to 10 columns for all applicants).
    • Select exactly to set a fixed number of columns allotted for all one-to-many fields (i.e., if you set it to 2 columns, all colleges attended, test scores, and experiences will expand to 2 columns each). Warning: when selecting this option for an applicant who has more answers than the number of columns you selected, you can’t control which data points appear in the export. Entering a higher number of fixed columns may help ensure that you export all necessary data.
    • Select by field category to specify the number of fixed columns for a category. Selecting this option does not allow you to intermingle fields from different categories. Only sections with one-to-many fields offer the “Many” fields allowed: option.
  8. Indicate if the export should appear in the Menu Bar under the My Exports and Reports subpanel in the Reports & Exports panel. This option provides you with quick access to run the export.
  9. Select who can view the template (e.g., just yourself or everyone at your institution).
  10. Under the Export these fields… column, click the field groupings to view and select fields. View the UAP Fields by CAS and Notes and Consideration below for additional guidance.
  11. The fields you select appear in the …in this order. column. If you previously selected .txt for the export type, you can set a fixed width for each field. Depending on the field, you can also select a data transformation or filter option. These options are useful to IT staff when importing data into an SIS. See Notes and Consideration below for additional filter guidance.
  12. If available, enter custom column headings by clicking the default custom column heading in gray and typing in the new column heading. Note that:
    • You can enter up to a maximum of 255 characters for your new column heading.
    • You can’t use the same column heading for different fields in an export template.
    • If you select a "many" field, UAP automatically appends "_0, _1, etc." to the end of your column heading.
  13. Use the grip icon to drag and drop your fields into the preferred order; the top field will export first, and the bottom last. If you select a "many" field, you can also group data by field or numerically.
    • Group by Field exports the data by field category (e.g., College Name 1, College Name 2, College Name 3, College State 1, College State 2, College State 3).
    • Group by Numeric exports the data by value (e.g., College Name 1, College State 1, College Name 2, College State 2, College Name 3, College State 3).
  14. Click Create File to save and run the export, Save Export Settings to save the customized export for future use, or Return to Export Manager to discard the export.

UAP Create Export Jan 2025.png

Notes and Considerations

Review our additional notes and best practices when building your export templates.

Step Number

Step Description

Notes and Considerations

#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 UAP.
  • 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 UAP include data values written as sentences. For example, this can be custom fields, reviewer comments, or interviewer remarks you enter in UAP, 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.

#10

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

College name data in Excel with college name and college code highlighted

Transcript College Code field

Transcript name data in Excel with transcript college name and transcript college code highlighted

GPAs by Transcript College ID field

GPAs by transcript school name data in Excel with GPAs by transcript school name and GPAs by transcript school ID highlighted

#11

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.

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.

  Quantitative Score Verbal Score Overall Result
GRE Test 1 550 640 1190
GRE Test 2 530 690 1220

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).

How to Build a Comprehensive Applicant Export

You can include a variety of applicant data points in your exports. This video walks you through creating a comprehensive applicant export that includes the following fields:

Section

Fields
Applicant Section
  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Middle Name
  • CAS ID
Preferred Mailing Address Section
  • Email Address
Personal Section
  • State/Province of Residence
  • Gender or Sex
Applicant Ethnicities Section
  • All, or select as desired
Designation Section
  • Designation Submitted Date
College(s) Attended Section
  • College Name (optionally, use Primary College Filter on all College Attended fields)
  • Primary College Attended?
  • First Degree
  • First Degree Primary Major
  • Second Degree
  • Second Degree Primary Major
GPAs by Year Section
  • Cumulative Undergraduate Science Total GPA
  • Cumulative Undergraduate Total GPA
  • Post-Baccalaureate Science Total GPA
  • Post-Baccalaureate Total GPA
  • Graduate Science Total GPA
  • Graduate Total GPA
Official MCAT Section
  • Test Date
  • Total
  • Total Percentile
  • Section scores, select as desired

Downloading an Export from Recent Files

Once you run an export, you'll automatically be sent to the Recent Files page. You can also retrieve exports run within the past seven days from this page. If your export has a large number of fields, it may need additional time to produce. Note that the times listed on the Recent Files page are in Eastern Time.

To download an export:

  1. Using the Menu Bar, open the Reports & Exports panel, then click Recent Files.
  2. Click the file link in the Download column. Once you download your export file, you can use your system's software to sort, reorder, and filter the data.

UAP Recent Files Jan 2025.png

Managing Exports

To manage existing exports, click Export Manager from the Menu Bar. You can view and perform the following actions for exports that you created or that other users created and shared with you.

UAP Export Manager Jan 2025.png

Running Exports

Click the export name to run it.

Reordering Exports

Use the grip icon to drag and drop the export into the preferred order.

Pinning Exports to the Menu Bar

Click the checkbox to pin an export in the Menu Bar under the My Exports and Reports subpanel in the Reports & Exports panel; this option provides you with quick access to run the export.

Editing Exports

Use the pencil icon to edit an export. Note that only export owners can make edits. If you'd like to edit or see the settings of an export that you are not the owner of, you can create a copy of it instead.

Copying Existing Exports

Use the duplicate icon to copy an existing export.

Deleting Exports

Use the trash icon to delete an export. Note that only export owners can delete exports.