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Liaison

PharmCAS Program User Guide

This guide provides you with documentation, reference guides, and direct links that answer common admissions questions about the PharmCAS Applicant Portal, Configuration Portal, and WebAdMIT. It also contains resources that may help you work more efficiently throughout your admissions process. If you have additional questions or need further assistance, please contact a member of your account team.

AACP Resources

Review the AACP 2024-2025 PharmCAS School Manual and the PharmCAS Resources page on AACP's website for additional information.

Cycle Timeframes

Applicant Portal

The Applicant Portal opens in mid-July and closes in late June. Applicants must submit all applications by the June deadline, if not earlier per PharmCAS program configurations. You can view the specific cycle dates, including final processing dates (e.g., last date to submit transcripts, last date to request letters of recommendation, etc.), on the PharmCAS Application Cycle Dates page.

Configuration Portal

Between early April and early June, configurations are entered into the prelaunch environment. The account team and AACP review submitted configurations in early June.

WebAdMIT

You can view new applicants and initiate a transfer settings shortly after the new cycle opens in mid-July.

Primary Program Contacts

Liaison requires all programs to designate two contacts at your institution who will receive all communication from AACP and PharmCAS, including the configuration, application, and WebAdMIT launch notifications. These individuals are responsible for creating and managing WebAdMIT accounts for all other faculty and staff users who are affiliated with the institution and authorized by the institution to access individual applicant data. Both AACP members and non-members are invited to join the PharmCAS online community in AACP Connect to receive important updates about the service. See the PharmCAS School Manual for details.

Applicant Portal

The first three sections of the PharmCAS 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 (discussed in the next section).

You can access the PharmCAS application and PharmCAS 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:

You can direct any applicant inquiries related to the application to PharmCAS Customer Service.

Configuration Portal

Use the Configuration Portal Quick Start Guide to make sure you configure your program(s) efficiently and completely in the prelaunch environment. Be sure to check out your CAS's configuration options and review the best practices found throughout. If any optional sections of the application are required for your program (e.g., experiences, test scores, etc.), you'll want to note this on your program home page.

Once you've configured your program, you'll need to have it approved by the account team and AACP before it is available to applicants. If your program is reviewed after the cycle launches, AACP will approve it.

Additionally, review the following recommendations:

Configure Questions and Question Rules (Optional):

  • Review current school and supplemental applications to help you determine which questions you need to ask.
  • AACP recommends that programs ask no more than 3-5 custom questions.
  • Consider removing any custom questions that are not essential to your local admissions review process or predicative of success in your PharmD program.
  • If your program's custom questions include an essay, consider reducing the character limit. Applicants already submit a personal essay through the PharmCAS application that is shared with all programs they apply to.

Configure Prerequisites (Optional):

  • Pull together information on prerequisites, including any instructions.
  • You can customize which and how many prerequisites applicants can match coursework to.
  • AACP recommends that programs list ten or fewer prerequisites.
  • If applicants matching prerequisite coursework is a barrier for your program, deactivate this feature.

Configure Documents (Optional):

  • Ensure you have specific instructions for any documents you are requesting.

Configure Kira Talent Integration (Optional):

  • Kira Talent offers on-demand, timed video and timed written assignments that can be combined with the standard admissions process. You can link your Kira assessment to your program in the application by selecting Kira Assessment.

WebAdMIT

Review the WebAdMIT Help Center for any questions related to working in WebAdMIT. The Reference Guides and WebAdMIT Training and Support sections are additional resources as you configure WebAdMIT for your needs. Documents commonly requested include:

The Release Notes feature new enhancements in the Applicant Portal, Applicant Gateway, Configuration Portal, Liaison Letters, and WebAdMIT, in addition to upcoming training opportunities.

For any questions, contact the Client Support Specialist Team.

Cycle Enhancements

2025-2026

The table below contains enhancements for PharmCAS 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

Personal Information – PharmCAS Release Statement

The PharmCAS Release statement text was updated.

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Applicant Portal

Personal Information – Biographic Information

The Gender Identity and Pronouns questions were removed. 

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Applicant Portal

Personal Information – Other Information

The Academic Integrity or Conduct Violations questions were condensed into one question. 

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Applicant Portal

Academic History –Standardized Tests

Applicants can self-report their Duolingo test scores. You can view their scores under the Standardized Tests panel on the Applicant Details page.

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Applicant Portal

Supporting Information –Experiences

The hours calculation was removed. Applicants no longer enter the average weekly hours for an experience. 

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Configuration Portal

Branding

Pixel tracking can be enabled on the Add Programs and Program Materials sections to gain more insight into your program or organization's applicants. You can insert your tracking ID into the Configuration Portal to establish standard tracking pixels from the major ad providers including Google, Meta, and LinkedIn.

Action required by all participating programs.

Available now

Liaison Letters

Evaluations Forms

Evaluator can include comments on their ratings for Likert scales and questions. You can view their comments within WebAdMIT and the full application PDF.

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

WebAdMIT

Applicant Details Page

Email Templates

Export Manager

List Manager

The Title field is no longer collected in the application and will be removed from WebAdMIT. You will need to update any lists, exports, emails, and other integrations to account for this field removal.

Action required by all participating programs.

Available at cycle launch

WebAdMIT

Personal Statements

The iThenticate tool was disabled. Related text was removed from the PharmCAS Release Statement and the Personal Essay instructional text. 

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

2024-2025

The table below contains enhancements for PharmCAS 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 Page

The Submit Application page lists the term on each program’s tile. Previously, applicants needed to click the additional information icon to view the program’s term.

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Applicant Portal

Extended Profile

The Program Plans question was updated to include the following response options:

  • Current Applicant
  • Applicant for the 2025-2026 (Next) Application Cycle (i.e., 2026 entering class)
  • Applicant for a Future Cycle Beyond 2025-2026
  • Undecided
  • Non-Applicant

Additionally, the question is now formatted as a drop-down. 

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Applicant Portal

Personal Information – Biographic Information

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

Personal Information – Other Information

The Special Life Circumstances question was updated. 

The Previous Attendance at a Health Profession Program question was replaced with two new questions: 

  • Previous Pharmacy Education
  • Previous Health Profession Education 

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Applicant Portal

Academic History –Transcript Entry

Applicants can view instructions when entering their coursework details.

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Applicant Portal

Fee Waivers

The instructions were updated to include information about coupon codes.

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Configuration Portal

Program Details

A School Type Program Attribute was added. 

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available now

WebAdMIT

Export Manager

List Manager

The following fields were removed. If you have exports and lists that include these fields, you will want to review and update them as necessary.

  •  TOEFL Official PBT
  • Previous Attendance at Health Profession Program

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

WebAdMIT

Work Groups

In WebAdMIT, you can configure Work Groups to allow users to see specific panels on the Applicant Details Page. With this enhancement (from Release 11, 2023) if you remove access to a panel for a Work Group, the fields in that panel are also not available for the Work Group to see when creating exports, lists, or PDF manager templates. For example, if the Race and Ethnicity subpanel is not enabled for a Work Group, its members will not see the information from that panel when creating an export, and will not be able to create filters in List Manager using any of the fields from that panel.

As a result of this enhancement, reports that are not shared with Work Groups from the Report Settings page will be inaccessible to anyone who is not a WebAdMIT Administrator. Review the How Work Groups Impact Access to Features and Fields documentation to learn more about the impacts of this enhancement.

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

 

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