CASPA Program User Guide
This guide provides you with documentation, reference guides, and direct links that answer common admissions questions about the CASPA 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.
Cycle Timeframes
Applicant Portal
The Applicant Portal opens in late April and closes in early April. Applicants must submit all applications by April 1, if not earlier per 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 CASPA Application Cycle Dates page.
Configuration Portal
Between early February to early March, configurations are entered into the prelaunch environment. The account team and PAEA review submitted configurations in March.
WebAdMIT
You can view new applicants and initiate a transfer settings shortly after the new cycle opens in late April.
Program Participation Requirements
PAEA requires all programs to designate two contacts at your institution who will receive all communication from PAEA and CASPA, including the configuration, application, and WebAdMIT launch notifications.
Applicant Portal
The first three sections of the CASPA 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 CASPA application and CASPA 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). Additionally, select This is a test account. for the program plans question.
For a general overview of the applicant experience, review the following documents:
- Applicant Processing Reference Guide: learn how applicants move through the application and Liaison processes applicant materials, such as transcripts and official test scores.
- Application Statuses Reference Guide: review what each application status means and how you can interact with applicants at different stages.
- Review the requirements for the CASPA Complete application status.
- CASPA 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 CASPA 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 PAEA before it is available to applicants. If your program is reviewed after the cycle launches, PAEA will approve it.
Note the following:
- You must use a CASPA pre-approved deadline and use the Show Deadline option.
- Almost all program information in the Configuration Portal, including deadline dates, is locked after your program is live in the application. You must contact PAEA for any change requests.
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:
- Application Coupons Reference Guide: learn how to request coupons to offset application fees and disperse them to applicants. To purchase coupons, use the Coupon Code Payment Gateway.
- Application Coupon Codes FAQ: view answers to frequently asked questions about offering coupon codes.
- Background checks through Certiphi.
- Data Dictionaries and Master Code Lists: a comprehensive list of all fields available in the Export Manager and Report Manager, including associated lookup tables.
- Deferring Applicants via the Liaison-assisted Deferral Process: learn how to transfer deferred applicants from one cycle to the next.
- Integration Help Center and WebAdMIT API: learn how to set up an API and schedule automatic data exports from WebAdMIT into your SIS/ERP.
- Reporting Final Decision Codes: learn how to use WebAdMIT to place applicants in Decision Codes and report them back to PAEA.
- You can also use the Competing Offers and Shared Decision reports to find applicants with program competing offers made and accepted, as well as shared decisions. Note that you may see all or only a few of these reports.
- Note that CASPA requires that matriculated applicants be marked in the Matriculated Decision Code. All other applicants can be placed in any Decision Code.
- Requesting Official GRE CAS Codes: a guide on how to create CAS-specific codes in order to receive official GRE scores in WebAdMIT.
- Transfer Settings Guide: a review of how programs and templates built in WebAdMIT are carried forward each cycle.
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 CASPA 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
CAS Applicant Portal |
Page Footer
|
The PA Program Directory link in the page footer was changed to CASPA Program Directory. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
CAS Applicant Portal |
Extended Profile |
The European Union Data Protection question is now configured to be internal only, meaning that that question and answers will not be sent to other portals such as the CAS API and WebAdMIT. The CASPA Applicant User Agreement and Release text was updated. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
CAS Applicant Portal |
Personal Information – Other Information |
The Life Experiences essay question is now required. A new CASPA Investigation question was added. The COVID-19 question was updated. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
CAS Configuration Portal |
Program Details |
Edit permissions were disabled for the Deadline Display field to ensure all programs enter their exact deadline date. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available now |
|
Liaison Letters |
Recommendation Forms |
Recommenders can include comments on their ratings for Likert scales and questions. You can view their comments within WebAdMIT/Liaison Outcomes 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 |
Applicant Details Page Export Manager List Manager |
The Refugee answer option was removed from the Visa Information question in the application; the correct option, I-94 Refugee, remains available. You should update any lists, exports, and other integrations to account for this answer option removal. |
Action required by all participating programs. |
Available at cycle launch |
2024-2025
The table below contains enhancements for CASPA 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
CAS Applicant Portal |
Background Image
|
The CASPA background image is updated. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
CAS Applicant Portal |
Applicant Help Center |
The full text of the Applicant User Agreement and Release Statement was removed from the Applicant Help Center. This ensures that applicants can view the most accurate and up-to-date versions of these statements in the application. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
CAS Applicant Portal |
Extended Profile |
Applicants can now read and indicate their agreement with the CASPA Applicant User Agreement and Release in the Extended Profile section. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
CAS Applicant Portal |
Fee Waiver Form |
The fee waiver form text was updated. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
CAS Applicant Portal |
Personal Information – Release Statements |
The CASPA Applicant User Agreement and Release text and question was moved to the Extended Profile. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
CAS Applicant Portal |
Personal Information – Other Information |
The PAEA Pipeline question was removed. New Life Experiences and Criminal History questions were added. Additionally, the Military Status and Military Discharge questions were removed. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
CAS Applicant Portal |
Personal Information – Military History |
A new Military History section was added. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
CAS 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 |
|
CAS Applicant Portal |
Supporting Information – Evaluations |
The number of evaluations applicants must request to submit their application was reduced from 3 to 2. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
CAS Applicant Portal |
Supporting Information – Experiences |
The instructional text was updated to better assist applicants. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
CAS 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 |
|
CAS Configuration Portal |
Documents |
A new Fee Waiver Award Notice Document Type is available. |
Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement. |
Available now |
|
CAS Configuration Portal |
Program Details |
The following new program attributes were added:
|
Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement. |
Available now |
|
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 |
|
WebAdMIT |
Program Selections |
Some CASs are built where schools offer only one program per organization or most organizations only offer one program. If you participate in either one of these CAS types and only have one program, then WebAdMIT can automatically activate features for your single program. Note that if your organization offers multiple programs within a CAS, then this feature does not apply to you. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
WebAdMIT |
Reports |
The following reports were enabled:
|
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
WebAdMIT |
List Manager Export Manager |
The TOEFL Official PBT fields were removed. If you have exports and lists that include this field, you will want to review and update them as necessary. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |