GradCAS Program User Guide

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This guide provides you with documentation, reference guides, and direct links that answer common admissions questions about the GradCAS 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 early September and closes in early April, over a 18-month period. 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 GradCAS Application Cycle Dates page.

Configuration Portal

Between early April and late August, configurations are entered into the prelaunch environment. The account team reviews submitted configurations in August.

Liaison Outcomes and WebAdMIT

You can view new applicants and initiate a transfer settings in WebAdMIT shortly after the new cycle opens in early September.

Program Participation Requirements

Liaison requires all programs to designate two contacts at your institution who will receive all communication from GradCAS, including the configuration, application, and WebAdMIT launch notifications. Additionally, programs offered on GradCAS cannot accept applications from other sources.

Applicant Portal

The first three sections of the GradCAS 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 GradCAS application and GradCAS 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:

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 GradCAS Complete application status.
GradCAS 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 GradCAS 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. Then they will approve it or contact you if additional changes must be made. Once your program is approved, it will move into the Applicant Portal and be available to applicants, starting on the program's open date.

When indicating the college transcripts and coursework entry you require, note that GradCAS does not verify applicant coursework, so an applicant's final application status is Complete.

Additional Information for Program Configurations

Use the following documents to manage your program-specific features, including coupon codes and CAS GRE codes.

Application Coupons Reference Guide: learn how to request coupons to offset application fees and disperse them to applicants. To purchase coupons, use the CAS Coupon Code and Invitation Code Request Form.
Application Coupon Codes FAQ: review answers to commonly asked questions about offering coupon codes.
Fee Collection, Reconciliation, and Remittance: an explanation of the application fee structure.
Invitation Codes Reference Guide: learn how to offer individual deadline extensions directly to applicants. To purchase invitation codes, use the CAS Coupon Code and Invitation Code Request Form.
Requesting Official GRE CAS Codes: a guide on how to create CAS-specific codes in order to receive official GRE scores in WebAdMIT.

Liaison Outcomes

Review the Liaison Outcomes Help Center for any questions related to working in Outcomes.

Getting Started: access the information you'll need to get up and running with Outcomes.
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.
Working with Segments: segments are groups of applications or contacts that meet a specific set of criteria you’ve established through filters. You can use Segments to move applicants into the correct Phase.
Working with Phases: use Phases to organize applicants, corresponding with their current status with your institution.
Working with Application Exports: you can export the Application Summary as a PDF with this feature.
Integration: explore how to create a data integration between Outcomes and your institution's Student Information System (SIS).

The Release Notes feature new enhancements in Outcomes, in addition to new documentation.

For any questions, contact the Client Support Specialist Team.

WebAdMIT

Review the WebAdMIT Manual 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:

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 Transfer Settings: 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.
Manual Designations: learn how to add additional programs (i.e., designations) to an application in WebAdMIT.
Social Security Number (SSN) Documents Reference Guide: a guide on how to configure a PGP key to receive an encrypted file that contains the applicant's CAS ID and SSN.
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, Letters by Liaison, and WebAdMIT, 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 GradCAS 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	Account Information	The European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information of individuals within the European Union. The GDPR question explains the information we collect and how we use their information. Users located in a European Union country, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, or Switzerland must opt into our policies when creating an account.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Personal Information – Race & Ethnicity	The Ethnicity question is now required. Additionally, Decline to State was added as an answer option.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Personal Information – Other Information	The COVID-19 Impacts question was removed.	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

2022-2023

Portal	Section	Enhancement Details	Implementation	Availability
Applicant Portal	Academic History	The Academic History sections are now in the following order: Colleges Attended Coursework Entry GPA Entries Standardized Tests	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 now
Applicant Portal	Add Program Page	The instructions and program table column heading names and order on the Add Program page were updated to better assist applicants when reviewing and filtering programs. Columns are now in the following order: Program Name Start Term Start Year Application Deadline Delivery Full-Time/Part-Time State Campus Area of Study Department Name Additionally, several filters were updated to better assist applicants: Delivery Full-Time/Part-Time Institution Program Level Start Term State/Location	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Background Image	The background image on the login page was updated to better reflect applicant diversity.	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 now
Applicant Portal	Extended Profile	The Extended Profile section includes instructions with a link to the Applicant Help Center for more information. The Extended Profile questions were updated to more clearly identify international applicant qualifications and how program deadlines, fees, and requirements may change based on an applicant's answer to these questions. Additionally, the answer order for the Visa and Residency Information question was switched to Yes first, then No.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Fees	The application fee is changing to $38 per program.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Footer	You can access the Browser Compatibility and Accessibility link in the application footer.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available now
Applicant Portal	Official IELTS Tests	Applicants can submit their official IELTS test scores to the CAS, and you can review those test scores in WebAdMIT.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Personal Information – Citizenship Information	Applicants who do not list themselves as a US citizen can now update their citizenship and residency statuses after submitting their application.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available now
Applicant Portal	Personal Information – Release & Acknowledgement Statements	The Release Statement was updated.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available now
Applicant Portal	Program Materials – Home	Several program attributes were removed from the Home tab because they duplicated information in the Add Program page or were irrelevant: Application Type Area of Study Campus Department Name	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Program Materials – Home	Several program attributes were removed from the Home tab because they duplicated information in the Add Program page or were irrelevant: Application Type Area of Study Campus Department Name	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Program Materials – Recommendations	Applicants can create a custom recommender pool, where they enter a recommender’s information once and then select the recommender for any programs that they apply to. This enhancement alleviates the applicant burden of entering recommender information for every program and speeds up the application process.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Configuration Portal	College Transcripts	You can select different requirements for domestic transcripts and foreign transcripts or evaluations.	Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement.	Available now
Configuration Portal	Documents	A new Work Sample document type is available. Additionally, the Health Records and Literary Critique document types were removed.	Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement.	Available now
Configuration Portal	Organization Details	You can only access the Add Program and Copy Program buttons in the Configuration Portal prelaunch environment. Additionally, instead of rebuilding your program in the prelaunch environment, you can import your program from a previous cycle's production environment into the prelaunch environment. You can access the Import from Previous Cycle button in the Configuration Portal prelaunch environment. Visit the Import Your Programs page for more information.	Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement.	Available now
Configuration Portal	Organization Details and Program Details	You can preview your programs in the application using the Preview feature and continue making edits as necessary.	Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement.	Available now
Configuration Portal	Program Details	The Deadline Display program attribute was renamed Application Deadline.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available now
Configuration Portal	Program Details	You can edit the Program Code program attribute, which may be useful for importing program data into your Student Information System (SIS).	Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement.	Available now
Configuration Portal	Program Details	Due to the application fee changes, you may need to update your program's Default Fee field.	Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement.	Available now
Configuration Portal	Program Details	The Standardized Test Score Requirement and Accepted English Language Tests program attributes are now required and are a text field; you can enter your program's test requirements instead of selecting from a drop-down.	Action required by all participating programs.	Available now
WebAdMIT	Applicant Details Page	You can view TOEFL MyBest scores in the Standardized Tests panel of the Applicant Details page. Additionally, you can view scores in the Full Application PDF under the Documents panel of the Applicant Details page. All TOEFL iBT score reports sent after August 1, 2019, will include the applicant's MyBest scores as well as the individual scores from each test date.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available now
WebAdMIT	Applicant Details Page	You can view an applicant's college's regional accreditation under the Details button on the Education panel of the Applicant Details page.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available now
WebAdMIT	Clipboard	You can now add multiple applicants to your Clipboard by uploading a CSV file of their CAS IDs. Review the Using the Clipboard page for more information.	Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
WebAdMIT	Export Manager	You can now extract the Kira Assessment URL field through the Export Manager in WebAdMIT.	Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement.	Available now
WebAdMIT	Export Manager List Manager	Several duplicated fields related to Applicant Gateway Activities were removed from the Export Manager and List Manager, including: Schedule Interview Name Collect Documents Name Supplemental Application Name Competencies Name Extend Offer Name Fee Collection Name Prerequisites Name	Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
WebAdMIT	PDF Manager	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 now extract the full application PDFs that adhere to your list's criteria. For more information, see the PDF Manager page.	Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
WebAdMIT	Report Manager	The mailing address fields were removed from the Evaluations report.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available now

2021-2022

Portal	Section	Enhancement Details	Implementation	Availability
Applicant Portal	Personal Information – Release & Acknowledgement Statements	The Release Statement section was renamed to Release & Acknowledgement Statements. Additionally, the statements were updated to include an acknowledgment that identity-marker information may be collected differently by each program and therefore may seem repetitive to applicants.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Extended Profile	The What is your state of legal residence? question was removed from the Extended Profile. This question was found to be redundant and was a potential barrier for certain applicants (e.g., applicants who live abroad and plan to study online).	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Personal Information – Biographic Information and Contact Information	Liaison utilizes the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for a variety of standard "lookup" values, such as country names, states, etc. By default, the Country drop-down lists Taiwan as "Taiwan (Province of China)." This enhancement allows CASs to use an alternate name for Taiwan. Note that this enhancement does not affect WebAdMIT or Admissions by Liaison, which will continue to display the ISO standard lookup value, Taiwan (Province of China).	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Personal Information – Biographic Information	The Gender question was renamed to Sex. It also now provides additional context about its format and the purpose of collecting the information.	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 – Standardized Tests	Applicants can now self-report Pearson Test of English (PTE) scores on the Standardized Tests page. PTE scores are listed in the Standardized Tests panel in WebAdMIT and in the Standardized Tests section in Admissions by Liaison.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Various	You can now set a minimum number of characters on certain custom (i.e., essays) or numeric question types (i.e., Social Security Numbers). A message will notify applicants that they cannot save an answer until they enter the specific number of characters. This can be combined with maximum character limits.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Program Materials	The following new document types are now available on the Documents tab: Certification Record Copy of Passport English Proficiency Exam Immunization Record Research Proposal Supplemental Document 1 Supplemental Document 2 Work Experience	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available now
Applicant Portal	Add Program Page & Program Materials Home Page	Program Attributes were updated to provide more helpful information for applicants: Department Name: The former Department/Subject field now displays as Department Name on the Add Program page and Program Materials Home page. This field is free text and not required. In WebAdMIT, this field will still display as Department in the Designations Panel, Export Manager, and List Manager. Area of Study: A new Area of Study field is now available on the Add Program page. This field is required and displays as drop-down list that contains the answer options previously available in the former Department/Subject field (see above). This field also now displays on the Program Materials Home page. In WebAdMIT, this field displays as Concentration in the Designations Panel, Export Manager, and List Manager.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Email Templates	Test Submitted Email Template	A new Test Submitted email template will notify applicants when GradCAS receives official GRE or TOEFL scores.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Email Templates	Evaluation Request Email Template	The subject line of the Guest Access to Evaluator email template was updated to better inform recipients of the email's purpose. This change will also help prevent email providers from routing these emails to junk/spam folders.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Configuration Portal	Preview Program	You can now use the Preview feature to preview and edit your program(s) in the application prelaunch environment without needing your program(s) approved.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available now
Configuration Portal	Kira Talent Assessment	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.	Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement.	Available now
WebAdMIT	Applicant Details Page	You can now view which applicants reapplied from a previous cycle in WebAdMIT. The Applicant Previously Applied to Organization field tracks this information and populates as Yes or No.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch