GradCAS Program User Guide

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 mid-July and closes in late March. 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 March and late June, configurations are entered into the prelaunch environment. The account team reviews submitted configurations in June.

Liaison Outcomes and WebAdMIT

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

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:

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.

Liaison Outcomes

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

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:

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

2024-2025

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

Personal Information – Biographic Information

The Sex question now includes a third custom sex value: X or another legal sex. This allows CASs to meet their guidelines and new reporting options from state and federal governments.

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Applicant Portal

Academic History – Coursework Entry

Applicants can view instructions when entering their coursework details.

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Configuration Portal

Program Details

Question Rules

Select users with the Config. Portal Live Editing Access role can edit active and closed programs through the Configuration Portal, such as:

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

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 – 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

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

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