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Liaison

PharmDirect Program User Guide

This guide provides you with documentation, reference guides, and direct links that answer common admissions questions about the PharmDirect 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 August and closes in late June. Applicants must submit all applications by the specified late June cycle close date, if not earlier per PharmDirect 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 PharmDirect Application Cycle Dates page.

Configuration Portal

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

WebAdMIT

You can view new applicants and initiate a transfer settings shortly after the new cycle opens in late August.

Primary Program Contacts

Liaison requires all programs to designate two contacts at your institution who will receive all communication from AACP and PharmDirect, 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.

Applicant Portal

The first three sections of the PharmDirect 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 PharmDirect application and PharmDirect 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. Note that Fee Waivers and Professional Transcript Entry (PTE) are not available in PharmDirect.
  • Application Statuses Reference Guide: review what each application status means and how you can interact with applicants at different stages. Note that the Manual application status does not apply to PharmDirect.
  • PharmDirect 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 PharmDirect 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 PharmDirect application that is shared with all programs they apply to.

Configure High School Transcripts (Required):

  • Indicate if you want to request high school transcripts.

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, Letters by Liaison, and WebAdMIT, in addition to upcoming training opportunities.

For any questions, contact the Client Support Specialist Team.

Cycle Enhancements

2022-2023

The table below contains enhancements for PharmDirect 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

Invitation Codes

You can offer individual deadline extensions to applicants via invitation codes after your program closes.

Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Applicant Portal

Personal Information – Release Statement

The release statement was updated to include statements about program-specific questions and background checks.

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

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

2021-2022

The table below contains enhancements for PharmDirect 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 – High School Attended

A new, simplified version of the High School Attended section is now available. Applicants do not need to enter their terms attended in this version. Additionally, if the CAS does not collect high school coursework, then no reminder message to enter coursework appears.

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Applicant Portal

Academic History – Standardized Tests

Applicants can report their AP (Advanced Placement), CLEP (College Level Examination Program), and IB (International Baccalaureate) tests in the Standardized Tests section.

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. The question text is now What is your current legal sex? This information is required for reporting purposes to the U.S. Federal Government using these values only

Additionally, Gender Identity and Pronouns questions were added. 

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Applicant Portal

Personal Information – Release Statement

The Code of Conduct question was shortened and updated with links to the Code of Conduct details.

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

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

2020-2021

The table below contains enhancements for PharmDirect 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 – Colleges Attended

The workflow for entering colleges has been improved. Enhancements include:

  • The option to employ an e-transcript vendor from within the application (e.g., Parchment, National Student Clearinghouse, or Credential Solutions, where applicable)
  • An improved process for uploading and previewing unofficial transcripts
  • Enhanced display of requirements

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Applicant Portal

Add Program Page

Applicants can skip the Add Program page after creating their account.

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Applicant Portal

Background Image

Logo

The PharmDirect background image and logo are updated.

No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

Configuration Portal

Organization Details

You can offer applicants a deep link to the application's Add Program page with your programs pre-filtered. This allows applicants to quickly access your programs without needing to set their own filters. If an applicant has not yet created an account, the deep link will first instruct them to create an account, and then will take them to the pre-filtered Add Program page.

Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement.

Available at cycle launch

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