UofM Graduate School Program User Guide

Cycle Timeframes

Applicant Portal

The Applicant Portal opens in early September and closes in mid-February, over a 17-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 UofM Graduate School Application Cycle Dates page.

Configuration Portal

Between late May and late July, configurations are entered into the prelaunch environment. The UofM centralized team review submitted configurations in August.

[CAS NAME]

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

Program Participation Requirements

UofM requires all programs to designate two contacts at your institution who will receive all communication from UofM Graduate School, including the configuration, application, and [CAS NAME] launch notifications.

Applicant Portal

The first three sections of the UofM Graduate School 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 UofM Graduate School application and UofM Graduate School 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 UofM Graduate School Complete application status.
UofM Graduate School 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 UofM Graduate School 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 UofM centralized team before it is available to applicants.

[CAS NAME]

Review the [CAS NAME] Manual for any questions related to working in [CAS NAME]. The Reference Guides and [CAS NAME] Training and Support sections are additional resources as you configure [CAS NAME] 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.
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 [CAS NAME] into your SIS/ERP.
Manual Designations: learn how to add additional programs (i.e., designations) to an application in [CAS NAME].
Transfer Settings Guide: a review of how programs and templates built in [CAS NAME] are carried forward each cycle.

The Release Notes feature new enhancements in the Applicant Portal, Applicant Gateway, Configuration Portal, Letters by Liaison, and [CAS NAME], in addition to upcoming training opportunities.

For any questions, contact the Client Support Specialist Team.

Cycle Enhancements

2021-2022

The table below contains enhancements for UofM Graduate School 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 instructions text is updated to better assist applicants.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Personal Information – Citizenship Information	The Visa Information question was removed.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Personal Information – Contact Information	The Have you always lived in Tennessee? question use conditional answer values. If the applicant selects Yes, then no additional questions appear. If the applicant selects No, then additional questions about the applicant's residency appear.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Personal Information – Other Information	The Have you ever applied to graduate programs at the University of Memphis? question was removed. A new question for current or previous UofM students to provide their Unumber was added. Additionally, the Do you wish to complete your program entirely online? question use conditional answer values. If the applicant selects No, then no additional questions appear. If the applicant selects Yes, then additional questions about online programs appear.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Personal Information – Visa Information	A new Visa Information section is available only to applicants who identify as international or non-resident aliens in the Extended Profile question.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Supporting Information – Documents	Document types can show or hide based on an applicant's response to the Extended Profile questions. Additionally, the following document types were removed: Affidavit of Financial Support Bank Statement or Other Evidence of Financial Support Finally, the instructions text is updated to better assist applicants.	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
Configuration Portal	Organization Details	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	Program Details	The following answer options were removed from the Concentration program attribute: Composition Studies English as a Second Language Language and Linguistics Professional Writing Rehabilitation Counseling	Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement.	Available now
Configuration Portal	Question Rules	Two Question Rules are now available: Show Document Question Rule: request or require a document upload based on an applicant’s response to an Extended Profile or program-level question. Program Availability Question Rule: show or hide your programs based on an applicant’s response to an Extended Profile or program-level question.	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. There are two fields to track this information and both populate as Yes or No: Applicant Previously Applied to CAS Applicant Previously Applied to Organization	No action required by participating programs 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

2020-2021

The table below contains enhancements for UofM Graduate School 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	The Add Program page in the Applicant Portal has a new streamlined look and feel and includes an updated search feature. The improved Add Program interface is easier to navigate and offers increased adherence to 508 Compliance standards. Applicants can select programs from the holistic list under the Add Program sub-tab, and then toggle to the Selected Programs sub-tab to review their program selections. Additionally, the new Add Program page lists the Organization Name field as a row with its programs grouped below it, instead of as a column. The Organization Name also remains at the top of the table until the next organization and program grouping appear.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Extended Profile	Based on an applicant’s response to Extended Profile questions, select sections of the core application (i.e., Personal Information, Academic History, and Supporting Information) display.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Applicant Portal	Supporting Information – Other Information	Applicants are asked a Yes/No question if they have a social security number (SSN). Based on their response, they can enter their SSN or confirm that they don’t have one.	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
Configuration Portal	Question Rules	The following new question rules are available: You can configure alternate deadlines using the new Change Deadline question rule. You can configure alternate fees using the new Change Fee question rule.	Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement.	Available now
Configuration Portal	Questions	You can configure both organization- and program-level questions for your programs. This allows you to configure one set of questions that are asked by all programs in that organization for the CAS and cycle, and another set of questions that are asked by individual programs, as needed. Additionally, if you use organization-level questions, then you can select if applicants can edit their responses to these questions after they've submitted their application. Finally, when you create a question in the Configuration Portal, you can choose to hide the question in the full application PDF in WebAdMIT. These questions will still display on the Applicant Details page in WebAdMIT and be available in the List Manager and Export Manager.	Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement.	Available now
Letters by Liaison	Account	Evaluators can now submit their evaluations as a guest, without creating a Letters by Liaison account. Guest users can create an account at any time while working in Letters by Liaison, and evaluators who already have an account can also complete an evaluation as a guest.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
Letters by Liaison	Recommendations	Recommenders can automatically reuse a completed recommendation for an applicant who requests they complete additional recommendations that are the same recommendation type as the original (e.g., academic, personal, etc.). Once activated by the recommender, any time the same applicant requests the same recommendation type, the system will automatically complete the recommendation and submit it. Recommenders will receive an email every Friday that records if the recommendation has been reused, and if so, for which programs. This feature can be turned off at any time by the recommender.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch
WebAdMIT	Export Manager	The Hispanic field in WebAdMIT aligns with the Do you consider yourself to be of Hispanic/Latino Origin? optional question from the Applicant Portal. Currently, when users export this field from WebAdMIT, an applicant’s response populates as: Yes (if the applicant selected Yes) or No (if the applicant selected No or didn’t answer the question). A new Hispanic (Yes / No / Blank) field has been created to accurately reflect an applicant’s response to this Do you consider yourself to be of Hispanic/Latino Origin? question: Yes (if the applicant selected Yes), No (if the applicant selected No), or Blank (if the applicant didn’t answer the question). The Hispanic (Yes / No / Blank) field is available in the: Applicant Header List Manager Export Manager Race and Ethnicity subpanel under the Personal Information panel (note that this field is labeled as Hispanic) The original Hispanic field is still available in WebAdMIT.	No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement.	Available at cycle launch