PLEASE NOTE:
THIS WAS WRITTEN
FOR THE PSYCHOLOGY
DEPARTMENT.
YOU WILL NEED TO
UPDATE SLIDES FOR
YOUR DEPARTMENT.
PLEASE CHANGE TEXT
HIGHLIGHTED IN
GREEN.
Primarily assembled by Jennifer Gucwa
(PSYC), edited by Kate Cross
Part 1:
The Basics
How to Access GradAdmit
• Do you know your NetID and password?
– They’re what you use to log in to Owlspace and email.
– If you’ve forgotten your password, email
helpdesk@rice.edu to have it reset.
• Go to ____gradapps.rice.edu
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click
“Administrator Login” in the bottom left corner.
• Log in with your NetID and password.
How NOT to Access GradAdmit
• Do NOT try to log in under “Applicant Login”
– It’s the most obvious place to log in, since it has
the Email/Password boxes and the “Login” button,
but it will only lead to confusion.
• Do NOT create an account under “Register”
– It’s the logical next step after being rejected by
the “Applicant Login” section, but it will only lead
to an application for our grad program.
Home Page
Home Page
Click to sort
Most recent
institution
Click name to view
individual application
Student-reported at time of application;
more recent scores may be available
Text search
Recs in red
not yet received
An overview:
• The left sidebar:
–
–
–
–
“Home” takes you to this page.
“Search Applicants” takes you to a search page.
“Log Out” does what it says.
Ignore the other items; they don’t really do anything yet.
• The applicant list:
– View an individual application by clicking on an applicant’s
name.
– Sort applicants by any of the columns by clicking on the
column header.
• The search bar:
– Search for any text on the page (RIG, school name,
recommender name, etc.).
Search Applicants
Search Applicants
Drop-down list
of Areas of
Study (Research
Interests)
Useful features
we’ll discuss later
An overview:
• “Personal Data”
– Search by applicant name
– Search by RIG (“Area of Study (Primary)”)
– Search by country
– Ignore the other items: “Term” and “Degree” default to this year and
the only degree program we offer (Ph.D.); “Area of Study (Secondary)”
is a default component of this application system.
• “Departmental Data”
– Search by tag
– Search by promotion status
– Ignore “Decision” and “Finalized” (fields we change right before
sending offer letters; until then, they’re the same on all applications).
• “Results Format”
– “View results on the web” gives you a page like the GradAdmit home
page, but with only the applicants who fit your search parameters.
– “View results as an Excel spreadsheet” gives you a big spreadsheet
(~80 columns) of all applicants who fit your search parameters.
Flexible Reporting
Uncheck “default columns” to
change columns in your report.
Flexible Reporting
Move columns
from right to left to
select these for
your report.
Flexible Reporting
Use the up/down
arrows to reorder
your report.
When ready, select
to view results.
Flexible Reporting
Save a favorite
report to use
again.
Flexible Reporting
Find saved reports here
Share reports with
others
in your
Find saved
and
here.
shareddepartment
reports
here.
Flexible Reporting
Customize your home page with a
saved report using this link on the
home page.
PLEASE NOTE:
THIS WAS WRITTEN
FOR THE PSYCHOLOGY
DEPARTMENT.
YOU WILL NEED TO
UPDATE SLIDES FOR
YOUR DEPARTMENT.
PLEASE CHANGE TEXT
HIGHLIGHTED IN
GREEN.
Part 2:
Individual Applications
Application overview:
• The application is divided into sections, including:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Departmental Information
Personal Data
Address Information
Area of Study and Financial Aid
Previous Degrees
Test Scores
Official Test Scores
Supplemental Info
Recommendations
Supporting Documents
• At the top of each section is a navigation bar with links
to all the other sections.
Application: Top
Navigation bar
An overview:
• Clicking “Top” in the navigation bar will bring you here.
• Note the “Download as PDF” option just beneath the
applicant’s name; this will open the entire application,
including uploaded documents (writing samples,
transcripts, etc.) and recommendation letters, as a
single PDF.
• “Back to Search Results” (to the left of “Download as
PDF”) does what it says.
• Ignore “Account Information” and “Application
Information”; they’re just for record-keeping purposes.
– “Account Information” DOES include the applicant’s email
address, if you need it.
Application: Departmental Information
Rank applicants on
a scale of 1 to 5
Other faculty
rankings
This will vary
based on the
view you show
your faculty.
You might
want to edit
this slide.
Comments space!
Other faculty
comments
Click to remove a tag
you’ve applied
An overview:
• The “Departmental Information” section contains 3
ways to differentiate applicants:
– Promote/Withhold
• It takes one faculty member to promote an applicant or two to
withhold one.
• Your RIG can decide how best to use this feature; some
departments use “withhold” to indicate that an applicant is below
threshold for consideration and “promote” to move an applicant
to a departmental shortlist.
• One of the parameters on the GradAdmit search page is
“Promotion Status,” so using the Promote/Withhold feature can
help you refine your search results.
– Note that you cannot use this to search only for applicants
you personally have promoted—search results will include all
promoted applicants.
• Ignore “Application Status” on the left for now; that’s something
we change just before sending out offer/denial letters.
An overview (continued):
• The “Departmental Information” section contains 3
ways to differentiate applicants:
– Votes
• Rank applicants on a 1-5 scale and see how other faculty members
have ranked them. Decide within your RIG whether 1 is better
than 5 or vice versa—just be consistent!
• Make comments about an applicant. Your comments will be visible
to other faculty members, but NOT to the applicant, so you can
use this to make notes for yourself or to share a comment with the
other faculty in your RIG (or both).
• Both your ranking and your comments will have your user ID
associated with them; this is not an anonymous system.
• Remember to hit “Save” after making any changes to your vote
or comments!
This will vary based on the view you show your faculty. You might
want to edit this slide.
An overview (continued):
• The “Departmental Information” section contains 3
ways to differentiate applicants:
– Tags
• Tag applications and view tags others have added. I can add
literally anything you like to the list of available tags.
– Currently there are tags for each faculty member and a tag to
mark potential Provost’s Fellowship candidates.
• If an applicant mentions a faculty member in his/her statement of
purpose or other materials, I tag the application accordingly.
– If you want me to un-tag you on an application, just ask.
• You can tag applications for your own reference or to indicate that
the applicant might be a good fit for another faculty member.
• You can see all the tags that anyone has applied to the application
and how many times and by whom each tag has been applied.
• You can use the GradAdmit search page to find applications with a
particular tag (e.g. your name).
• Remember to hit “Save” after choosing a tag to apply!
Application: Departmental Information (cont.)
Indicates whether
we’ve received test
scores and transcripts
My notes to
you. Infrequent
but important
Visible to applicant
ALTER SLIDE: This will vary based on the
custom review fields that you have set
up in GradAdmit. These are set up at
the beginning of each year. Make a note
for yourself if you would like to use
these next year.
NOT visible to
applicant
An overview:
• Below the “Tags” area in “Department
Information” are the custom fields that I use to
communicate with you and with the applicant.
– 2 checkboxes indicate whether we’ve received all
official transcripts and official GRE scores.
– In the “Notes to Applicant” area, I communicate other
relevant information to applicants (which transcripts
we’ve received/which we still need; whether we’ve
received TOEFL scores, if applicable; whether the file
is complete).
– The “Notes for Faculty” section is where I tell you
things you need to know about the application.
• I probably won’t use this section very often, but when I do
it’ll be relevant.
Application overview: Personal Data,
Address Info, Area of Study & Financial Aid
• “Personal Data” includes demographic data,
legal/disciplinary background, “university programs”
(e.g. McNair Scholars) and citizenship information.
• “Address Information” includes the applicant’s mailing
address and contact phone number.
• “Area of Study and Financial Aid” includes the
applicant’s intended Area of Study (and “Secondary
Area of Study”)— potential sources of external
financial aid, other graduate schools to which he/she is
applying, and how he/she heard about our program.
Application: Previous Degrees
Most recent
institution/degree
Student-reported GPA
An overview:
• The “Previous Degrees” section lists the applicant’s previous
institutions, majors, degrees and GPAs.
– Note that the GPA is self-reported at the time of the application; if we
receive an end-of-semester transcript at a later date, it may show a
different GPA.
• The previous institutions are listed in chronological order, beginning
with the most recently attended (based on instructions to the
applicant).
• Please note: the application only provides space for 4 institutions to
be listed.
– We request transcripts from ALL previously attended institutions, even
those attended just for transfer credit (unless transfer courses,
including grades, are listed on their home institution’s transcript), so if
an applicant has attended more than 4 institutions, we may have
transcripts for institutions not listed in this section. I upload all
transcripts to the application, so you don’t need to worry about
missing anything.
Application: Test Scores
Highest scores by
percentile for each section
(V/Q/A), across all the
times the applicant has
taken the test
Student-reported
scores
Defaults to this; does
not mean applicant
took the TOEFL
An overview:
• The “Test Scores” section lists GRE and TOEFL
scores.
• Student-reported scores are in black text and
the highest verified official scores are in red
text.
– If the applicant has taken a test multiple times,
the GradAdmit system selects the highest score by
percentile for each section.
• A reminder: ETS changed the GRE score scale in August
2011.
Application: Official Test Scores
All GRE
scores
All TOEFL
scores
An overview:
• The “Official Test Scores” section pulls its
information directly from the electronic score
reports sent to Rice by ETS.
• This section displays all test scores—if an
applicant has taken a test multiple times, each set
of scores will be listed.
– Please note: I have to manually associate the score
reports with the correct applications, so if you’re
corresponding with an applicant who mentions a
retake that isn’t showing up here, please let me know
so I can do a search and add the new scores.
Application: Supplemental Info
Publications
Applicant may
upload any/all of
these as PDFs
Additional
factors
Most recent
institution/degree
Statement of
purpose
An overview:
• There are three parts to the “Supplemental Information”
section:
– “Give titles of any articles or other publications, inventions, or
creative work.”
– “Briefly describe any additional factors that you would like to
have the admissions committee consider in evaluating your
application (e.g. personal background, work experience,
leadership role).”
– “Briefly describe your intended plan of study or the particular
subdivision of the major field in which you wish to specialize.
Discuss any scholarly research, writing, or similar research that
you have done or are currently pursuing. Include other
information that may be helpful in evaluating your application.”
• Applicants can type their answers in the spaces provided or
upload them as PDFs in the “Supporting Documents”
section of the application.
Application: Recommendations
Status summary;
recommendations
are below
Note that there is
no navigation bar
between Status and
Recommendations
Application: Recommendations (cont.)
Recommenders are
given a drop-down
list of options here
Identical to the
chart from our
hardcopy forms
Click to open rec as
PDF; not available
as inline text
An overview:
• Each recommendation has 3 parts:
– Recommender information (name, affiliation, etc.)
– Comparison chart
• This is identical to the chart that was on our hardcopy
forms.
– Recommendation letter
• The letter is attached to the application as a PDF; you
will need to open the file to view it.
Application: Supporting Documents
An overview:
• Applicants can upload 6 types of documents:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Writing/Publication Sample
CV/Resume
Statement of Purpose/Plan of Study
Additional Considerations
Unofficial transcript
Other
• This includes official transcripts, which I upload upon receipt. I’d
make an “Official Transcript” category, but some applicants would
misunderstand, upload their own transcript copies as “official" and
neglect to have their universities send us proper official
transcripts.
• Click on the filename to open an uploaded document in Acrobat.
• Official transcripts and other documents that I receive and
upload are designated by “_scanJG” at the end of the filename.
Application overview:
Other Applications and History
• “Other Applications” lists all the applications the student
has submitted to Rice via GradAdmit.
– Applications submitted to other departments
– Applications submitted to us last year
– Most students will only have one entry—Psychology, Fall 2013,
Ph.D.
• “History” lists all changes to the application—status
updated, files uploaded or removed, tags applied or
removed, automated recommendation request emails sent,
etc. It also indicates who made the change (applicants are
denoted by applicant number, faculty and staff are denoted
by their NetIDs).
– If you see “jg27 Deleted [filename]” it usually means that I’ve
uploaded the official transcript (“jg27 Uploaded new Other”)
and am deleting the unofficial one provided by the applicant.
Application overview: Download as PDF
• Clicking on the “Download as PDF” link at the top
of the application will open the entire
application, including uploaded documents and
recommendation letters, as a single PDF.
– The PDF will NOT include the review portion of the
“Departmental Information” section—you won’t be
able to see faculty comments, whether the applicant
has been promoted, etc.
– It WILL include the custom fields that indicate
whether official transcripts/test scores have been
received and my “Notes for Faculty” section.
– This is what I print for a hardcopy applicant file.
PLEASE NOTE:
THIS WAS WRITTEN
FOR THE PSYCHOLOGY
DEPARTMENT.
YOU WILL NEED TO
UPDATE SLIDES FOR
YOUR DEPARTMENT.
PLEASE CHANGE TEXT
HIGHLIGHTED IN
GREEN.
Part 3:
Excel Downloads
Excel spreadsheets with Default
Columns
• Going back to the “Search Applicants” feature:
if you choose “View results as an Excel
spreadsheet,” you will get a spreadsheet with
~80 columns of data for all the applicants who
fit your search parameters.
– “Delete column” and “hide column” are
particularly useful here, since I doubt you’ll need
all the data.
An overview: Default Excel applicant
data
• Application info: Department, term, area of study (primary and secondary)
and degree (these are all identical or irrelevant except primary area of
study)
• Applicant data: Name, gender, ethnicity, email, U.S. citizenship status and
country of citizenship
• Application status: Submit date, department decision, applicant decision
• Test scores: 18 columns, including percentiles for the GRE
• Previous degrees: Previous degree, institution, major, GPA and GPA scale
(2 most recent institutions)
• Mailing address (7 columns)
• Student-reported test scores: 11 columns (includes IELTS; does not include
separate TOEFL section scores)
• More applicant data: Birthdate, contact phone numbers, where they
heard about the program
• Recommender information: Name, position/institution, email
• Departmental information: Average ranking and applied tags on the date
the file was created.