Admissions
- Brandi Belleau
Admissions Dashboard Usage Guide | Admissions List | Data Source & Access
Description
The Admissions Data Source underpins three separate dashboards with varying objectives: the Undergraduate Admissions, Graduate Admissions, and Admissions Lists dashboards.
The Undergraduate Admissions and Graduate Admissions dashboards support the high-level reporting needs of the University, focusing on the milestones reached by applicants over time, commonly known as the “admissions funnel.” They provide details for the admissions funnel and applicant pool profiles capturing admit, yield (deposit), enroll, and melt rates. As well, you can drill down into the academic and demographic profile of your applicant pool for the current admissions cycle. You may compare counts by "Admissions Week," "Term Census," and "Most Current." The dashboards were built to replicate the reporting out of the centralized Offices of the Provost and Admissions, with feedback gathered from admissions professionals throughout the University campuses.
The Admissions Lists dashboard was built to show aggregate lists of applications. It will aid in the creation of mailing lists, identifying groups of students, and quick searches for specific applications. Unlike the other admissions-related dashboards, this one shows information for each application in a single list. Therefore, an applicant who has submitted multiple applications may appear twice depending on the filters used to identify an applicant group.
Key Business Questions
The Undergraduate and Graduate Admissions dashboards can be used for answering a number of questions, such as:
Is our school trending above or below our application submissions compared to previous years?
What are the demographics of applicants associated with a specific school / degree program?
What does the admissions funnel look like for a specific population (by school, citizenship, residency, etc.)?
The Admissions List dashboard is helpful for answering questions such as:
Is our record maintenance consistent each term?
Which matriculated students have not enrolled yet for their admit term?
How can I spot check the status of applications for this upcoming term?
Can I get a mailing list for our communication campaigns (ex: closing the gap between admitted students and enrollment)?
Admissions Dashboards Usage Guide
The Undergraduate and Graduate Admissions dashboards function similarly with respect to their filtering capabilities and available views (Overview, Admissions Funnel Details, Academic Profile, and Demographic Profile).
Individuals may customize any of the dashboard tabs. For example, you can broaden the scope of terms, add demographic filter type, and more. Due to the complex nature of the admissions data source, we suggest reaching out to the Analytics Team, through a Help Desk ticket or an Analytics Doctor Appointment, if you have specific questions regarding customizations.
Note that some of the data fields are restricted. If you don't have access to restricted student mart data columns, these fields will appear as 'Null' or empty values. If access is needed, please see Federated Authorization.
Filters
For each dashboard within the Undergraduate and Graduate Admissions workbooks, you can improve the speed and performance by selecting your typical filters (school (program), comparison type, etc.) and saving it as a custom view. Click on the filter icon to reveal the menu. The filters will drill down to the admissions population you’d like to compare. Note that pre-filtering the population and saving this as a custom view will enhance performance speed.
Applicant vs. Application Counts
Because one applicant may submit any number of applications, the dashboards provide the data per applicant count and per application count. You may toggle between the applicant/application views as shown within the descriptions of the dashboard below.
Timing Matters!
When viewing admissions data, it’s important to consider both the the comparison type you’ve selected and the time of year. The admissions cycle and enrollment calendar follow different patterns, therefore you must keep in mind which comparison type you selected, where we are in the admissions cycle, and if the comparison type’s data overlaps with the enrollment calendar’s data. More details regarding about data snapshots are available here.
Viewing the comparison types below highlights important differences. Read through the image captions. With the examples' data update falling in December, enrollment data will look particularly strange and highlights the disconnect of admissions cycle to enrollment calendar.
Admissions Overview & Funnel Details
The Admissions Overview and Funnel Details tabs chart and count applications or applicants through the funnel stages: application, admit, deposited, and enrolled. Conversion rates are shown in a chart or table, allowing for quick visuals and calculations for reports and presentations. Both tabs provide three years of comparison that changes as you select different comparison types.
These dashboards provide information for three comparison years, the current admissions cycle and two years prior. The Overview tab charts applicant or application counts for a single comparison type at a time: ‘Week-to-week,’ ‘Term Census,’ and ‘Most Recent’ data comparisons. Meanwhile, the Funnel Details present all comparison types at once with calculations for admit, melt, and yield rates.
It is important to remember that both tabs present the most current data if the term census date has not been reached for the term in question. For the impact of your comparison type and the data upload date, see the Timing Matters section above.
Academic & Demographic Profiles
The Academic Profile tab provides a three-year comparison of applicants' test scores at the various stages of the admissions funnel. Like the other dashboards within the Admissions workbooks, you may select one of three comparison types: Admissions Week, Term Census, or Most Recent. Different from the other Admissions Dashboard tabs, the academic data exists per applicant and not per application. You can see below that there is not an option to toggle back and forth between applicant and application views.
The Demographic Profile tab provides visualizations of applicants or applications based on a selected status (admitted, deposited, etc.). Begin by filtering to a specific admit term and then setting the other filters to capture the population you’d like to review. This tab does not break down comparisons of terms or admissions years, instead you will see the most recent data based on the filter options and term you’ve selected.
Admissions Lists Dashboard
The Admissions Lists serve as a source for more detailed, per-application level of information. Viewing many lines of data at once is often useful for data clean-up and management of records maintenance practices. The Admissions Lists can also be used to review the status of admitted applicants, generate event invitation lists, and other tasks that may require applicant or student data before it is available in downstream information systems. Finally, these dashboards provide a searchable space the most recent data for specific applicants.
Individuals may customize any of the dashboard tabs. For example, you can broaden the scope of terms, add demographic filter type, and more. Due to the complex nature of the admissions data source, we suggest reaching out to the Analytics Team, through a Help Desk ticket or an Analytics Doctor Appointment, if you have specific questions regarding customizations.
Note that some of the data fields are restricted. If you don't have access to restricted student mart data columns, these fields will appear as 'Null' or empty values. If access is needed, please see Federated Authorization.
What is the source of this information?
Business Processes and the Impact on Data
The Admissions data sources begin with the creation of an application in PeopleSoft. External application systems are not synced with the Admissions data sources and the varying records maintenance and business practices of the schools, campuses, or offices will be reflected in the data.
Here are few examples where business processes will impact the data.
Application Status Updates
The data captured reflects all PeopleSoft applications regardless of the submission status of applications' supporting materials such as transcripts or test scores. Some schools may wait to create a PeopleSoft application until all supporting materials are collected, whereas others may not. If a school holds off on creating PS applications until after all materials are collected, the count of applications may be skewed and out of synch with counts from other external application systems.
Unique Data Integration Workflows
Some specialized programs utilize unique automated integration of applications. If/when application creation, admissions decision, and matriculation are updated in PeopleSoft within a quick succession, sometimes within the span of mere minutes, the time from application to deposited will be inconsistent with compared to other programs.
Post-Matriculation Data Changes
Some schools update students' academic plans (degrees, majors, certificates) after matriculation. This may cause discrepancies in deposit and enrollment counts when filtering by academic plan details. Or, application numbers may seem inconsistent with enrollment numbers found in other data sources.
Again, fluctuations in business processes may impact the ability to track the time to completion, applicant to deposited. As well, variances in data entry and clean-up in the upstream application system may result in data discrepancies across data repositories. Schools, programs, departments, etc. should reflect on the impact of records maintenance on their data reporting.
Key Business Questions
The Admissions Data Source contains more fields than what are shown within the dashboards. By editing the existing dashboards or creating a custom dashboard based on the data source, you can answer questions like these:
Could I create a time-based comparison of how long it took for applicants to move through the different conversion points (applied to admitted, admitted to deposited, deposited to matriculated, and matriculated to enrolled)?
Based on historical “melt” (deposited to enrolled), what is the estimation of student enrollment numbers for the upcoming academic year?
Was there a bump in deposited applicant numbers after we sent a communication to admitted applicants?
What is the intended major pipeline for our department(s)?
How do I get access?
Latest Releases
Status | production |
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