CASPA season is now upon many physician assistant (PA) programs. Thousands of students will be applying and competing for spots in PA programs throughout the country. For most programs, the admissions process is the sole responsibility of the program. Here are five ways to help automate and maximize your admissions workflow with CASPA.
Utilize local statuses. Local statuses are underutilized in CASPA ; they allow programs to track applicants, set designations, and communicate with applicants. Local Statuses can also be matched to decision codes and lists ( we will talk about list later on). This feature allows programs to track and communicate to the applicant at each stage of the admission process. Once a local status is changed for an applicant, decision codes are updates and emails can be sent to students. Fun Fact: A program can change and update local statuses in batches.
Local GPAs/Prerequisite GPAs. Does your program calculate GPAs and/or prerequisite GPAs by hand? Well, stop now!! CASPA has a feature that allows your program to create customized GPAs and prerequisite GPAs based on your program requirements. When your customized local GPA is created, each applicant's GPA is configured based on your submitted program requirements. The best part about this feature is that programs can review the courses selected by applicants and unselect any that are not applicable, and the GPA will recalculate.
Assignments. The assignments feature in CASPA can help programs maximize the admissions workflow by establishing what needs to be reviewed for each applicant and allows the program to assign faculty/staff to applicants. Screeners/Reviewers are able to screen/review applicants, rate applicants, and leave comments. Administrators are notified once completed. Bonus: Assignments can be utilized with lists, exports, and scoring.
Lists. By far one of the best features in CASPA is the list, which allows programs group and manage applicants by common criteria. For example, you can create a list that contains male applicants who are in-state (i.e., male and in-state) or a list that contains applicants who reside in a regional area (i.e., LA or CT or VT or RI) that have a cumulative GPA of 3.5. Lists can be exported, emailed, or even saved for reporting or future use.
Scoring and Ranking. Does your program currently utilize a rubric or scoring for your admissions process? What if I told you that all of this could be housed and calculated in CASPA for your program? Good news, it can!! Scoring Models provide a framework for how applicants are scored based on the program's requirements and scoring model. This is accomplished by creating point tables that allows programs to assign points based on the program's rubric. The applicant's scores will be conveniently placed on the top of the candidate's application. Scores are calculated automatically to include GRE scores, military status, alumni status, GPA, healthcare experience and more. Bonus: Scoring can be exported to excel or pdf files, allowing candidates to be ranked based on combined or individual program requirements.
(via WebAdmit)
As a physician assistant program manger and administrative consultant, these features have aided in streamlining admissions processes to operate efficiently and effectively. Which CASPA features are your go to?