The Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders has laid the groundwork to establish a centralized application service (CSDCAS) for graduate programs in Audiology and Speech Pathology. WHAT IS A CENTRALIZED APPLICATION SERVICE (CAS)?
The CAS is a web-based service that includes a common application and set of requirements that are standard to all participating member schools. The applicant submits one application, one set of transcripts, and one set of letters of recommendation through a single source, the CAS. The CAS staff processes and disseminates the applicant's information to the schools designated by the applicant. Applicants pay a single fee based on the number of programs they are applying to. WHAT ARE THE OVERALL BENEFITS OF JOINING CSDCAS? Benefits to Applicants • Savings in terms of time and money. • Streamlining of the application process, allowing the applicant to send and track the documents to multiple programs. • Applicant access to a single portal to research and compare different programs in a systematic and comparative way. • Applicants are assisted by knowledgeable CAS support staff throughout their application cycles to multiple programs. • A user-friendly web application that facilitates the process by allowing applicants to validate, complete and submit their application. • Integration and simplification of the process of receiving Letters of Reference. • Real-time monitoring upon receipt of the documents and application status at the designated programs. • Facilitation of a dynamic interaction with the applicants with every step of the application process up to programs decisions. Benefits to Programs • Increased exposure to a larger potential applicant pool. • A nationally focused recruitment strategy that can attract higher quality applicants. • Streamlining of the admissions process and reduction of administrative cost that allow programs to re-focus current resources on higher level interaction with applicants. • Standardized applicant information for easier review. • Access to a secure real-time web portal of their applicants only. • Receipt of verified coursework that reflect accurate GPAs. • Ability to post applicants' on-going and final decisions status on the applicant portal. • Optional admissions software to manage local applicants and allow them to produce ad-hoc and standard reports. • A centralized application is a cultivation of many discussions among member programs that can provide an ideal platform for sharing best practices. Benefits to the Profession / CAPCSD • Compilation of accurate statistics on the profession: number of applicants, designations, matriculation and applicant pool profile (Ethnic, Demographic, Geographic, and Economic). • Assistance in developing workforce projections, future trends, and recruitment strategies based on accurate set of data. • A central role in managing career development and minority recruitment. • Assessment and comparisons of statistical data with other health professions' applicant pools. Win-win process that benefits all constituents; positions the association to develop focused and national recruitment strategies; and adds valuable services to their member programs. • Development of a source of non-dues revenues for the association. • The Council Executive Board believes that this revenue would allow the Council to support activities that would directly benefit students (i.e. Scholarships, Travel Awards, Summer Institute, LOeX) Benefits to the Advisors • A secure web portal that allows the undergraduate advisors to track and better counsel their students in relation to the schools under consideration. • Data about the admissions track record of students from their program allow students to make better choices in deciding to which programs they apply. • CSDCAS can have a tremendous impact in promoting the profession among advisors and foster good will in providing real-time data on their students. • The applicant will have the ability to restrict access to the information provided in the application or waive his/her rights of confidentiality and allow the information to be displayed in the Advisor Portal. ARE OTHER DISCIPLINES USING A CAS? • American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (PharmCAS) – 56 schools WILL MY PROGRAM BE REQUIRED TO PARTICIPATE IN CSDCAS? No. Having the greatest number of programs join CSDCAS will certainly optimize the benefits to CAPCSD, our programs, and our applicants. However, programs will be under no obligation to participate. WHAT WILL IT COST PROGRAMS TO PARTICIPATE? There will be no costs for programs to participate in CSDCAS. Students will pay a fee to enter the system and apply to one school. A lesser fee will be charged for each additional program to which the student wishes to apply. These fees will be set by the CSDCAS Advisory Board in conjunction with the vendor. No portion of the fee paid by students is transferred to the institutions to which the student is applying. Individual universities may choose to collect a supplemental fee. Experience from other CAS implementations suggests that institutions experience considerable cost savings from the reduction in staff effort involved in processing applications. WHAT DO THE DATA SHOW WITH RESPECT TO THE EFFECT OF A SUPPLEMENTARY APPLICTION FEE ON APPLICATION NUMBERS? The following chart identifies the top 15 schools participating in the Dental Centralized Application Service and their Supplemental Application requirement and fees. Many of the schools and/or programs require a Supplemental Application and it has not had any measured or measurable impact on the number of applicants a school will receive using a CAS service. It is up to the school or program to determine the need for a Supplemental Application for their program.
HOW REALISTIC IS A FALL 2008 LAUNCH GIVEN PUBLICATION DEADLINES FOR THINGS LIKE VIEWBOOKS, GETTING APPROPRIATE INFORMATION ON INSTITUTIONAL WEBSITES, ETC? CSDCAS plan is to reach out to all potential programs a year in advance of the CSDCAS launch. CSDCAS goal is to make sure those who would like to participate have enough time to modify their marketing material for the scheduled September 2008 launch of CSDCAS. WHAT DO THE DATA SHOW WITH RESPECT TO CHANGES IN APPLICATIONS OVER TIME FOR PROGRAMS THAT USE A CENTRALIZED SYSTEM? The Dental School Centralized Application Service (ADDSAS.org) Applications by year beginning in 2000: FOR INSTITUTIONS WITH SYSTEMS LIKE BANNER, FOR EXAMPLE, IT WAS SUGGESTED THAT BANNER LIKELY WOULD HAVE TO BE CUSTOMIZED TO EACH SCHOOL'S SYTEM (ESPECIALLY BECAUSE NOT ALL INSTITUTIONS WANT THEIR DATA IN THE SAME CATEGORIES). WHAT'S THE FEE FOR THIS? The CSDCAS service will provide all participating schools and programs with a detailed data dictionary at the beginning of each application cycle. Many of the schools use this data dictionary to integrate the CAS data to their own ERP system. Other CAS Schools have identified third party software which we could recommend school review as an option. AT WHAT POINT DOES THE APPLICATION DATA GET "DUMPED" INTO BANNER? WHEN THE INITIAL APPLICATION COMES IN? SOME OTHER TIME? CSDCAS would provide the electronic file for the IT department to download (“dump”) the data from the admission portal on a weekly basis. All revised applications will be available via the electronic file for download as well from the admission portal. HOW ARE QUESTIONS FROM APPLICANTS HANDLED? CSDCAS begins when applicants create accounts and begin filling out their applications. The CSDCAS service ends upon the delivery of the application to the participating school or program. During the process CSDCAS would handle customer service for and support the association, students, and the participating schools admission staff. The CAS will enable current staff to focus their time on attention on recruiting highly qualified candidates versus tracking down documents and answering how to questions. ARE RECOMMENDERS SENT A THANK-YOU? IF SO, FROM WHOM DOES IT COME? The CAS will provide electronic (only) communications with recommenders during the CSDCAS process. Many schools continue with their in-house process of communication with students and recommenders once the application has been received by their particular institution. WHO DOES THE UPDATES TO THE SYSTEM EACH YEAR? HOW DOES THAT INTERFACE WITH BANNER? WHAT IS THE CHARGE? The CSDCAS advisory committee will provide feedback on an annual basis and make recommendations for enhancements to the system. If any changes are made CSDCAS will provide each school participating with a new data dictionary for the application cycle and identify any changes in the data dictionary from year to year. The schools would be responsible for updating the changes in their ERP system on an annual basis. HOW DOES THE SYSTEM DEAL WITH INDIVIDUAL INSTITUTIONS' SYSTEMS FOR DATA TRACKING / SORTING? Each institution will have access to their own Admissions portal with full access to the students who have applied to their institution. The admissions staff can download the applicants, mailings, view overall application pool progress (real time), and sort, categorize, and track individual applicant progress based on school or program defined parameters. WHO DOES THE TESTING OF THE SYSTEM FOR EACH SCHOOL AND WHAT IS INVOLVED FOR THE SCHOOL? TIMING OF WHEN TO DO THE TESTING WOULD BE CRITICAL. CSDCAS Advisory Committee will determine the timeline for testing on an annual basis. All testing is done prior to the launch of the application cycle to ensure all portal work as specified by the CSDCAS Advisory Committee. A preview of the portal will be provided by CSDCAS to participating schools and programs for their feedback and testing. HOW DOES THE TIMING OF DATA "DUMPS" WORK WITH AN INSTITUTION'S NEED TO CREATE WEEKLY REPORTS (I.E., IS IT IN REAL TIME OR IS THERE A LAG)? Applicants who apply to a school or program through the CSDCAS service will be available through the Admissions portal in real time to the admission staff. The electronic file will be available for download on a weekly basis. DOES USE OF A CAS PRECLUDE THE USE OF AN INSTITUTION'S OWN SYSTEM? All participating schools and programs of CSDCAS applicants' will go to the CSDCAS.org web site to apply. Many of the current CAS schools use their in-house systems to collect supplemental data from the applicant. November 2007 • Presentation on CSDCAS at the annual meeting of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association November- December 2007 • Finalize elements of the application and the application portal January – March 2008 • Work on portals for Admissions, Academic Advisors, and Reference Letter writers April 2008 • Testing of Applicant Portal May - June-2008 • CAPCSD Annual Meeting: Presentation of CSDCAS 5/17/2007 August 2008 • Admissions Webcasts September 2008 • Launch CSDCAS to process applications for Academic Year 2009-2010  Return to top of page |
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