It is that time of year again, and you don't know where to start?
No worries, we are here to help! Below, we've outlined the steps you should take to jump-start this process.
Create an Award Cycle
First, take care of the most important part:
Other preparation depends on what changes you need to make. For example, you may need to add new scholarships. If you need a refresher, click here.
Conduct an Application Review
You might also consider whether you need to make any changes to your general application. Here are some questions to ponder:
Are there any questions on the application that were confusing to applicants during the last cycle? Any that were too time consuming?
You may consider reworking or removing those questions.
Are there any questions that are redundant/repetitive?
For example, the questions "Do you have a 2.0 GPA?" and "Do you have a 3.0 GPA?" could be consolidated into one numeric question “What is your current GPA?”
Are there any minor grammatical errors you want to correct?
This could include misspelled words or words that should be capitalized.
Do any parts of the application need instructions/instructional text? Do you need to add any new answer options to any questions?
Consider adding new answer options to your Gender question, Programs/Majors question, etc.
Do you need to adjust the maximum word count for any essay questions?
Consider adding a higher minimum word count if you find that applicants are submitting short essay responses.
Do you need to change the number of recommendation letters applicants must provide? Possibly remove upload requirements or essays?
If you have too many of these tasks, consider making some optional.
It may be worth downloading a few stock reports that can assist you further in this process:
Student Answers report - You can run this static report for your previous cycle in order to review section completeness to understand where students who didn’t complete their application might have gotten tripped up.
Scholarships with Qualifications and Additional Requirements report - You can run this static report to review all questions that are available both on your general application and on scholarships, either as qualifications and/or additional requirements.
We also recommend creating a dummy account for testing so that you can see how the application appears to your applicants. To learn how to do so, click here.