Tuesday, November 27, 2001

New online application saves time
By Sarah McClellan
Staff Reporter

A new online application process could save the Office of Admissions up to 700 hours of data entry time if used by every applicant, said Ray Brown, dean of admissions.

The new process allows the office to download online applications directly into the PeopleSoft applications database instead of printing them and entering the information manually, said Michael TenEyck, manager of administrative systems.

Brown said he was able to estimate time saved by multiplying the seven fewer minutes it takes to enter an application electronically than manually by the 6,000 applications TCU receives annually.

TCU is the first institution nationwide to implement this kind of online application, Brown said. The university was able to do this because the program for the online applications was written by Ruben Chanlatte, assistant vice chancellor for information technology. Chanlatte was unavailable for comment.

The program, which did not cost the university anything except the labor to implement, saves work for students and the admissions office, Brown said. The only part of the application process a prospective student cannot complete online is the payment of the application fee and the signature page.

“Historically, a student would complete an application, hit the send button, and off it would go,” Brown said. “What students don’t see is what would happen on our end.”

As of Nov. 26, the Office of Admissions has received 76 online applications out of almost 2,000 total applications, Brown said.

“This is encouraging since these are applications that came about simply as the result of people visiting our Web site,” Brown said. “We haven’t gone out with any mass mailing announcing this.”

According to the a survey conducted this year by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, 94 percent of institutions reported that electronic inquiries to the admission office were up from last year. The survey also said 88 percent of institutions reported an increase in electronic applications over last year.

Joyce Smith, executive director of the NACAC, said students are using online applications more now because they are more proficient with Internet technology than students in the past.

“Students are comfortable with this venue (the Internet),” Smith said. “Some students still feel like they need to ‘lick the envelope’ when they send in their application, but we’re moving away from that.”

Sarah McClellan
s.l.mcclellan@student.tcu.edu