Harvard College Application Interview Software System
Background
Applying for college is a stressful process for high school seniors and their parents. Harvard College is the oldest and arguably the nation's most competitive college. In addition to answering a series of questions in their application, every prospective freshman is offered a personal interview, usually with a local Harvard alum.
Challenge
Every year,
over 50,000 applicants apply for admissions. Managing the assignments of candidates with interviewers is a daunting task. Assigning candidates to interviewers requires
tracking who's available, how many interviews they can handle, geographical constraints, scheduling issues, and personal conflicts with schools and candidates.
After assignments are mode, we need to also track if the interviewer accepted or declined it, or send reminders if there's no response, and understanding any declines to improve future assignments. Finally, one needs to track the process until interview reports are actually submitted.
FMS Solution
FMS created and hosts a software application to manage the interview process for Harvard College by matching thousands of applicants with interviewers. The system collects the paperwork and provides the schools committee administrators with status updates throughout the process.
Key Features
Rather than having a large number of emails assigning students to interviewers, then verifying their acceptance, and other steps throughout the process, a desktop and web based system is implemented to:
- Provide an online sign-up and approval process for alumni wishing to interview prospective students
- Continually upload lists of candidates provided by Cambridge throughout the application season
- Match candidates to interviewers while spreading the workload geographically noting interviewer preferences and conflicts
- Minimize assignments of multiple candidates from one high school to an interviewer
- Send personalized emails to notify each interviewer of his or her candidates, along with reminder emails if no response is received
- Allow interviewers a secure online screen to view all their candidate assignments to accept or decline them, and upload their interview write-ups
- Provide a simplified way to reassign candidates to new interviewers
- Handle candidates who withdraw
- A management dashboard with multiple pages using PowerBI to understand the data and perform ad hoc analysis
- Generate management reports to track the status of the entire process, so problems are detected as early as possible
Technology Platforms
FMS
created this secure web site using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and SQL Server. A Microsoft Access administrative interface also assists with the
process. When a candidate is assigned, the interviewer is emailed information on the student using our Total Access
Emailer program.
The personalized email directs them to the web site to accept or decline the assignment. If they accept, they can upload their interview details online.
A Microsoft PowerBI dashboard with ad hoc analysis and a variety of reports let administrators monitor all the activity and jump in when help is needed.
Best wishes to all who apply!
Why Choose FMS?
Founded in 1986, FMS is a privately held, small business. Our clients include businesses of all sizes, non-profits, and local and federal government agencies. Our developers serve many local clients in the Mid-Atlantic, Washington DC metropolitan area. We also have clients across the country from California to Massachusetts, and Alaska to Florida, in addition to our international clients. Many of our custom solutions are deployed around the world with language localization support.
With our experience, extensive code library, and tested processes, FMS offers great solutions at very competitive prices. Email or call us at 703-356-4700 to learn more about our consulting services and how our staff of full-time professionals can help you. FMS is located in Tysons Corner in Northern Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC.
