Julie Parna
The Office of Admissions recently unveiled an enhancement to how future undergraduate and graduate students submit and review their applications to programs at York University.
MyFile, the online system that allows applicants to track their application and apply for scholarships and residence, now includes a document uploader. The uploader frees up time and money formerly spent on printing, postage and mailing, and supports the University’s efforts to improve the environmental sustainability of its processes. In addition, the uploader streamlines the application process from start to finish, making it easier for future students to submit their required documents to York University faster and find out their admission results sooner. This innovative tool was first made available to undergraduate applicants last summer and to graduate applicants last fall.
“We have thousands of people applying for admission to York University every year, so we must ensure that we can accommodate them,” said Eloisa Hammond, assistant director, Records Management and Logistics in the Office of Admissions. “Our goal is to make assessments faster and to do so economically for both applicants and staff.”
Both undergraduate and graduate students can now upload important documentation – such as resumés, CVs and statements of interest – to MyFile and track their status. Adoption of the new tool was quick. From Dec. 1, 2013 to Jan. 16, 2014, some 8,936 documents were uploaded, of which 1,384 are transcripts. The balance represents other documents. At this point in the application cycle, users are closely split between undergraduate applicants (45.8 per cent) and graduate applicants (54.2 per cent). The shift to online document uploading will cut down on wait times for incoming students. On the part of the Office of Admissions, it will eliminate the need to sort and open mail, scan documents and compile them into student applications.
“The more complex part about moving to the ability to upload documents was setting the stage and developing the business rules, the protocols, and looking after the end users.” said Julie Parna, former acting University registrar. “The technology part was the easy part, but it’s the change management that required the time.” Students and staff alike appear to be adapting very quickly to this enhanced mode of application.
The MyFile document uploader webpage
Haiyan Zhao is one student who successfully used the MyFile uploader tool to apply to the masters program in financial accountability. “My experience with the MyFile document uploader was good. I can say it is a positive experience,” she said, noting that she found the uploader to be a very convenient way to post her documentation to the York University system and enroll in her program of choice.
Work on the MyFile document uploader project began in 2011. The uploader entered development with a goal of making York University’s admissions process more competitive and efficient and to accelerate file assessment. It went through several rounds of testing before being launched for student use. The project was completed thanks to a joint effort between the Office of Admissions, the Office of the Vice-Provost Students Communications team, the Registrarial Enterprise Initiatives team and the Student Information System team.
Submitted by Maya Sokolovski, a student writer in the Division of Students