UVM College of Medicine – Online Applicant Center

Online Admissions System frees up time to identify, attract, and retain the most promising candidates

The University of Vermont College of Medicine, a leading medical college, needed a better system to manage their admissions process. The small staff was using a process relying on antiquated technology and a lot of repetitive manual actions to evaluate an average of 5,000 applicants each year. In addition, the nationwide medical school applicant management system which nearly every medical school relies on for its applicant pool was changing, requiring that the College make changes to their own system.

With system modifications inevitable, the College made the smart choice to use this opportunity to take a strategic step back and design the new Admissions System from a business perspective. C2 worked with the Office of Admissions to clearly define their existing applicant management processes and identify areas for improvement. With business processes mapped out, C2 worked with the College to create standardized operating procedures and automated the tasks that didn’t require human oversight. C2’s certified developers then built the system to support the new and improved way of doing things.

With the new system in place, the Admissions team can leave many of the repetitive tasks to the management system. The new system allows the Admissions team to spend more time on the people-focused tasks necessary to identify, attract, and retain the best applicants, providing them more time to devote to the most promising applicants. It also provides a self-service interface to the key players in the admissions process. The faculty application readers, interviewers, and reviewers are able to access information they require to more efficiently guide an applicant through the process. Applicants are also given immediate access to application status and next steps. Better service to applicants attracts better candidates and also frees up staff time by reducing calls and emails.