online applications

The Sixth Form College FarnboroughOnline Applications

Online Applications

David Woodward & Mark EmblingThe Sixth Form College Farnborough


Overview

• Brief history• Our solution• Reasons for our choices• What we have learnt

• Future directions• Questions


The College

• 16 to 18 year old students• No adult provision

• Hampshire college• 1 mile from Surrey and Berkshire borders

• Approximately half of our students are from Surrey and Berkshire

• College is over-subscribed


Brief History

• Had an online application system for 5 years• Introduced to save hours of manual entry by

Registry staff• By year 3, virtually all applications were online• Window for making applications has

narrowed from a few months to a few days


Selection Process

• Application form is open for 10 days • Partner school students are given a place• Until this year, selection of the remainder was

time-based• Time window narrowed to 30 seconds

• A weighted computer-generated selection process is now used


Application Form

• Split application process into sections• Applicant does not need to complete the entire

form at once• Sections can be completed in any order• Clearly visible which sections are yet to be

completed

• Application cannot be submitted until:• All sections have been completed• We enable submission of applications


Communication

• Communication via email• Interview appointment details are emailed to

applicants, including a confirmation link• Preferable to sending paper-based letters

• References collected on paper• Reference forms are batched and sent to schools • On return, date of receipt and any required notes

are recorded on the system• Forms are scanned daily to PDF as a batch and

filed for future reference


Application Progress

• Online tracking• Applicant can log in and view the status of his/her

application at any point after submission

• Interview time slot confirmation• When the applicant is allocated an interview

appointment, the details are shown• The applicant can confirm his/her attendance via

a link


Application FormDemo


Data Storage• Applicant data is stored separately from current students• Applicants are moved over and assigned student numbers in

bulk

Main DB (current students)

Applicants Import applicants


Partner Schools

• Can log in and view applicants from their school• Name• Submission date/time• Date of reference receipt


Application Monitoring

• Tracking system for Registry use• Allows manual amendments for all aspects of

an application• Address changes• Qualifications• Proposed courses

• Statistics


Application Monitoring


Future

• Automate some of the manual parts of the process• References

• Record interview outcomes electronically


Thank you for listening

Questions?

online applications

Documents