- 29 Sep 2025
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Creating Application Rounds
- Updated 29 Sep 2025
- 8 minute read
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đ Part of the series Application Building Phase I: Core components
The second step in the application building phase of your Slate application is creating an application round.
This applies whether youâll be importing applications from a third-party, using Slate-hosted applications, or both.
What is an application round?
In Slate parlance, âroundâ just means application type.
For your institution this might mean Undergraduate, Graduate, or some other high-level distinction.
Periods and rounds can also control the application process. For example, by limiting the number of applications a person can submit.
đ Further reading:
Learn how to create application periods, which are required to have rounds
Best practices for setting up your rounds
When you establish a period and round structure, keep the following in mind:
Less is more
The applicant must select their round at the outset of their application experience. To avoid overwhelming them with options, we recommend operating with as few rounds as possible. This also reduces your year-to-year round maintenance, like the inactivation and creation of new rounds.
If your applicants need clarification about which round to select on the /apply
page, use fewer rounds, or only one. Then, you can manage application types at the field level. Manage application term values as an application-scoped field (covered in the next article), not in the round.
Make the applicantâs choice of round obvious to them
In theory, you could make as many rounds as you have application types, reducing the number of conditional fields youâd need in the application; in practice, distinct rounds work best when it is clear to applicants which round they should select.
If an applicant might not be sure which of your rounds they should choose, take this as a hint that these application types should be represented by a field and prompt selected from within the application itself.
Let applicants differentiate their applications with custom fields
Use custom fields to represent narrower data.
It makes for a better user experience when applicants can share information through custom fields on custom application page-scoped forms, rather than forcing them to switch application types at the round level.
Data points that identify distinct populations or types of applicants (for example, enrollment term, a program of study, international, transfer, or scholarship qualifiers) can be captured and queried for within the application using custom application-scoped fields on application-page scoped forms and do not require the creation of separate rounds.
Creating an application round
Once a period has been established, a round or rounds may be configured and associated with the period.
To create a round:
Select Database from the main navigation.
Select Application Rounds.
Select Insert. A popup appears.
Configure the following settings:
Status: Inactive
This will be activated when youâve finished testing the application.
If all applications are being imported, the round should always be set to Inactive.
Period: Select the active period from the two you created previously. In our case, Active.
Name: Enter a name for your application round, for example:
Undergraduate Application
Short Name: Optionally enter an internal âshort nameâ that appears as a tab on the applicantâs person record. In this case,
2024 UG
.Order: Dictates the order in which rounds appear to the applicant. In this case,
5
.Round Key: Used in application logic, automation, and communications for your application. Enter a year-agnostic code, like
UG
for Undergraduate.Allow Multiple: Do not allow multiple applications
Locked: Unlocked
Hidden: Allow applicants to see their applications in this round
Protected from Rank: Rankable
Click Save.
Result
Youâve created an inactive Undergraduate application round for the active application period that restricts the applicant to a single application per period.
Youâve may have also created a Graduate application round with the same settings.
Your requirements may differ from the settings weâve selected here. See the full list of settings to understand if your setting selections should differ.
Application round setting descriptions
Status
Required
Set the status to Inactive until the Slate-hosted application is ready to go live.
If all applications are being imported, the round should always be set to Inactive.
Folder
Optional
Keep your database organized by using folders.
Select
Other
to create a new folder.
Period
Required
Ties the round to an application period
Name
Required
The round name visible to applicants
Enter a descriptive name, like
Undergraduate Application
.
Short Name
Optional
Visible to internal users only
Overrides the display name of the round on the application tab
Order
Required
Integer value that dictates the display order of the application rounds to applicants
Round Key
Optional
Enter a short-code that will identify this round type.
For example,
UG
for undergraduate andGR
for graduate, orED
for early decision andRD
for regular decision.The round key is used in application logic, automation, and communications for your application.
Omit year information so that the same round key can be used for future rounds.
Round Path
Optional
Overrides certain shared application files for a particular round
Use-cases are limited
Deadline (ET)
Optional, for Slate-hosted applications only
The date and time (in Eastern Time) after which applications and their submission fees in this round cannot be submitted
You can set grace periods for fees with the next setting, Payment Grace Period (Days).
Formatted
YYYY-MM-DD H:MM
. So, if you want the deadline to be 12:00AM Pacific on 12/15/2020, enter2020-12-15 3:00
.Use this settingâas opposed to conditional logic, a submission requirement, or a prompt expiration dateâif the deadline applies to a large group of students, like first-year or transfer applicants, or if your rounds are program- or term-specific, like 2019 Fall First-Year or MBA.
Payment Grace Period (Days)
Optional
Enter the number of days after your specified submission deadline that you will accept an application fee payment.
For example, if the application submission deadline is January 1, but application fee payments will be accepted through January 15, enter
15
here.
Require Payment to Submit Application
Optional
Select Yes to require either payment or a waiver before the user can submit their application.
đ Further reading: Require Payment to Submit Application
Allow Multiple
Optional
Select
Allow multiple applications
to let applicants submit more than one application to the same round.For Slate-hosted applications only
đ Note: The same setting must also be configured on the application period to enable multiple applications per round.
Locked
Optional
Unlocked
applications allow applicants to switch an application to a different round.Locked
applications cannot be moved to another round by the applicant.For Slate-hosted applications only
If multiple rounds share the same application questions and have different submission deadlines, select Unlocked.
This configuration allows a potential applicant to change to a Round with a later deadline if the original Round has passed.
Hidden
Optional
Typically used by graduate institutions that refer applicants to other programs.
Configuring a round as
Hidden
allows the applicant to not see this extra application during the review process.To display the hidden application at a later date, update the application to be in a visible round.
Protected from Rank
Optional
When there are more than one of a certain kind of object associated with a record, like applications, test scores, or addresses, Slate uses a set of rules to determine ranks for those objects. This usually comes up in querying, where you only care about the ârank 1â object.
This setting defaults to
Rankable
, meaning the application is in the running for the aforementioned table ranking. This ranking determines which application is the highest-ranking, based upon application priority and application creation and submission dates.Standard application rounds (applications for admissions and enrollment) should always be
Rankable
.Applications for other items, such as summer high school programs or scholarships, should be set to
Do not rank
.đ Note: Applications in rounds set toDo not rank
do not appear in the Omni Search.
đ Further reading: Determination of Table Ranks
Custom Status Portal
Optional
This setting will override the Slate-delivered application status portal if a custom status portal exists.
Export Value
Optional
Configure up to 5 export values for the application round.
Typically a short value or code that is used by external systems (such as an SIS) upon the consumption of application data from Slate.
Linking directly to a round
A direct round URL is a link that you can provide to a specific applicant population that prevents them from seeing other application rounds besides the one specified in the link.
When the applicant follows the link to the application management page, they see only one application available for creation, and all other active applications are hidden.
admission.slate.edu/apply/
The default application management page URL you would provide to Slate University applicants who you want to see all active application types.
admission.slate.edu/apply/?sr=RoundID
The direct round URL you would provide Slate University applicants for whom you want see only one specific application type.
đ Direct Round URLs are round specific: as old rounds are inactivated, new rounds require new links.
Example: Undergraduate and graduate rounds
Say your database includes two rounds, a 2017 Undergraduate application and a 2017 Graduate application.
Rather than giving undergraduate applicants the option to apply to both types of application, you can provide a direct URL to the Undergraduate application.
When the applicant arrives at the application management page from the direct round URL, the only application type they see is the 2017 Undergraduate application.
The same would be true if you would like to hide the undergraduate application from a Graduate applicant, for which you would provide a direct URL to the Graduate application. When the applicant arrives at the application management page, the only application type displayed is the 2017 Graduate application.
Creating a direct round URL
To create a URL that takes applicants directly to a given round:
Select an existing round.
Set the Status to Inactive.
Following this URL format:
yourschool.edu/apply/?sr=RoundID
Replace
RoundID
with the ID of the round record that you copied in the previous step.Use this URL wherever applicants should have access to the application management page.
To test the direct round URL:
Open a private browsing window in your browser
Paste the URL
Repeat for each application round where you plan to provide a direct round.
âĄď¸ Up next: creating application-scoped fields
Youâve created the large-scale structure that dictates whether applications in your database are active or inactive, and where they fall in the high-level organization of your institution.
Now, youâll make the application-scoped fields that collect applicant information.
đ Next article in this series: Application Fields