The checklist on the custom applicant status portal shows an applicant which items, like transcripts or recommendations, they have received and which are missing. Depending on the populations related to the application, the number of items on an applicant’s checklist can grow unwieldy. To help them to quickly parse their list of to-dos, it can help to divide the checklist into sections.
For example, you might divide the checklist into areas like matriculation and scholarship-specific requirements, or give any item outside the admissions checklist its own section. You might have an admitted, matriculated applicant being considered for a scholarship, and each of these categories (Admitted, Matriculated, Considered for scholarship) exists in its own population. Belonging to this many populations could generate a lengthy checklist, but by dividing the checklist into sections, you can compartmentalize items by category.
📝 System generated checklist items like references always appear in the admissions checklist section.
The applicant’s experience
When an applicant visits their status page, different sections appear based on the criteria you define.
An applicant can visit their status page by visiting yourinstitution.edu/status.
Without sections
Without sections in place, an applicant would see a checklist that looks like the example below:
With sections
In the example above, the Housing Agreement is an item that could potentially reside in a Matriculation section. In this case, it might make sense to display a checklist section that includes only matriculation items. In the following example, the checklist has been split to show matriculation items separate from admissions items. The checklist defaults to display the tab for Admissions checklist items upon initial load, but allows the applicant to select the Matriculation tab to instead display those items.
📝 Note
Checklist section tabs are dynamic. If an applicant does not have a checklist item for a particular section, the tab will not appear to the applicant even if the section has been included when configuring the checklist in Database → Portals.
Configuring a checklist section
Go to Database → Checklists.
Select Insert to add a new checklist item, or click to edit an existing item.
To create a new checklist section:
Section: Select Other as the section and enter the name of the section as it should appear externally (for example,
Matriculation). This will be the name of the tab when the checklist section displays to the applicant on their status portal.Subject: This is the name of the checklist item that will appear to the applicant on their status portal.
For information regarding the other checklist settings, refer to the Checklist Item Settings article.
Once a section is created, that section is selectable for any future checklist items.
Configuring the status portal
Once you have created a custom checklist section, the section can be added to the status page by editing the corresponding portal.
Select Database from the main navigation.
Under Portals, select your existing Application Status Portal. (For information on how to configure a new custom status portal, refer to the Custom Applicant Status Portal article.)
Select the View where the checklist should be displayed.
Drag the Checklist By Section module onto the page and configure:
Section Tabs Insert: Select from the list to specify the sections that appear within this widget.
Section Tabs: Once selected, drag the items to reorder. This will determine the display order on the status page.
Other checklist portal widget settings:
Name: This value is not visible to applicants, but is required administratively to save a portal widget.
Checklist Instructions: These instructions appear for all sections.
Honor Decision Hiding: Specify if the checklist widget should hide specific items until the relevant decision is released. Selecting Yes retains the default hiding behavior (typically used to prevent pending admission outcomes from being implied or spoiled before the decision has been finalized), whereas No displays the checklist regardless of the released status of any decisions on the record.
Checklist by Section widgets
The Checklist by Section module can be used any number of times on the same portal view. If a particular custom section should show separately instead of within a tab, or if you prefer all sections to display simultaneously with no tabs, configure multiple Checklist by Section widgets on the portal—one for each section that you want to display independently.
Note that when taking this approach, the word “Checklist” is appended to the name of the section automatically when used as a heading, such that the Matriculation section becomes Matriculation Checklist.
