VirtualEvals

Q. Who has access to an applicant’s letters?

A. Only the health professions schools that the sending school attaches to an applicant record have access to that applicant’s letters.

Q. What is the cost for health professions schools to participate?

A. There are NO fees for health professions schools.

Q. Do applicants have access to VirtualEvals?

A. No. VirtualEvals was specifically designed so that only advisors and health professions schools access the system, not applicants.

Q. Will this save my institution money?

A. Most sending schools have find that VirtualEvals is more cost-efficient than conventional means of transmitting letters. We encourage you to calculate the cost of copying the many packets of letters and postage (including last minute overnight mailings) for sending letters conventionally and compare that to what you would pay as a user fee for VirtualEvals.

Q. Will this save my institution time?

A. Yes. Depending on how many applicants you have each year, using VirtualEvals could save you many hours that you would have spent at the copier as well as filing and refiling folders.

Q. What Health Professions Schools participate in VirtualEvals?

A. For the 2007 application cycle, 177 health professions schools/programs accessed letters on VirtualEvals for ~14,000 applicants. The breakdown was as follows: 127 MD programs, 24 DO programs, 15 MD/PhD programs, 8 optometry programs, 3 dental programs (through TMDSAS). We expect that number to increase for the 2008 application cycle. For a list of users, see the links on the right side of the VirtualEvals home page.

Q. Is there user support in case of questions or problems?

A. Yes. We will continue to provide user support for questions and resolving problems. You may email help@virtualevals.org or use the “contact us” link on the home page.

Q. Are other health profession schools going to join VirtualEvals in the future?

A. We are open to recruiting other health professions schools/programs and are currently doing that. If you know of a school/program that you would like to see use VirtualEvals, please let us know by emailing help@virtualevals.org. You should also encourage the school/program to contact us.

Q. Do I need a particular scanner to scan my documents?

A. If you already have access to a scanner, chances are it will be sufficient for your needs. However, depending on the size of your applicant pool, you may need a scanner with an automatic document feeder. The scanner we have used at Duke quite successfully is the HP Scanjet 7650 and we can highly recommend it. You should check with your IT staff before purchasing any scanner to be sure that it is compatible with your computer system.

Q. After uploading letters for an applicant, can I add another letter?

A. At present, the answer to this is no. Until recently, the health professions schools have been insistent that they prefer to download letters for each applicant as a single packet from VirtualEvals. However, we have sensed some changes in that position and are working on a process that miay allow for a later letter for the 2008 cycle. We will keep you informed. In the meantime, as much as possible you should wait to post the PDF for each applicant until all letters for that applicant are received and incorporated into the PDF. If a letter comes in later in the cycle, you should plan to send it by regular mail outside the VE system, unless notified differently by us.

Q. What happens to the letters at the end of an application cycle?

A. The applicant records and PDF’s are purged at the end of the application cycle. We do not archive PDF’s that have been posted to VirtualEvals since there is no reason to do so. However, by creating PDF’s for your applicants’ letters, you will have an archive of those letters available in your office.

Q. Can I add a school to an applicant record after the PDF for that applicant has been uploaded?

A. Yes. You may go back into an applicant record to add additional schools. There are instructions for doing that inside the VirtualEvals site.

Q. Can I use a student’s Social Security number as one of the unique identifiers?

A. No. For security purposes, Social Security numbers should never be used on an applicant’s record. As most of you know, this is not an issue specific to VirtualEvals. Many institutions are now prohibiting the use of SSN or SSI and VirtualEvals was designed with that in mind. In addition, some health professions schools have requested that we ask senders not to include an SSN in the PDF that you transmit to them. If you must use some form of SSN on the document you post, please use only the last 4 digits.

Q. What sort of training will be provided?

A. One of the great features of VirtualEvals is that once you have registered and logged into the system and you will have access to training videos showing you step-by-step how to use VirtualEvals.
In addition, we plan to host web casts in May. The purpose of the web casts is to show you exactly how VirtualEvals works and walk you through the process, providing you an opportunity to ask questions. We will archive the web casts so that you can access them at a later date to review the information.

Q. How can I be part of the web cast?

A. Once the dates have been set for the web casts, the information will be emailed to all registered users. We will also add a section to this website providing more information regarding the web casts.

Please note that as questions arise we will be adding to this list of FAQ’s.