Admit officers to get online filing system

Paper file folders are on the way to being a thing of the past in Penn's undergraduate admissions office.

Starting with the 2008-2009 admissions cycle, the office's internal workings will be almost entirely digital.

Currently, the entire application - including essays, transcripts and letters of recommendation - can be submitted online or electronically. All materials received online, however, are subsequently printed out and put into a paper file because of system constraints.

But beginning this fall, applicants will have electronic files containing all of their materials, interim Dean of Admissions Eric Kaplan said. Documents submitted through the mail will be scanned and added to the electronic dossiers.

Kaplan has been developing the move to a paperless system, but its implementation coincides with Eric Furda taking over as the permanent admissions dean.

Furda - who will assume the position on July 1 - has previous experience managing the transition from paper to computerized file systems in admissions. He managed Columbia University's recent switch to a paperless system, which remained intact during his last two cycles as admissions dean.

"An electronic system gives admissions officers more time to consider applications," Furda said. "You have to realize some efficiencies in the processing so you have the time to be thoughtful in reviewing applications."

Kaplan wrote in an e-mail that Penn's growing number of applicants has made it "difficult to manage a paper-intensive process in a small window of time."

Regular-decision applications jumped 10 percent from 2006 to 2007.

Paperless applications "will provide the Admissions Office with easier access to applicants' credentials and will also enable students to track the receipt of documents through the application portal," Kaplan added.

With the paper system. for example, admissions officers must have many files and sheets of paper in front of them to compare multiple applications side-by-side. With the electronic system, however, admissions officers can look at more than one applicants' statistics at the same time on one computer screen.

Penn President Amy Gutmann cited several benefits to the new system, saying that going paperless "would mean more time to do outreach recruitment and the other things that make Penn personal to every application."

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