Challenges
- Staff recalculated every incoming student’s GPA by hand, sometimes on paper
- Staff couldn’t retrace past calculations, so questions meant starting over
- Transcript data sat in silos, out of reach for other campus teams
Solution
- Parchment Receive Premium
- Parchment Data Automation
Results
- Admissions processes undergraduate transcripts faster, with less manual entry
- Transcript data flows directly into Slate
- Reviewers see college prep GPAs at a glance, with drill-down detail
The situation
With the goal of fairness, Hope College's Admissions Office recalculates the GPA of every incoming student. The team puts every applicant on a level playing field by comparing and weighting coursework the same way.
Amy Flavin, Associate Director of Admissions Operations, describes the manual process this way: “We spent so much time digging into the data, and all we were getting was a number at the end. I’d be using pieces of paper to recalculate GPAs. If somebody asked me a question a month later, I had no idea what I had done and had to start all over again.”
Before they could weigh an application, each member of the Admissions Review Committee built little charts of the applicant's Math and English grades. In 2024, the college decided to cut manual data entry and put transcript data to work for students long after admission.
Choosing a partner they already trusted
As the team compared options, three priorities stood out that helped Hope College choose Parchment Data Automation. Amy explains:
We liked the fact that there were elements of the tool that we could customize. We liked that the platform used machine learning to get better over time. Having an established relationship with Parchment also helped a lot. There was a trust there.
Amy Flavin
Associate Director of Admissions Operations, Hope College
An implementation without IT
Implementation can complicate projects with surprise delays and tight resources. So how much would IT need to get involved? Not much at all, it turns out.
Amy led the setup with her colleague Meredith, Associate Director for Data and Systems. Both work in Admissions, not IT. "We are not IT people," Amy says. "We are both based in Admissions. However, we did not have to get our IT department involved because it was a simple setup, with an SFTP transfer to and from Slate. It only took us about a month."
Here's how the rollout came together:
Amy and Meredith ran the setup from Admissions.
The team connected Data Automation to Slate through an SFTP transfer.
IT never needed to step in.
Hope College finished setup in about a month.
I've been on numerous implementation teams over my career, and I can definitely say without a doubt this was the shortest and the simplest that we've ever had.
Amy Flavin
Associate Director of Admissions Operations, Hope College
Better data in the review room
Reviewers no longer build their own grade charts. They see every applicant's college prep GPAs in Slate and can drill down into the classes behind them.
"The review committee can now focus on the data and how we can make the best decision for each individual student," Amy says. "And, we've reduced their processing time so that they can make decisions faster."
Data Automation really helps break down silos between our different departments. It helps us to understand each student more, both in the admissions process, but also in the greater realm of their entire college experience.
Amy Flavin
Associate Director of Admissions Operations, Hope College
When hope is well placed
Reviewers see GPAs for every college prep course in Slate.
The review committee spends less time building charts and makes decisions faster.
Data Automation reads new transcript types more accurately over time.
Admissions now has a process to meet growing demand.
Because Data Automation keeps learning, its impact grows over time. Amy already sees the long view. "The value grows every day. It's been encouraging to see that the product has learned from different transcript types and reads them better and better as we go along. A few years from now, we will have good data to look back on. Our different campus partners in student success can work with us on what makes a student successful at Hope. After all, that's what it is all about in the end."
Put your hope in automation that works
