Overview
Decision Letters are automated, official notifications that applicants receive on the Decision Date when their status is changed from "Pending" to either "Approved" (or "Committed"), "Rejected", or "Waitlist". You can use either the software’s default decision letters, or you can edit them to make them more specific to your office’s procedures.
This article covers the following topics related to Decision Letters:
- Getting Started with Decision Letters
- Changing Decision Dates and Its Impact on Decision Letters
- Program-Specific Information in Decision Letters
- Additional Information
- Video Resources
Important Note: Admin users are able to use the "View as User" button from the application management interface to view an applicant's decision letter. However, an applicant must first view their accepted application or click into the decision letter notice on the Modern Applicant Home Page before the decision letter will deploy to appear under "Program Info" for an admin user.
There are 3 types of decision letters: "Accepted", "Rejected", or "Waitlist". For each of the 6 Program Types (Outgoing, Incoming, Scholarship, Risk Management, Outgoing with Side Trips and One Step, and Program Enrollment), you are able to edit and customize all 3 types of letters. Therefore, at most, you could have 18 different decision letters - 3 each for the 6 types of program.
All of the "Accepted" decision letters for a program type (Outgoing, Incoming, Scholarship, Risk Management, Outgoing with Side Trips and One Step, and Program Enrollment) have the same default text, no matter which program they are assigned to within that program type. This is also true of the "Rejected" and "Waitlist" letters. In addition, the edit panel is the same format for all 3 types of letter.
To use decision letters on your site:
1) Navigate to Settings > System Features > Features tab and scroll down to the "Decision Letters" section. Click the box next to "Display of decision letters to applicants: in order to enable the decision letter feature. Click "Update" at the bottom of the page.
2) Navigate to the Process > Notifications > Decision Letters tab. To edit the various letters, click on the pencil to the right of the letter name:
This will open the decision letter "edit" pane. Since all decision letters have the same basic edit pane, the instructions below could be used for any of the decision letters.
3) Configure your Decision Letter
The following settings are displayed:
Salutation: This is how the applicant will be addressed in the letter. The system will automatically insert an applicant’s name in any space that is marked [Applicant Name]. There are three options for the salutation that are common to all three decision letter types:
- [Blank] –a line will be automatically attached to the beginning of the letter showing the applicant name: "To: [Applicant Name]"
- Greetings, [Applicant Name]
- Dear [Applicant Name]
In addition, there is a fourth option for the salutation that is only available for the "Accepted" or "Committed" type of decision letter:
- Congratulations, [Applicant Name]
Choose the type of salutation you wish to use for the decision letter from the drop down box.
Message Body: In this section, you can decide what will appear in the message body of the decision letter. If you want to use the default text, mark the circle next to "Use standard message". A preview of the default decision letter text is displayed next to this circle.
If you want to customize the message body of the decision letter, you have two options. To use the standard message in combination with a customized message, click the circle next to "Use the above text as well as the custom text below". Then, you will need to add a customized message in the WYSIWYG Editor below the Message Body section. If using the WYSIWYG Editor, the Content merge option is available. Refer to our article on Using the WYSIWYG Editor for more information.
Alternatively, you can avoid using the standard message completely and create your own Message Body. To choose this option, click the circle next to "Use only custom text below". Then you will need to write a full decision letter (not just an addendum) in the WYSIWYG Editor below the Message Body section. If you select only to use custom message-body text, a line will be automatically attached to the end of the letter, stating the program, term and status of the application.
Custom Message Body Text: If you have chosen either "Use the above text as well as the custom text below", or "Use only custom text below", then this is the WYSIWYG Editor that allows you to customize the text of the decision letter. If you chose "Use standard message", any text entered in this section will not appear in an applicant’s decision letter.
Closing: This section allows you to assign a sign off phrase or farewell to the decision letter. There are seven options for the closing that are common to all three decision letter types:
- [Blank] – the decision letter will not display a closing.
- Sincerely
- Regards
- Best wishes
- Good luck
- Thank you
- Thank you for applying
In addition, there is an eighth option for the closing that is only available for the "Accepted" / "Committed" type of decision letter:
- Bon Voyage
Choose the closing that you would like displayed on the decision letter from the drop-down box.
Letter Sent By: This is where you can customize who is listed at the end of the decision letter. Although the letters are automatically generated by the software, you may want to personalize the letter by making it appear as if it is from a particular staff member. To do this, click the circle next to "Use staff name" and then choose the staff member’s name from the drop-down box. If you wish to have the decision letters appear as if they have been sent by your office, click the circle next to "Use account name".
4) When you are done editing the decision letter, click "Save" to preserve your changes.
When the decision date for either an application cycle or a program date record is changed, it can sometimes result in some of the applicants not receiving an email indicating that a decision has been made on their application and that they need to log into the site in order to find out what that decision is.
This can occur when the decision date is changed to either the current date or a date in the past due to the method by which decision notification emails are sent.
One of the nightly scheduled tasks that usually executes in the early morning is "st_Decisions". This task finds any applications in the system that have the current date as the decision date and are not in the pending status. These applicants are then sent an email notification that tells them that there has been a decision made on their applications.
If a decision date is changed to the current date or a date in the past, the applicants that are in that application cycle and have already had decisions posted to their applications will NOT receive an email notification about the decision. Since the task has already run for the current day, the process that would send them this notification has been missed, and once the decision date is in the past, the process will not be sending them notifications.
Note: Applicants that get their decisions made after such a change in the decision date will receive their notifications since status changes made on or after the decision date result in immediate notification being sent to the applicant.
To avoid this from happening, there are two options:
1) Do not change the decision dates to the current date or a date in the past - always change them to the following day (the applicants will get their notifications on that day).
2) Manually send notifications to the applicants after this change in the decision date using the batch email function. You should be able to identify the applications by searching based on application cycle and application status.
With regards to application access, the notifications do not affect the change in phase for the applications. Accepted/Committed applicants will always be advanced to the post-decision phase for applications where the decision date is the current day or a date in the past.
Important Note: The software can deploy only one decision letter per program type. It is not possible to create customized decision letters for each program. It is strongly recommended that the wording you put into the decision letter for each program type be as general as possible so all applicants will receive accurate information.
However, under certain circumstances you may wish to deploy program-specific acceptance letters to certain groups of applicants. For example, if some (but not all) of your programs require both your office's approval and final approval by a third-party provider, you may wish to convey only your office's provisional acceptance in these decision letters for some students, but not others.
While there isn't a way to customize your decision letter to be program-specific, for "Accepted" and "Committed" letters only, it is possible to append some additional program-specific information to the generic language configured in the decision letter in the decision letter. To do this, follow these steps:
1) Navigate to "Programs" and then open the Program Builder (click the pencil to the right of the program’s name) for the program for which you wish to provide program-specific information. In the program, click the "Settings" tab.
2) Under the "Application Instructions" section, you can provide additional information to include in the decision letter in the "Post-Decision Phase Instructions". Write the additional information in the box, and then check the box next to "include these instructions in the decision letter for accepted applicants". This will enable the system to append the instructions here to the end of the message body you specified in the Decision Letter pane.
Keep in mind that if you check this box, then any and all instructions included in the Post-Decision Phase Instructions will be included in the decision letter.
3) Click "Update" at the bottom of the page to save your changes.
Note: This method requires that you are not already using the post-decision application instructions for something else. If you are using the post-decision application instructions, they may need to be adjusted in order to be suitable for both purposes.
If this is the case, you can have the post-decision application instructions indicate that "accepted" refers to being nominated from your office, but that final acceptance is decided by the program provider. This text could be appended to the acceptance letters for only the provider programs.
There is no method for customizing the acceptance letters per applicant - if you require applicant-specific acceptance letters, it is recommended to use the attached documents feature.
You can upload a letterhead to be used on Decision Letters in the System Settings > System Features > Features tab. Towards the bottom of the page there is a section called "Letterhead". The letterhead you upload here will be displayed when applicants view their decision letters. Although the letterhead will be seen by the applicant when they receive the decision letter, it will not appear in the "Preview Letter" feature.
Managing Decision Notification Emails
Disabling decision letters within Settings > System Features only turns off the decision letters that are displayed to applicants when they log in to view the new status of their application. This action does not turn off/stop the email that is sent to them on the decision date letting them know that a decision has been made on their application that they can now view.
The nightly task that runs doesn't actually send "Decision letters" through email. It only sends out notifications about status changes.
Important Note: Only decision notification emails that are sent out on the decision date can be disabled for the committed applicants on the System Settings > System Features page.