The evaluation stage configuration controls how scholarship requests are reviewed and scored in your Universal Application (UA) universe. Evaluation setup determines which committees evaluate which opportunities, how evaluation questions function across multiple opportunities, and how evaluators interact with applicant requests. Understanding these options before building your evaluation stage helps ensure your workflow aligns with your review process.
User Role: Administrator, Evaluator
When to Use Evaluation Stage Configuration
Configure evaluation stage settings when:
- You need to determine if a general committee will evaluate all opportunities or if each opportunity requires its own committee (for example, a nursing scholarship committee vs. a general scholarship committee).
- You want to control whether evaluation questions apply to all opportunities (common) or specific opportunities (supplemental), such as having a common question about academic achievement but opportunity-specific questions about field of study interest.
- You need to decide if evaluators should be automatically assigned when applications are marked complete or if assignments will be managed manually.
- You are setting up a two-stage evaluation process with initial review and final selection rounds.
- You need to enable or disable the Group by Student feature to control how evaluators view and score requests.
General Reminders
Evaluation Questions Configured as Common vs. Opportunity-Specific (or "Supplemental")
- Common evaluation questions only need to be completed by an evaluator once per applicant. The evaluator's responses to those questions carry across their evaluations for the applicant.
- This is important to clarify for evaluators, especially for any comment fields configured as common. Their responses in those fields should pertain to the applicant in general, rather than to their fit for a particular opportunity.
- If an evaluation question is configured for more than one specific opportunity, the evaluator's responses will carry across their evaluations for an applicant for those specific opportunities.
Auto Assign Feature
When this is enabled for an opportunity, the system auto assigns all committee members to evaluate a request as soon as the application is marked complete.
- Do not enable auto assign if any of the following apply:
- Applications are typically marked complete as they are received, rather than all at once.
- Only some committee members will evaluate each request.
- Evaluations are assigned by applicant (Option 4 below).
- There are no automatic emails sent when a committee is assigned to complete an evaluation form. This functionality is available only in stand alone processes.
Group by Student
When this is enabled, the evaluator will only see the same student one time. They will be able to evaluate any supplemental questions that are needed using one evaluation form. The evaluator will not be able see the scores for individual opportunities.
Option 1: Each Opportunity Evaluated by a General Committee
A single, general committee evaluates requests for all opportunities. The first evaluation stage could be used to determine finalists and the second stage for final recipient selections.
Set-Up Notes
- Evaluation form questions that are related to the applicant in general, rather than a specific opportunity, should be configured as common.
- If committee members will evaluate supplemental essays or the applicant's fit for opportunity preferences, those evaluation form questions should be configured for the specific opportunity.
- Build a question group for each opportunity with supplemental questions, named accordingly, and then build the opportunity-specific evaluation questions within those groups.
- If using the second evaluation stage for final recipient selections, there is an option to only include evaluation questions configured for each specific opportunity on that evaluation form.
Workflow Notes
- If an evaluator is assigned to multiple requests for the same applicant, they will only need to complete the common evaluation questions once for the applicant.
- If Group by Student is enabled, evaluators are not able to see scores for individual opportunities.
- More details are available in the General Reminders section at the beginning of this article.
- If using specific committees to evaluate each opportunity in the second stage, leave the committee selections blank in the evaluation stage until the second stage evaluations are ready to be assigned.
- This allows the option to batch assign evaluations by applicant in the first stage rather than needing to assign one opportunity at a time.
- If using the second stage for final recipient selections, do not enable the auto assign feature for that stage.
Option 2: Each Opportunity Evaluated by its Own Committee
Each opportunity has its own committee to evaluate requests.
Set-Up Notes
- If each committee uses the same base rubric, configure those evaluation questions as common.
- Build a question group for each opportunity, named accordingly, and then build the opportunity-specific evaluation questions within the groups.
Workflow Notes
- If an evaluator is on multiple committees and is assigned to requests for the same applicant, they will only need to complete the common evaluation questions once for the applicant.
- If Group by Student is enabled, evaluators are not able to see scores for individual opportunities.
- More details are available in the General Reminders section at the beginning of this article.
Option 3: Some Opportunities Evaluated by General Committee, Some by their Own Committee
This is a hybrid of the first and second options. A general committee evaluates requests for some opportunities while other opportunities have their own committee.
Set-Up Notes
- The first evaluation stage can be used for opportunities evaluating with the general committee. Follow the set-up notes for Option 1.
- The second evaluation stage can be used for opportunities evaluating with their own committees. Follow the set-up notes for Option 2.
Workflow Notes
- Within each stage, if an evaluator is assigned to multiple requests for the same applicant, they will only need to complete the common evaluation questions once for the applicant.
- If Group by Student is enabled, evaluators are not able to see scores for individual opportunities.
- More details are available in the General Reminders section at the beginning of this article.
Option 4: Evaluations Assigned by Applicant
For anyone that has previously used the general evaluation opportunity, use Option 1 above. The general evaluation opportunity will need to be deleted and the questions on the evaluation form have to be set to evaluate the correct applicant opportunity (common or supplemental) and then follow the instructions for Option 1.