Discover how Parchment Data Automation is helping Hope College eliminate manual transcript data entry for first-year admissions.
The Hope College Admissions Office recalculates the GPAs of all incoming students. The goal is to put all prospective students on a level playing field, comparing and weighting coursework fairly. This is no small task. In 2024, Hope College sought a technology solution to alleviate the manual data entry for staff, eliminate data silos, and utilize the transcript data in ways that benefit Hope College and their students in the long term.
Amy Flavin, Associate Director of Admissions Operations, was looking for a sustainable solution for their GPA recalculation efforts. Amy describes the manual effort of GPA recalculation on the team, “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.”
The search for a technology partner began. Ultimately, Hope College chose Parchment’s Data Automation because of the strength of the technology and the trust they had for Parchment. Amy shares, “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. For those reasons, we felt very confident in moving forward.”
“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
Of course, selecting a partner is just the beginning. Implementation is often where things become complex, with unexpected delays and resource constraints. How much would IT need to get involved? Answer: Not much at all. Amy describes what it took to get Data Automation up and running, “It was myself and my amazing colleague, Meredith, who is our Associate Director for Data and Systems. We are not IT people. 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. 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.”
Since implementation, Amy and her colleagues have been pleased with the results, “The most immediate win has been for our Admissions Review Committee. Each reviewer used to make little charts with all of their Math and English grades. Now, we can present all of the data in the Slate dashboard as they’re reviewing an application. We have a grid set up to show the GPAs in all of the college prep courses. They can click to drill down if they want to see the types of classes that a student took. The review committee can now focus on the data and how we can make the best decision for each individual student. And, we’ve reduced their processing time so that they can make decisions faster.”
And because Parchment’s Data Automation solution continues to learn and get better, the impact of the tool will only increase over time. Amy shares, “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.”
