The Reporter: February 1997, Vol.8, No.1
What's New on CPMCnet
The Construction of an Admissions Site

Photo by Jonathan Smith

Some things never change, such as P&S's requirement that a portion of its admissions application be handwritten. And although she had no intention of abolishing such a tradition, Pat Tobiasen, administrative assistant in admissions, did think the admissions office needed a little push into the next century. "If we're going to be on the cutting edge of medical education, then we ought to be on the cutting edge of communications technology," she says. That's why Ms. Tobiasen, along with Dr. Andrew G. Frantz, chairman of the committee on admissions, decided it was time the P&S admissions office go on the World Wide Web.

The goal, says Ms. Tobiasen, wasn't to be flashy or entertaining but to offer prospective students the information they want about P&S. For an office that sent out 7,000 application packets last spring, additional formats for sharing information with applicants are desirable. "We get a lot of phone calls with many of the same questions, one of which is, 'Do you have a Web site?'" she says.

So Ms. Tobiasen did what any eager-to-learn Web designer would do--she surfed. "I looked at what other schools were doing to give me an idea of what would be useful." Ms. Tobiasen says she didn't want the Web site to take the place of the P&S application itself or the school bulletin but rather to be another venue for communicating information about the school.

On the P&S Admissions Office's new Web site, interested browsers can find out general information such as how to contact the admissions office, the fee for application, when the application is due, and statistics about P&S. Ms. Tobiasen has written an FAQ (frequently asked questions) page that answers recurring questions prospective students always ask. The last part of the admissions page is a feedback form that gives users the option to request more information or application packets. In the future, Ms. Tobiasen hopes the page will have links to other student service sites such as the financial aid office and minority affairs. "That's the best part of this--it can evolve and be updated over time," she says.

Although Ms. Tobiasen wrote the copy and chose the format for the P&S Admissions Office home page, the CPMCnet Web Publishing and Development group, in the Office of Scholarly Resources, worked with her in developing the page. That staff also put her "script" into the proper format so it could go online.

More information on developing departmental home pages can be obtained by calling 305-1668 (ext. 71668), or sending e-mail to webmaster@cpmcnet.columbia.edu. The address for the admissions home page is http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/ps/admissions