Accessing & Reviewing Student Applications

To review and evaluate student applications, you will utilize our application portal called VikingsAbroad.  You can easily navigate to our application portal via the Education Abroad website, by simply selecting the "VA Portal Login" button on our homepage.  You can also direct to https://vikingsabroad.pdx.edu/login

Once there,  select "Log in with my PSU Odin ID."  Each Program Leader can view applications specific to their current and past program(s) by using the "Application Finder" 

Application Review Process:

Interviewing without Education Abroad

While we strongly recommend you partner with Education Abroad to interview applicants for your program, program leaders have the option to manage the interview process independently. All students that meet minimum requirements must be interviewed, even if you know the applicant. If students are denied or waitlisted, the University (in this case, the Program Leader) must be able to document legitimate reasons for this decision. Therefore, it is required that you utilize a rubric and document your scores. Review the Learning Content Document Interviewing Students: Equity in Education Abroad for an example scoring rubric and question items.

For a complete submission for most programs, students need to:

1. Submit a letter of recommendation (this cannot be from the program leader)
2. Upload an unofficial transcript
3. Complete two essays
4. Complete an interview

Step One: Education Abroad completes a preliminary review of the student applications

The Education Abroad Advisor will:

1. Evaluate which applications are complete and withdraw those that are not.
2. Complete a Dean of Students Conduct check
3. Screen for the minimum GPA requirement
4. Screen for class standing eligibility
5. Review transcript, letter(s) of recommendation, and essays for areas of concern
6. Mark the Application as “Ready for Review”
7. Alert the Program Leader via email that applications are Ready for Review along with any notes regarding the above requirements.

Step Two: The Program Leader(s) complete a full review of the student applications

The Program Leader(s) will:

1. Log into the VikingsAbroad portal and switch to "Reviewer" mode (which you can select by clicking on the home icon on the left side of the screen)
2. You will see a list of applications that are ready to be reviewed. All columns except the “Application status” column can be sorted by their values. Click on an individual application, review all of their materials, enter your notes, scroll to the bottom of the screen, and indicate whether you are choosing to accept, waitlist, or not accept an applicant.
3. If you are wait listing or denying the applicant, you must indicate rationale for your decision. Your notes will remain confidential unless a student requests to view them upon denial.
4. Alert the Education Abroad Advisor that you have completed your review. For waitlisted students: please indicate a ranking order in case we are able to accept additional students.ts.

Step Three: Education Abroad issues Acceptances, Waitlists, or Denials

If Accepted: Students are given 10 business days to confirm their spot in the program (in rare cases this can be shortened to no less than 5 business days). Program Leader(s) will be cc’d on the acceptance email.

If Waitlisted: After the confirmation deadline passes, students who are on the waitlist will be offered a spot in the order indicated by the Program Leader. Program Leader(s) will be cc’d on the waitlist email.

If Denied: Students are directed to alternative programs that may be a better fit. Program Leader(s) will be cc’d on the denial email.

Step Four: Await Program Confirmation

You will receive a notification from Education Abroad when your program hits minimum enrollment. Do not move forward with travel plans or other program-related decisions until you hear from Education Abroad that your program is running.

Interviewing & Scoring your Applicants

Program Leaders are required to interview each applicant in a fair an equitable manner.  
 

Reviewer Console for Faculty Reviewers

Faculty-Led Programming is now using the Reviewer Console in the Admin Console interface in TerraDotta (VikingsAbroad Portal). Faculty Leaders will gain access to the Review Console once students “submit” completed applications. Within the Reviewer Console, Faculty will be enable to see, review, and submit their decision on each application (decline, accept, or waitlist).

Instructions on Access

Once a student submits their application, each faculty leader will receive an email notifying that a submitted application is ready for review with instructions on how to navigate to application for review.

Additionally, faculty can login to the VikingsAbroad portal at any time and navigate to the Reviewer Console to see completed applications under pending or submitted reviews. Please view instructions below for greater details.

Provided Information

Faculty will be able to view the following for each applicant:

• Student Details - Student Name, PSU ID Number, Preferred Name, Preferred Pronoun, Year in School, GPA, Major, Minor, Citizenship, Non-Degree Seeking Status.
• Essays - Two Short Essays
• Unofficial Transcripts - Downloadable file
• Recommendation(s) - Please note that applicants must request a recommendation before they can submit their application; however, we may not yet have received the recommendation at the time of submission. We ask that you wait to submit your review until you have received and reviewed the recommendation.

Faculty Responsibilities

We ask that you WAIT to accept or reject an applicant until you have received the required recommendations) AND completed the required program interview.

When you are ready to make a decision on each application, please complete and either Reject or Accept each student. This will inform our office of next steps.

 (Click here for step-by-step Instructions)

Application Finder 

The Application Finder is a feature of the Admin Console (newer more user-friendly version of TerraDotta). 

The Application Finder increases the ease and speed by which admin users can locate the applications they need and promptly take action. Essential functions, such as filtering, viewing, batch applying actions to applications, and running a progress audit are performed directly from this enhanced application search results page. 

For Faculty Reviewers, this is a great way to monitor the progress of all applications (including incomplete applications), reach out to students (check out the Batch Email function), AND see historical data about their program. 

Step-by-Step Instructions 

This section will include the following instructions with accompanying images for guidance:

1. Locating the Application Finder
2. Application Searches in Application Finder
   1. Utilizing Filters in your Searches
3. Customizing your View and Exporting data to Excel
4. Applying Batch Actions in Application Finder
   1. Progress Audits
   2. Running Reports
   3. Batch Emails

(Click here for step-by-step Instructions)
 

Printing Your Applications

Some faculty still wish to have printed versions of applications for the interview process.  You can easily print the application by using the "Print Review" function with in each application.