Credentials Solutions Partners with AMCAS to Streamline American Medical College Application Service Process for Students

September 18, 2013 (PRLEAP.COM) Education News
NORTHFIELD, IL – Credentials Solutions is announcing a major enhancement to its TranscriptsPlus® academic transcript ordering and fulfillment application that will now allow students to send secure PDF transcripts to the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS).

Per AMCAS specifications, this PDF transcript includes an imbedded XML header file containing the AAMC ID and AMCAS Transcript ID fields which identify the sending student and school to AMCAS. This allows AMCAS to automate the matching of the student's transcript with the rest of his/her medical school application. By taking advantage of this new feature, students no longer need to fax or scan/upload an AMCAS cover sheet to the school to be sent with their transcript. Automated email communications from both Credentials and AMCAS will confirm to the student that 1) the processing of the order has been completed by Credentials and 2) that AMCAS in fact has received the student's transcript.

This new service was piloted at The University of Alabama, The Ohio State University and George Mason University and is now available to all of Credentials' client institutions who are sending PDF transcripts today.

"This is an exciting step for AMCAS and for the AAMC – introducing the acceptance of electronic transcripts will positively impact the application process both for our applicants and our operations team," said Jim Hafner-Eaton, AMCAS Operations Manager. "We are pleased to be working with Credentials Solutions, the first vendor to transmit official PDF eTranscripts to AMCAS. We look forward to continuing this already successful relationship for the duration of this application season and for future AMCAS application cycles."

Since not all students may want their transcript sent electronically, Credentials has also implemented enhancements in eRoboMail™ to automatically generate the required AMCAS cover sheet containing the AAMC ID and AMCAS Transcript ID fields. This cover sheet is seamlessly integrated with the student's transcript at schools utilizing Credentials' eRoboMail print and mail product, again eliminating the process of sending in an attachment.

"We at Credentials are very excited at being able provide this enhanced service for AMCAS orders to our client institutions and their students," added J. Jeffrey Geldermann, President & COO of Credentials Solutions. "Elimination of the attachment processing requirements for these orders means that students can often have almost immediate delivery of their PDF transcript to AMCAS at any hour of the day or night and also receive confirmation from AMCAS that the transcript has been received. This same TranscriptsPlus technology will become available to the rest of the college application service providers in the immediate future for all Credentials' schools that are sending PDFs or are subscribed for eRoboMail processing."


About Credentials Solutions
With flagship product TranscriptsPlus® and integrated automation software RoboRegistrar®, Credentials Solutions supports all major SIS platforms while providing online ordering, automated hold checking, integrated student communications with 12x5 customer service, and electronic extraction and delivery including EDI, XML and Secure PDFs. Transcript ExchangePlus™ enables client institutions to send transcripts electronically through Credentials' secure network as well as industry accepted transcript hubs, while integrating with the eRoboMail™ service, which assumes the printing and mailing of paper transcripts. In addition, Credentials also offers ParkingPlus®, which automates parking permit ordering, payment, and fulfillment.

About AMCAS
AMCAS, located in Washington DC, is a centralized application processing service that is only available to applicants to the first-year entering classes at participating U.S. medical schools. Most medical schools use AMCAS as the primary application method.