About Brain Roll

Introducing first fully customizable open-source Online Application & Review System

Do you work in the Admissions Office? Or, are you an overtired faculty member dreading the time of the year when you have to sift through hundreds of pages of application forms, scores, transcripts, essays, recommendations and other paper paraphernalia trying to pick the most remarkable applicants for your graduate program? We know how you feel: one of us was in your shoes for many years and thought that there should be a better way! This is how simple, straight forward and completely paperless BrainRoll Online Application & Review System came to be. You still can print PDFs of the applications if you like, but you don't have to. All parts of every application as well as the recommendations and evaluation results are fully accessible online at any time.

 

How It Works

Take a look at the diagram below:

The base system is set for 4 main roles: Applicant, Recommender, Evaluator (faculty), Curator (program admin overseeing the admissions process.)

applicant Applicants interested in applying to the program, register online to create an account. An email with access details is emailed to them. Upon logging in, the Applicants are presented with a two-part form to be filled in. In the part I of the form, they provide their general information, qualifications, scores, list courses taken, upload transcripts, essays. Applicants can leave the application and come back to it later, automatically landing on the exact step they left it off. Upon completion of the Part I, the PDF of the application will be automatically generated and the Applicant is now redirected to the Part 2, to request recommendation letters. To do that, Applicants are asked to "register" three or more references by providing their names and email addresses. At that time the recommendation requests are emailed to the references along with detailed instructions regarding system access and evaluation criteria. An Applicant can monitor who has and who hasn't submitted the recommendation letters (without actually seeing the letters) and send reminders if necessary. Once a recommendation has been submitted, it's also automatically appended to the PDF of the Applicant's online application form. On the same screen the Applicant can also check his/her application status.

applicant Recommender's role was created for Applicant's former professors or other scientific advisors who can discuss Applicant's competencies and recommend them for admission to graduate school. Once a Recommender receives a recommendation request email, he/she can log into the OAS system - the access information will also be provided in the same recommendation request email - and he/she will see a list of all pending recommendation requests. Once the evaluation and the recommendation letter has been submitted, it will be automatically added to the respective Applicant's online record and appended to the PDF of his/her application form.

applicant Evaluators are faculty members assigned to review and evaluate a number of completed applications. As an Evaluator you don't have to sift anymore thorough piles of paper. Just log in and you will see all applications neatly sorted into categories, with the very first category being "Assigned to You". Moreover, when you look at the list of Applicants there, you will see the gist of information about each person already distilled at the very top of his/her record.

applicant Curator is an admin role in the system. But it does not imply that the person assigned to a Curator has to be super tech savvy. It fact, BrainRoll will simplify the admissions process by streamlining administrator's existing workflow not making him/her adjust to it. All in all, the Curator is the most powerful user in the system. Curator can

  • Add new users and assign them one of the existing roles.
  • Manage all users in the system.
  • Communicate with users in one-on-one or in bulk.
  • Set interview dates and application status.
  • Set automatic email messages.
  • Add new Evaluators.
  • Assign/re-assign Evaluators to Applicants.
  • Perform role-based users searches.
  • Review all applications and recommendations.
  • Review Evaluators comments for each Applicant.

 

Key Benefits

  • Fast, simple, intuitive and robust system.
  • Seamless. Custom built to the look and feel of your University website.
  • Skip the paper! Comes with a complete array of realtime candidate evaluation tools.
  • Extensive customizable features, easily portable. Exceptionally flexible & scalable. Start small if desired and build up the capacity as you go. Add and remove roles or features, expand the application in any direction.
  • Safe and secure. Access from anywhere.

 

BrainRoll Team


  • Andrew Krutchinsky, PhD

    Co-Founder/CTO/Chief Academic Officer

    Leads all technology efforts. Received his PhD in Physics from University of Manitoba (Canada). Did his postdoctoral work at the Rockefeller University in New York City. Was an Assistant Professor at UCSF in the field of Mass Spectrometry and Molecular Biology. Taught Physical Chemistry to undergrads for several years. Co-authored more than 30 scientific publications and 8 patents. Received 2003 Graduate Achievement in Industry award. Conceived and developed BrainRoll.

  • Marina Krutchinsky

    Co-Founder/User Experience

    Oversees Brainroll product design. More than 15 years of experience in web engineering and interaction design fields. Worked with clients such as WebMD, Morgan Stanley, Fidelity Investments, Foundation Center, Otis, Carrier, UCSF, Cornell University and many others. Recently served as Web Director at Civic Ventures, a national think tank on boomers, work and social innovation. Holds a master's degree in engineering from St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. Designed and implemented BrainRoll interface.

Questions? Call 1-800-535-6044, email info@brainroll.com or send a tweet to @BrainRoll