We've gone and updated Admissions with some substantial new application features—conditional fields, pages, and various other items—and the long sought-after customizable inquiry form. Let's take a gander at all the new features...

Pages

Pages let you organize long application forms into smaller, more manageable sections. So, rather than a long scroll, the applicant is given links to the previous and next pages at the conclusion of each page. When designing the application, you can add a new page anywhere you need to by clicking add page; you can then title the page, fill it in with new fields and other items, and even set it to Conditional.

Conditional fields

Conditional fields (pages, too!) remain hidden to the applicant unless he answers a previous field in a particular way. You'll get the option to make a field conditional after you've added a field with pre-set answer input options—Multiple Choice, Checkboxes, Dropdown, and Yes/No. You can then set up conditions that specify when the new field will appear to applicants, and these conditions can be as simple or complex as you need.

Inquiry Forms

A name, some contact info, and a message—with a couple other options, for a long time, this was about all you could collect with an inquiry form. We've now made them customizable, giving them many of the same features as application forms. The new inquiry forms let you add and organize sections to your heart's content, including linked fields, conditional fields, and headings and text blocks. Of course, we strongly recommend brevity: they're meant to initiate a conversation between a student and your school. The new inquiry forms let you start that conversation just the way you want it.

This'n and that'n

Those are the big new features; here are some of the other new things we've added:

• Hidden fields are concealed from applicants and inquirers; Admissions users can fill them in when processing the form to keep track of items for internal use.
• The new Published setting determines whether applicants and inquirers can view and fill out the form. For applications, this was previously determined by the Show Online setting, which now simply controls whether applicants can start the application online.
• There's a new Multiple file upload field type, finally letting applicants upload more than one file to a single field. We've also added a Signature field option.
• Linked fields now let you choose financial aid fields.

Beyond that, there are multiple small improvements to the interface as well as a new internal data model that enabled these improvements.

Have a look at the Knowledge Base for the updated application design and inquiry form design instructions. As always, if you need help with any of the new features, get aholt of Populi Support.