Penn Computing

University of Pennsylvania
Penn Computing << go backback

GA_APPLICANTS Table . Tables and Data Elements . Graduate Admissions Data Home . Data Warehouse Home

GA_APPLICANTS Table - Data Element Index

 

Data element Definition

Applicant_ID

An identifying number, assigned by the Graduate Admissions system, to each applicant's application. This column cannot be null.

When an applicant is admitted and matriculates to Penn, the Applicant_ID is loaded to the Student Records System along with the Record Source, and their other academic information.

Note that it is possible for an individual person to have more than one Applicant_ID. To uniquely identify rows in this table requires both the Applicant_ID and the Record Source.

Academic_Integrity

A code for the applicant's response to the Academic Integrity question on the application for admission.

Values are <null> , I, Y, N
Birth_Date

The applicant's date of birth, in MM/DD/YYYY format.

Nulls are allowed in this column, however, if the applicant is admitted and matriculates to Penn, in order for their records to be sent to the Student Records System, Birth_Date cannot be null.

Country_of_Citizenship

A 2-character code for the applicant's country of citizenship, as reported on their application. No verfication of this information is perfomed by the system, except to only allow valid country codes. Nulls are allowed in this column. If the applicant is admitted and matriculates to Penn, and this column is null, the Student Records System (SRS) will assume the country is United State.

The corresponding field in SRS may be updated, post-admission, by data coming from the Office of International Programs. For matriculated students, SRS is considered the most up-to-date information on visa and citizenship information.

Country_Citz_Desc A text string that decodes the 2-character country code in the Country_of_Citizenship column.
Ethnicity_Free_Text Text that comes from the Graduate Admissions online application, describing the applicant's ethnicity. Data in this column are not validated. Nulls are allowed in this column.
First_Name

The applicant's given name. Can be stored in either upper case or in mixed case, and can contain hyphens and spaces. This column has a maximum length of 30 characters.

Note: the SRS name field has a maximum length of 35 characters, so if the Last,First Middle names of the applicant exceed 35, the name will be truncated when it gets loaded to SRS.

Last_Name

The applicant's family name. Can be stored in either upper case or in mixed case, and can contain hyphens and spaces. This column has a maximum length of 45 characters.

Note: the SRS name field has a maximum length of 35 characters, so if the Last,First Middle names of the applicant exceed 35, the name will be truncated when it gets loaded to SRS.

Middle_Name

The applicant's middle name. Can be stored in either upper case or in mixed case, and can be just an initial, and can contain hyphens, periods and spaces. This column has a maximum length of 30 characters.

Note: the SRS name field has a maximum length of 35 characters, so if the Last,First Middle names of the applicant exceed 35, the name will be truncated when it gets loaded to SRS.

Other_Name

A name used by the applicant for other purposes. Can be stored in either upper case or in mixed case, and can contain hyphens and spaces. Sometimes this field is used for a "nickname", sometimes it is used for the applicant's real name when they go by a nickname, notably foreign students with names that are considered difficult to pronounce. This column sometimes contains the word 'No', presumably meaning the applicant has no Other Name.

Nulls are allowed in this column.

Note: Other_Name is not loaded to the Student Records System

Languages Free form text describing the languages the applicant speaks. Multiple languages can be described in thie column. Can contain any alpha-numeric characters; no data validation is performed on this column. Nulls are allowed.
Penn_Employee

Indicates whether the applicant has been identified as a Penn Employee.

Note: No automated validation against Penn's payroll system is performed to check the data in this column.

Values:

null
Y - Yes
N - No
NA - not applicable

 

Penn_ID

The 8-digit identification number assigned to the student when their record is created in the PennCommunity database. No two persons have the same Penn_ID. Only persons affiliated with the University will be assigned a Penn_ID.
Nulls are allowed.

Note: A null in this column generally means the record has not yet been created in PennCommunity.

Perm_Resident_Flag

A Y/N flag indicating whether the applicant is considered to be either a citizen or a Permanent Resident of the United States.

Race_Description A text string that decodes the race and ethnicity code found in the Race_Reported column.
Race_Reported

The code for the applicant's race and ethnicity, as reported on their application.

This field may be later overwritten in SRS, via a feed from PennInTouch where students are allowed to update their biographic/demographic information. So it is possible for SRS to be out-of-sync with the Race information in the GA_APPLICANTS table. For matriculated students, SRS is considered the most up-to-date informaion.

Record_Source

The code for the admission system that is the source of this record.

Values:

AY - Apply Yourself
ASP - Annenberg PhD admissions
BMP - Biomedical PhD program admissions (historical data only - BMP programs now use AY)
CGS - Liberal and Professional Studies (historical data only - CGS programs now use AY)
DEN - School of Dental Medicine
EDC - Gradudate Education certificate programs (historical data only - EDC programs now use AY)
ENG - Graduate School of Engineering (historical data only - ENG programs now use AY)
GAS - Graduate Arts and Sciences (historical data only - GAS programs now use AY)
GSE - Graduate School of Eduction masters and PhD programs (historical data only - GSE now uses AY)
LAW - Law School JD programs
LLM - Law School Master of Laws
LWT - Law School transfer applicants
MDM - School of Medicine
MED - School of Medicine MD programs
NU - School of Nursing (historical data only - Nursing now uses AY)
SPP - School of Social and Public Policy (historical data only - SPP now uses AY)
VM - School of Veterinary Medicine
WH - Wharton School MBA and PHD programs (historical data only - WH now uses AY)

Sex

A one-character code for the sex of the applicant. Prior to 2012 there was no validation on the data in this column, so the values in earlier records are not necessarily F or M. Hisotrical data prior to 2012 can be in upper case or in mixed case, and even non-letter characters, such as hyphen.

Note: if the applicant is admitted and matriculates to Penn, when their data are sent to the Student Records System (SRS), only values of F, M, or null are allowed. Any other values are not sent to SRS.

SRS_Race_Code

The code for the applicant's race and ethnicity that will be loaded to SRS, if the applicant is admitted and matriculates to Penn. Prior to 2012 there was no validation on the data in this column, so the values in earlier records are not necessarily consistent with the values list below:

Values (can also be null):

A - American Indian
B - African American
C - white
O - Other
R - Asian or Pacific Islander
S - Hispanic
X - mixed ethnicity

SSN

The Social Security number is a unique number assigned to United States citizens and Permanent Residents by the federal Social Security Administration. For foreign students and a few other exceptions, the value in this column may be a Penn-assigned ssn.

Note: Never release an applicant's Social Security number to anyone without the applicant's permission. Whenever possible, do not include SSN in your query results, and if you must do so, you do so with the full knowlege that you will be held responsibile for the careful maintenance of any datafiles, reports or other stored data containing SSNs.

Please see http://www.upenn.edu/privacy/ for more about the University's policies and general cautions regarding the use of SSNs.

User_ID A system generated number, used in the Apply Yourself application.
Visa Type of visa held by the applicant, if they are not a US citizen. If this column is null and the Country_of_citizenship column is also null, the applicant is assumed to be a non-citizen Permanent Resident. See the PERSON_ALL_V Table "Cautions" for more details.

Values:

- NONE
A1 - DIPLOMATIC
E1 - TREATY TRADER AND DEPENDENTS
E2 - TREATY INVESTOR AND DEPENDENTS
E3 - TEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN WORKER
F1 - STUDENT
F2 - DEPENDENT OF STUDENT
H1 - TEMPORARY WORKER
I9 - EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY
J1 - EXCHANGE VISITOR-STUDENT
J2 - SPOUSE/CHILD OF J1
JX - EXCHANGE VISITOR-SCHOLAR
K3 - SPOUSE OF US CITIZEN
K4 - MINOR CHILD OF K3 ALIEN
NT - NATO
O1 - WORKER WITH EXTRAORD ABILITY
PR - US PERMANENT RESIDENT
TN - NAFTA PROFESSIONAL
US - NOW US CITIZEN
V1 - PERMANENT RESIDENT SPOUSE
V2 - CHILD OF V1
V3 - CHILD OF V1 OR V2
OT - OTHER

The corresponding field in SRS may be updated, post-admission, by data coming from the Office of International Programs. For matriculated students, SRS is considered the most up-to-date information on visa and citizenship information.

GA_APPLICANT Table . Tables and Data Elements . Graduate Admissions Data Home . Data Warehouse Home

 


Questions about this page? Email us at da-staff@isc.upenn.edu

Information Systems and Computing
University of Pennsylvania
Information Systems and Computing, University of Pennsylvania