Managing External Education

Schools attended and degrees received before a student matriculates at the University of Chicago are referred to in AIS as “External Education”.  The University requires that as part of the criteria for admission, post-secondary degrees conferred to new students by other schools be coded in AIS along with codes identifying the schools that conferred them.  This information subsequently appears on University of Chicago transcripts under the header section called “External Education.”

Coding Information in Slate

For programs and schools that use Slate for admissions, most external education information is initially entered in that system and then fed over to AIS along with other student data.  Prior to matriculation in AIS, external education updates should be made in Slate; once matriculation occurs, updates should be made in my.UChicago.

If you have questions about reviewing or updating this information in Slate, or how this data is fed to AIS, please contact Admissions: admissionshelp@lists.uchicago.edu.

Proof Report in my.UChicago
  • Visit the Student Services WorkCenter
  • Click the Academics Tab
  • Scroll down in the Academic Reports section until you find the report “External Ed Proof Report.”
  • Enter your parameters into the prompts.  Career and Admit Term are required.
  • There will be a line for each External Education entry for the student.  Information includes:
    • ‘Org ID’ of the institution
    • Institution Name
      • Note: if there is an org ID but the name is blank, that means there is no Formal Description for the school in AIS.  Please contact the Registrar to have this updated.
    • Location
    • Dates of Attendance
    • Degree
    • Degree Date
    • Degree Status Code
    • Degree Status Description
    • Degree Year on Transcript
  • Clicking the student’s name in the report will take you to the External Education screen for that student.  Follow the instructions in the next section (Manage Individual Records in my.UChicago) to update this information.
Manage Individual Records in my.UChicago

Visit the Student Services WorkCenter. On the first tab, in the Student Records section, scroll down until you find the External Education page. Look up the student either by entering the ID number or entering their name.

First Tab (External Education)
In the upper right of the School Information box, use the arrows to toggle between existing entries or click the plus sign to add a new school.

The external org ID is the unique ID number in AIS for the school:

There are several ways to find this number:

Using the Delivered Look-Up:
The usefulness of this look-up can vary based on school.  Descriptions used in the search are character-limited and primarily provided by the College Board, and abbreviation standards are not consistent across institutions.

Using External Ed Directory Query
In the upper right of the screen, click Related Content and then Ext Ed Directory.This will bring up a query in the bottom half of the screen. Enter whatever information you know in the prompts.  Notes:

Name Contains (Required): Enter at least one letter of the school’s name. Entering a wildcard (%) is not required and the entry is not case sensitive.
CEEB Code (Optional): If you know the school’s College Board code, you can enter it here.
U.S. State (Optional): Use the look-up to select a U.S. state.
Country (Optional): Use the look-up to select a country.
Slate or Gargoyle Code (Optional): If you know the school’s Slate or Gargoyle code, enter it here.  Note that if the code is the same as the CEEB code, it should be entered in that prompt.
School Type (Optional): The search can be narrowed by adding the school type.  Most high schools use the SEC code and most Colleges and Universities use COL.

The query results include the number of students ‘attached’ to the institution in AIS.  This can help differentiate between schools with similar names.  The results only include institutions with “Formal” descriptions populated.  If the school you are looking for does not have a formal description, or you can’t find the school, please contact the Registrar’s Office. Once you have identified the school, copy the Org ID and enter it in the Org ID field of the page.

Attendance dates are optional and do not display on the transcript. Other fields on the screen can be used to facilitate academic processes, but they are not used by UChicago at this time.

Second Tab (Courses & Degrees)
The most important section in External Ed is the External Degrees section on this tab.

**The Degree Code must be selected from the look-up (click the magnifying glass to see available values).  These values are configured by the Registrar’s Office.  If you do not see a particular value, please contact us.

**If you want a school to display on the transcript but do not want to display a degree (for example, to document an exchange or summer program), enter NDC (“No Degree Conferred”) as the degree code.

**The Degree Date is required, but note that only the year will appear on the transcript.
If the NDC degree code is selected, no date will appear on the transcript next to this entry.

**Data Source is populated as “School” by default; UChicago does not generally use this value.

**Degree Status
Complete (C): Degree has been verified and should appear on the transcript.
Progress (I): Degree has been reported (usually by the student in the admissions process) but has not been verified and should not yet appear on the transcript.

If adding or updating information, be sure to click Save when complete.