Changelog

The changelog features a summary of updates to CycleTrack. For minor updates and the most up-to-date information, please visit our GitHub repository.

New Explorer Graphs and School List Optimization (7/18/2024)

We've added two new visualizations to school explorer pages. First, a map of the states from which users apply to a program. Second, a stats and outcomes graph which shows the GPA and MCAT of users who applied, interviewed, or were accepted to a program. Additionally, we've reworked some of the backend code to greatly increase the speed with which school list pages load.

Theme Re-design (7/10/2024)

After over 2 years of our website launch, we've finally had a chance to redesign and improve the theme. Changes have been made to nearly every page to make it easier to interact with and view website content.

Secondary Essay Prioritization and Quality of Life (7/7/2024)

Based on historic data, we developed a secondary essay prioritization tool which helps suggest the order in which to submit secondary essays. This tool is available once a school list has been generated for the current application cycle. Additionally, we've made a number of small changes around the site such as adding a search bar to the explorer and using longer-form names of schools.

Servers, Secondary Costs, and SankeyMATIC (6/10/2024)

We've updated the backend of our server to a newer version of python which will allow us to work with updated versions of several packages. Additionally, today we released a feature to help crowdsource the costs secondary applications. This will allow us to build a cost prediction tool to help future applicants manage financial expectations. Furthermore, the sankey visualization now has pre-made code that can be entered into SankeyMATIC, a popular sankey graphic/manipulation tool. This will complement the pre-made sankey diagrams generated through CycleTrack.

Some Quality of Life Changes (12/16/2023)

We've release a few quality of life changes across the site. For current applicants, the school explorer now offers an option to filter for the schools you've applied for. Schools you applied to are now highlighted with a gold star to help them stand out. Additionally, we've updated our backend system for updating the school list to make saving your edits far faster. Lastly, we've added front-end input validation on several forms such as registration and suggestions to help people navigate them more quickly and efficiently.

Server, Explorer, Removing Unused Accounts, and More (11/26/2023)

Over the past months, we've rolled out a number of smaller changes. First off, in September we updated our backend server to greatly increase the website speed. Additionally, we changed the way the explorer works to make calculations and graphs in the background to avoid slowing users down with each visit. Graphs now use a log scale to better visualize both smaller and larger counts.

Additionally, we are now automatically deleting accounts with unverified emails if they are not verified within 2 weeks to better report our true number of users and avoid unnecessary use of resources.

Graph Sorting and Bug Fixes (3/31/2023)

We've added several new sorting options to better display schools in the dot plot and timeline graph. These include sorting alphabetically and by cycle status. We will continue considering other sorting options going forward.

Some bugs have come to our attention that have been fixed. These included issues with the website crashing while creating bar graphs, action items not displaying properly on the timeline plot if there are multiple on the same day, and an issue with "Western University" appearing on several graphs when it was not in the school list.

Updated Schools (12/3/2022)

The Charles R. Drew University MD (CDUMD) program has been added to the school list. Additionally, a spelling mistake in the name of the University of Central Florida has been corrected.

CycleTrack Profiles (9/18/2022)

CycleTrack Profiles is a new feature that allows users to create custom pages. Profiles can be used to create a private report for yourself, or generate a page that you can share publicly with advisors, friends, family, or strangers.

Privacy Policy and Analytics (9/10/2022)

Our privacy policy was updated to improve readability, provide information about the upcoming profiles feature, and include information about Google Analytics. Additionally, we have added Google Analytics to the site to help us understand how visitors interact with our website. This information will help us to continue improving CycleTrack.

Bulk Adding Schools (7/10/2022)

We've updated the adding schools menu. You can now select as many schools as you like in a single session without needing to submit after every school.

Timeline Visualization (6/14/2022)

The visualization menu now includes the 'Timeline' plot. This is an alternative to the dot plot that shows admissions outcomes for each school in a horizontal bar form. You can view an example on the about page.

Quick Filters (5/30/2022)

The school explorer now filters schools based on your selections in real time. No need to reload the page. We've also added a filter to the school list to quickly jump between schools of different program types i.e. MD/DO/MD-PHD/DO-PhD. Edit: On 6/3 we added an additional filter to the school list to quickly filter for schools that have a specific status such as primary submitted, interviewed, accepted, etc.

GPA Calculator (5/23/2022)

We've added a GPA calculator to the applicant dashboard. You can past/current/future courses in the course list and it will calculate your GPA separately using criteria from AMCAS, AACOMAS, and TMDSAS.

Letters of Recommendation/Website Links (5/14/2022)

We've compiled links to letter of recommendation requirements, program websites, and MSAR/Choose DO Explorer pages for the majority of medical schools. These links can be seen at the top of school pages in the school explorer.

Updated School List (5/11/2022)

We've redesigned the school list. We've moved away from the table format toward a cleaner design that gives us more space and flexibility for additional features. Notes are now easier to read and we plan to additional expandable features to give additional pertinent information about the programs you've applied to.

Notes & Explorer Performance Updates (5/03/2022)

The school list edit menu now has a notes feature for keep tracking of any school specific information. Your notes will appear under admissions actions dates on large or medium screens. On phones, you can continue to access the note within the editing menu.

As the size of our database has grown, the explorer home page began to load extremely slowly. We have reworked the backend of this page to speed up the loading and this will continue to be our focus over the coming few weeks.

Statistics on Visualizations (3/25/2022)

The visualizations settings now offer the option to display your demographics on the graph itself. You can choose to display the raw numbers or binned into categories to better anonymize your data.

Canadian Schools & Stylistic Updates to Visualizations (3/23/2022)

We've added Canadian schools to CycleTrack for all of our friends up north! You can also now choose to plot your school maps with either only the US or all of North America.

We've made some stylistic improvements to some of the visualization options. Dot plots will be a bit taller now for those of you with shorter school lists. And, you can now drag the nodes on your Sankey diagram if the position isn't where you want it to be.

Bulk Editing School Lists (3/12/2022)

While viewing the school lists on larger screens, there is now the option to edit the data for multiple schools in your school list at once. You can edit or remove dates and delete schools with this feature.

Visualizations Panel (3/12/2022)

The visualizations panel has been updated with a cleaner look. The options to select from are catered to information from a user's cycle and will save between generating new visualizations.

Color Palettes (3/10/2022)

Two new color palettes have been added to create more color-safe visualizations.

Default
Primary
Secondary
Application Complete
Interview Invite
Interview Complete
Rejected
Waitlist
Accepted
Withdrawn
Okabe-Ito
Primary
Secondary
Application Complete
Interview Invite
Interview Complete
Rejected
Waitlist
Accepted
Withdrawn
Tol
Primary
Secondary
Application Complete
Interview Invite
Interview Complete
Rejected
Waitlist
Accepted
Withdrawn
Suggestions & Bug Reports (3/09/2022)

A suggestions and bug reports form has been added to your dashboard. We welcome feedback that will continue to help improve CycleTrack!