A grad school application board: programs, recommenders, documents and funding in one place

What this board doesn't do, and where portals and spreadsheets are better

Read on November 11, 2026 from each page named. Penn State's Graduate School page "After Applying" says its status page lets you check whether your references have been received, whether official transcripts and test scores have been received, upload extra materials and see deadlines for official transcripts. That page, on each program's own side, is the record of what a school has actually received; nothing on this board connects to it, so check each portal and then change the card here.

The University of St. Thomas career office offers a downloadable Excel tracker for graduate applications. Its page lists columns for school and deadlines, application fees and payment status, GRE or subject test information, transcripts and prerequisites, letters of recommendation (number needed, sent, notes), statement of purpose or writing sample progress, resume updates, funding resources and an optional portal login column. It says faculty advisors can see where a student stands, and it works for any field. Notion's template marketplace lists two grad school application trackers, "Graduate School Applications Tracker" and "Grad school application tracker", both priced at 0 USD in their page data. A spreadsheet is the better tool for sorting by deadline and adding up fees; this board does neither.

How to run an application cycle on the board

1. 1Start with one card per program. Put the deadline, fee, which letters, which statement version and the funding question on it. The example sorts ten programs into reach, target and safer lists; the programs are invented, and the sorting is yours.
2. 2Name an owner on every card. Write "Owner:" and a first name on the first line. Most cards are yours; a partner can own the outside-award search and an advisor can own a read of the statement.
3. 3Start each title with DONE, WAIT or TODO. Change the word as things move. Nothing sorts by it, so you scan for it by eye.
4. 4Give each recommender a card. Write who asked, when, how many programs they write for and how many are sent. The example's cards show 2 of 8, 0 of 7 and 4 of 9 sent; the numbers are invented.
5. 5Keep one card per statement version. The example has a general one, a field-work one and a modelling one, and each says which programs it goes to. The board doesn't write or review them; it only says which version goes where.
6. 6Join a blocker to what it blocks. The example draws an arrow captioned "0 of 7 sent" from a letter writer who hasn't sent anything to the program waiting on it, and one captioned "v3 goes here" from a statement version to its program.
7. 7Hold a weekly pass. One list is this week's tasks. The last card says to check each portal's own status page and change the board to match.

Applying to medical, dental or vet school?

The same lists work for any cycle with several schools and several letters: a card per school, a list of letter writers and a list of documents. For osteopathic medicine, AACOM publishes its own Med School Application Organizer, a Google Sheets spreadsheet. Its page says each tab has a sample row to get you started, that the link makes a personal copy in your Google Drive after you sign in and choose "Make a copy", and that school-specific details come from its Choose DO Explorer database. That is a better start for an osteopathic cycle than a blank board, because the tabs are already set up and Choose DO Explorer has the school details to fill them. This board has no school database either, so you type every detail into a card yourself.

Sharing it with an advisor, a partner or a mentor

In the share menu, choose who gets the link. New boards start view-only, so a partner or advisor who only needs to read can use the link as it is, signed out, and sees everything but can't change it. To let them add cards, set Share to "Anyone with the link can edit"; they sign in free and write live, and you each see the other's changes within seconds. Anyone with the link can read the board, so leave out passwords, test scores, transcripts and anything you wouldn't hand a stranger. Two people typing in the same card at the same time are merged keystroke by keystroke, with no lock, so give each person their own cards. The 4-digit join code expires after 2 hours of inactivity.

Applying as a high school senior instead? See the college application board, which has reach, match and safe lists, essays and aid forms. Planning something else with other people on one board? See the thesis planning board for the project that follows an acceptance, or the wedding vendor comparison board, which uses the same owner-on-every-card layout.

This board vs a program portal vs a spreadsheet

Limits of the free plan for applications

• Items. Each card and each list is 1 of your 150 free items, across all your boards. The example is 29 cards and 7 lists, 36 in all (our count). The same layout for twenty programs is about 46 items (our arithmetic). Arrows and pen strokes don't count.
• Boards. The free plan includes 5 boards. Making your own copy of the example uses 1 of them; a card that opens its own board uses another, so the example keeps everything on one board.
• Photos. 3 images per board. The example has none. On the web a link card's preview picture no longer counts toward the 3, but the iPhone, iPad and Android apps still count it until their next update.
• No reminders, no due-date alerts, no sorting by date. The board doesn't tell anyone a deadline is close. Keep dates in your calendar too. Card colour is the border and text only.
• No submitting and no portal logins. It doesn't connect to any school, and passwords should never go on it.
• No statement or admissions advice. It doesn't read your statement or estimate odds. The reach, target and safer lists are your own sorting.
• Writing needs a free sign-in. An advisor or partner who joins by link or code can add cards and arrows, and the board counts as one of their 5.

Questions