The required ‘legal sex’ v. optional ‘preferred gender’ in the CAS systems is a decent entry point to thinking about sex/gender as a core data point within the Tufts data ecosystem.

Incoming Data

There are a variety of ways that this data is offered. The CAS systems are detailed here; in AMCAS,

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“You should answer the gender question based on the gender with which you identify, which may or may not be the sex you were assigned at birth. Gender Identity is a separate, optional question intended to draw out additional layers of student body diversity, including diverse perspectives from applicants who have experienced major life events or transitions related to their gender identity.”

Everything ultimately has to flow into SIS:

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Currently, this is mapped from the delivered, person-scoped Sex field in Slate. If gender does not match within

SIS

Everything ultimately has to flow into SIS.

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Interestingly enough, there are other (delivered) options for tracking this data in SIS that have been added since 2017, when we added new sex/gender options.

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From SIS

OF Of course, any changes in SIS affect downstream things!In SIS we only use the gender field, and all of the customizations are based around using the data in that field.

Medicat

Jonathan Pritchard 6/24/2024:

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