What is the "PORTAL" everyone looks at?

[_courtney]

I've seen on the results page some people post something like:

"just checked the portal, says decision made: rejected" or "got an email to check the portal"

What is this secret portal everyone talks about? Is it the place where I can log in to check the status of my application once I have submitted it? Like right now, one of my applications says Application Status: Submitted. Is this the place that is the "portal"? Will my application status change or is there another secret portal I don't know about?

Someone posted a school updated their portal and that's how they found out their fate but I checked my status at the same school (the one I used as an example above) and nothing has changed.

Thanks for the help! And sorry if this is confusing because I am confusing myself typing this out!

[TakeruK]

Yes, that portal you mention is usually the portal people talk about. Some schools provide a different website to login and track your application status but in some cases it's the same system you used to submit the application in the first place. 

Note: Not every school updates the portal when decisions are made (some schools may never update the portal). It really depends on each school.

[snoves]

Yes! It's the school website portal that contains stuff like program descisions, financial info, etc.

A lot of them are something like "My (school name here)" like MySJSU or My Fresno State. Just for reference!

If your status isn't changed, it could be that they're accepting people in waves and simply haven't made a decision on your application yet.  I would also make sure to check the email account the school gave you (if they gave you one). Each of my schools gave me a separate Gmail account, except for Washington State. Arizona State actually only sent my acceptance to my portal and my ASU email, so definitely check everything!