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Blog: The uncommon application?
Published: Saturday, October 22, 2011 - 7:46am
College deadlines are inching closer and applications have become a staple of the nightly senior workload. But with all the answering and re-answering of questions, essay topics blending together, and last-minute testing decisions, one would hope that the Common Application would make things simpler. Frankly, it doesn't.
1. It isn't common.
None of the public universities I am applying to use the Common Application, even when both the Common Application and the university's application might ask for the same or similar information. Those universities that do use the Common Application rarely advertise the fact, which requires applicants to search for each university individually.
2. You can't manage non-Common App universities.
Most people have a master-list of where they are applying and what stage of the process they are in. Why not let us list every university in the Common App, including those we are applying to differently? That way we can have the deadlines in one place and check things off as we go instead of having two lists.
3. It doesn't autofill.
Autofill is a feature present in most browsers that automatically completes most forms. Why can't the Common app do more of this? Sure, name and other basics are a one-time affair, but why can't it automatically answer more? I have thrice listed what other universities I am applying to in supplements, why make me do it again?
4. No reminders?
Even the places I am not applying to send me reminders of deadlines. It seems reasonable that they would save me from missing those I do care about.
5. About those SATs...
Most applications let you go back and check whether a school has all of your test scores and other non-application information. Do I have to call each place to check? Worry about their status? The Common App should integrate the SAT.
- Luke Karmazin's blog
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Comments
Not sure I agree
While the Common App doesn't do any of those things, I'd say it still lightens the workload. No, you can't keep track of your non-Common App universities in your Common App list, but that's because it's meant to be an application, not your personal organizer. If there was no Common App and you had to apply to each college separately, none of them would offer you a place to keep track of your other apps because that's not their job, so you'd still have to keep your own master-list. Along those same lines, it's certainly nice for colleges to send you reminders about deadlines, but in reality staying on top of those kinds of things should be entirely your responsibility, so I don't think it's at all a fault of the Common App that it doesn't do it.
As for autofill, maybe it's a little tedious to have to answer the same questions over and over on different supplements, but without the Common App you'd have to fill out your basic information (name, address, and so on), activities list, secondary school information, and all that other stuff separately on each individual application. At least with the Common App, you fill those things out once and they go to every school, so while it may not be perfect, it's still a better deal.
Really the only fault I see in the Common App is that it sometimes makes it a little too easy to apply to colleges--as in, if you fill it out once because a school you really, really want to go to uses it, it sometimes just takes the click of a button to also apply to another school you actually don't care about much. Colleges (especially private ones) can get so many more applicants by using the Common App, which is great for them because it makes their acceptance rates go down so they look very selective, but it's not so great if you're a student who has a legitimate interest in a college because now you're competing with many more people, a handful of whom probably aren't that serious about the college at all and only applied because it was on the Common App and they thought they could use a few more schools just to be on the safe side.
I didn't really phrase it
I didn't really phrase it well, but what I meant is that it is actually more cumbersome than doing individual applications because of the repetitive supplements. Web browser autofill does the tedious stuff for you, but the common app disables it for supplements.
My ideal common app would be more like tax preparation software. You fill out your grades, extra curricular activities, and other information, but the software generates the applications for you based on what information each college wants. That way it isn't dependent on everyone adopting the same application and therefore can be used with any university, public or private.
Wish there was a red flag option
My only complaint with the common app is you can't really see if you've finished everything or not, unless you go through it all. Sometimes I run into a question that I want to ask Lisa or my parents about, but there isn't a way to flag that so you remember that you have to come back to it.
Other than that and the fact that the supplements often require the same info that was in the regular app, I like the common app.
Agreed. I keep thinking I am
Agreed. I keep thinking I am done with my common app, but then realize I forgot to ask my mother about her educational history.