Common Application
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The Common Application (informally known as the Common App) is a college admission application that students may use to apply to any of 321 member colleges and universities in the United States. It reduces the workload of students who would otherwise have to complete separate applications to several colleges.
The questions on the Common App range from the home life of the student to academic achievements to standardized test scores such as the SAT or ACT and other information that colleges use to evaluate students for admission.
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[edit] Supplements
While the Common Application itself is an extensive look into a student's academic life. It is often hard for a school to get a full picture of the student's character exclusively from the application itself. Often colleges will have supplements that an applicant must fill out along with the Common App in order to be considered for admission. This can range from a few yes or no questions about alumni relations or minority status, to full essays pertaining to certain aspects of the school. The Common App online application often states whether a school needs a supplement and will automatically fill in the fields that the student has already filled in on the application.
[edit] Print vs. Online Application
The application consists of both a print and an online version.[1]
The online version allows the application to be filled out once online and submitted to all schools with the same information present in each sent application. Students can select to use the online application to fill out information and print out the completed application in PDF format to be sent in by mail. This is often a useful to students with bad handwriting.
A student can select to send variations of the same application with edits to specific schools by using the 'copy' feature at the top of the online application. Students often use this feature to submit different test scores to different schools (as the ACT exam allows students to selectively decide which schools receive their scores). This also helps if the student makes a mistake on the application after submitting it to schools. However, once the application is submitted to a school, it cannot be edited electronically. In order to make amends to an electronically submitted application they must contact the school directly.
Applicants can organize payment for applications, supplements as well as the application itself.
Some schools like Allegheny College and Lewis & Clark College do not charge an admission fee if their application or the Common Application is submitted online.
Drawbacks to the online application include very strict limitations on the length of answers (especially for essays) and room for special circumstances that cannot fit into the spaces provided by the application.
[edit] Membership
Students must sign up for the Common Application online if they wish to take advantage of online features of the application. They can only register once, but can apply to as many schools as they want through the website.
Universities that accept the Common Application do so by choice. If they have a separate proprietary application, they are required to give equal consideration to applicants using either form. The Common Application is not offered to universities who do not agree to treat it in this way. Additionally, the Common Application encourages schools who use it to embrace a holistic approach to admission.
As of January 2007, the Common Application website lists 321 colleges and universities as members. Of these, approximately one-third are "exclusive users" that use the Common Application as their only printed application. Some members require supplements that ask for information beyond that contained in the Common Application.
[edit] History
The Common Application began in 1975 with 15 member colleges.[1] It was administered by the National Association of Secondary School Principals until July 2005, when it became a fully independent 501(c)3 incorporated membership association.
During the 2006-2007 college admissions cycle the one millionth college application was submitted online by a student from Paraguay.2
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