Over the next few months, hundreds of thousands of high school seniors will use the Common Application to apply college.
This standardized application was created 35 years ago when it was used by a mere 15 colleges. Today, according to The Chronicle article, “The Gravitational Pull of the Common Application,” the Common Application is used by more than 400 schools. Admissions deans say that the easy-to-access form has helped more schools attract more minority and first-generation students.
Even the top 10 colleges in the U.S. see that they have no choice but to jump on the Common Application bandwagon as so many of their competitors have done in the recent past. In fact, this year, the last of the Ivy League schools, Columbia University, adopted the Common Application.
The Common Application draws in huge pools of applicants; how could any college resist such temptation?
Well, according to Charles A. Deacon, dean of admissions at Georgetown University, one of the few top schools that still doesn’t accept the form, the Common Application is “both an unnecessary tool and an unwelcome symbol of homogenization in admissions.” Furthermore, he explains, “the standardized application prompts students to apply to colleges in which they have little or no interest.”
With an already high applicant pool of 18,000 for a class of 1,580, Mr. Deacon explains that the university simply doesn’t need the Common Application to increase its already large and already diverse selection. “As long as you get the diversity you need,” he says, “it doesn’t matter how many applications you have.”
Other critics of the Common Application say that it makes applying to college too easy.
To veer from the “too easy” predicament, many schools (particularly the top 10 schools) require supplementary material from the Common Application applicants. These supplements include additional pages of short answer questions or additional essay questions.
This year, Columbia hired three new admissions officers to handle what will probably be a big boom in application volume.
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Read the full article: Why Applicants (and Colleges) Like the Common Application
