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Problems with the Common App? You’re not alone!

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“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

This adage may have a couple of errors in it, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the plethora of problems experienced by users of this year’s highly-touted CA4, the new version of the Common Application.  It has made an already anxiety-provoking situation even more difficult. Students, counselors, advisors and parents have spent hours battling the endless loops, the inability to do paragraphing, the difficulty getting to see PDF previews, and the multiple charges of the application fees, to say the least.  Of course, all new websites have glitches – but the Common App shouldn’t have had so many.  Applicants are shaking their heads in disbelief at the Common App’s proud statement of its commitment to “providing reliable services that promote equity, access, and integrity in the college application process.”

There will be time for blame and recriminations after the deadlines have passed and the dust has settled, but for now, perhaps there should be an across-the-board postponement of November 1 deadlines to November 15 while some of the more egregious errors are corrected.  Individual schools have already started to take the situation into their own hands.  For example, Columbia University sent out the following email to applicants on October 15:

“If you are considering applying Early Decision to Columbia College or Columbia Engineering, please note that we are extending our deadline for applications and all supporting credentials to Friday, November 8, given the challenges some applicants have experienced with the Common Application.

Of course, this has not been updated on the Common App’s dashboard.  Nor have the extensions offered by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Georgia Tech from October 15 to October 21.

If you “like” the Common App on Facebook (a relative term these days), you will be able to read their posts as they grapple with each problem.  It may not make you feel much better, but at least you’ll know that you’re not alone!

Note: The Washington Post offers details in its article published on October 15

Things You Need to Know About the New CA4

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The CA4 has new bells and whistles:  Some are confusing, but many are great!

It is now about six weeks since the CA4 arrived on the scene, glitches and all.  Anyone who has launched a website knows that there are unexpected difficulties that are eventually resolved.  However, few websites have thousands of people waiting impatiently and anxiously to use it, and that made a huge difference in the response to the problems inherent in the newly-launched Common App.

The biggest problem was the fact that the “streamlined” manner in which the supplementary essays were supposed to be accessed was not streamlined at all.  Most of the supplements did not appear on the “College Page 2” (which is what it was originally called when the CA4 was promoting the changes).  However, that has been rectified for the most part, and applicants are now working their way through the new format.

Although some of the criticism and complaints about the CA4 are completely justified, the new application form has some excellent features.

First, the problems:  It is not easy to find the complete list of schools and deadlines.  However, it can be located by clicking on “Member Colleges” and then on “Application Requirements.” If you want that “big picture,” find and save the file.  It might be a good idea to print out one copy for yourself.

Next, listing the colleges to which you are going to apply and then accessing the information about their supplementary questions and essays is a bit unwieldy.  Once you get the hang of it, though, it’s pretty simple.

The biggest confusion has been over the supplements themselves.  Whereas some advisers are calling the supplementary essays “stealth essays,” as if they were hidden and/or easily missed, the point is actually much more positive.  Once you fill out the short answer “Questions” for each college, you will find that the “Writing Supplements” are easily accessed.  In some cases, the supplementary essays depend on your answers to the questions:  What school within the university do you hope to attend?  What do you plan to choose as a major?  The prompts for the essays are then customized for you.  That’s a good thing, not a “stealth” situation!

Another issue has to do with the Help Center.  It is easily missed, but it is important to read.  Many of the important directions are to the right of the questions.  For example, the Activities list is supposed to be ordered from the most important to least important, just as it had been in the past.  Also, there are character limits that must be strictly observed.

Also, it is very disconcerting not to be able to do a Print Preview.  The Common App instructions say:  “You can preview your application when all required questions have been answered and you’re ready to begin the submission process. The preview PDF is generated automatically once you click on the ‘Start Submission’ button. The Common Application is now completely paperless. This means that there is no printable version that you will be able to download and submit to an institution. A “print preview” copy of your application will only become available to you right before submission since it is intended for record-keeping purposes only.”

That’s not very comforting, but it does teach you to be very, very careful as you fill out and proofread your application online.

Overall, however, the application is designed to be more applicant-friendly.  Don’t be daunted by the streamlining – Just be informed!

The University of Michigan may be changing its supplements!

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If you go to The Common Application site and look for the supplements for the University of Michigan, you will see that the prompts, which were the same as the last few years, are gone.  The information I have received is as follows:  The essay questions for the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor were confirmed earlier this season directly through the school’s admissions office; however, UMich has shifted gears and now says its essay questions are going to change. Due to technical difficulties on its end, the application is not yet posted.

High School Seniors: How to Prepare your Activities & Honors List

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“Please list your principal extracurricular, volunteer, and work activities in their order of importance to you.”

The Common Application allows ten spaces to list your extracurricular and work experience and five for academic distinctions and honors.  The CA4 allows 150 characters and spaces for a description of each activity and your roles.  You are expected to organize this list in a meaningful way so that the admissions officers can understand which activities were most important to you.  Be sure to make the most out of the character count as well as to proofread what you’ve written!

Even if you are already prepared with an organized list of everything you have done and won throughout high school, you will find this section to be a challenge — especially since the directions indicate that you can also prepare a full resume for the “Additional Information” section.  If you are not, then you’ll be scurrying around, looking for certificates, articles, and letters when time is of the essence and stress is at a premium!

This is a perfect opportunity to enlist your parents to help you in this task – especially since they will remember more of your awards and honors than you might, dating all the way back to the gold stars you got in kindergarten.

  • Start your list early.  Create a spreadsheet of your clubs, teams, organizations, musical or theatre groups, volunteer and community service activities, summer experiences and jobs.
  • Keep track of summer activities, after school programs, religious school, travel teams, music lessons, trips abroad…anything that will distinguish you from thousands of other candidates.
  • Include some details about special events or programs, years of participation, and your involvement, especially any leadership roles and acknowledgments you’ve received.
  •  Be sure to have an idea of how much time you have spent on each activity (Hours per week, weeks per year).
  • List awards, plaques, letters of commendation, citations, scholarships, honor societies, honor rolls, etc.   Don’t be shy:  If you were Student of the Month once, write it down!  If you got honorable mention in a science fair, list it!
  • Keep all of the documentation in a safe place. If you are featured in a school or local newspaper article or if any of your work has been published, scan and save them.

Whizzing through the College Essay: Top Ten Questions

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1. Which essay question should I answer? Before you decide on the question that you wish to answer, be sure to think about what you will write in the following sections:

  • The Additional Information section on the Common App
  • Any supplementary essay questions

2. What story do I want to tell in response to the essay question?

3. Will my essay help the admissions officer learn important and helpful things about how I feel and think, what I’ve experienced, what I value, and who I am?

4. What is the best tone to use for this essay? (Serious, thoughtful, humorous, etc.)

5. Does my “lead” paragraph capture the interest of the reader?

6. What details are important?

7. What should be included in the development?

8. How should I conclude?

9. Have I given the essay to a reliable person for proofreading? Have I made all technical corrections, being certain that I have answered the question and adhered to the word or character length?

10. Am I happy with the final version of this essay?

How seriously should I take the word or character count in the essays and the Activities section?

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Although in the past, the word and character counts were guidelines rather than rules, this is no longer the case. If the directions stipulate a limit, you will find that your submission will be truncated as soon as you reach it.   So if the prompt tells you that the essay has a 650 word maximum, make sure you adhere to that.  The best idea is to do all of your drafts as Word documents and be sure that the final draft is 650 words or under.  The same is true for the Additional Information.

The Activities section also has a limit of 150 characters and spaces to give details about each activity.  The activities should be listed in the order of importance to you.

How important are the essays and additional information in CA4?

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Although your transcript, test scores, and resume weigh extremely heavily in the admissions decisions, the essay is the best opportunity to share something special about yourself as well as your ability to express yourself effectively. If a college asks you to write an essay, you can be certain that it will be read, evaluated and considered in the process. A good essay can tip the scales in your favor; a bad essay can have the opposite effect, no matter how good your numbers look.

Please keep in mind that the CA4 no longer offers a short essay that allows you to discuss an activity of importance to you.  Also, the CA4 will not accept uploaded documents.  The essay must either be copied and pasted – or typed –directly into the space provided. The cutoff is 650 words, without exception!

Candidates previously were given the option to upload a detailed resume if they could not fit or explain all their activities in the ten spaces provided in the Activities section of CA4.  That is no longer available on CA4 although some schools will allow that on their supplements.  Although the additional information is optional, it is an excellent opportunity to write up to 650 words about “circumstances or qualifications not reflected elsewhere in the application.”  Don’t overlook that option!

The application process: What Are All the Choices?

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What are the different applications

There are over 500 schools that take the Common Application as well as hundreds of other schools to consider.  Many applicants start off with a wish list of about 30 schools, but it is neither advisable nor necessary to apply to more than about a dozen colleges and universities, assuming that you have selected a range that are reaches, reasonable or likely to be safe choices.  Don’t apply to schools that are so far out of your reach that you are wasting your time, but don’t sell yourself short, either.  Just make sure that you are being realistic.  Also, it is a good idea to consult with your parents:  Will they allow you to travel all the way across the country?  Do they object to any of your choices?  Make sure that if you get in, there are no obstacles to going to any of these schools.

Once you have your list, the questions turn to the various decision plans.  If you have a dream school and you know that you would go there if accepted, then you may consider applying early.  That can be done through Early Decision, Early Action, or completing an application for a Rolling Decision school as early as September.  If you are not sure, then you may want to apply Regular Decision.

There has been a trend among schools to accept a significant percentage of their applicants early.  Some of the schools will consider your early application and decide that they want to see how you do in high school during the first semester.  They will then defer their decision about you until March or April.  Other schools will either accept or reject you as early as December.  No matter what early option you take, it is essential to prepare all of your applications, even for the regular decision schools, in a timely manner so that you can have everything ready to go in November or December.  Some high schools expect that you will adhere to their timelines so that the guidance department and the teachers who are writing recommendations will have enough time to do their parts.

Here are the options:

Early Decision: If you have a dream school to which you have a reasonable chance of being accepted, you may apply Early Decision. The deadlines for early decision are generally in October or November, and you will hear from the school in early to mid-December. More and more schools are accepting students early for a variety of reasons, and that puts the pressure on applicants who feel that their chances of being accepted are better if they show a definite interest in attending only one school. If you are accepted Early Decision, you MUST accept the school (unless the financial aid package is inadequate). You may also apply to Early Action schools at the same time, and you may apply Regular Decision to other schools, but you must withdraw all other applications if you are accepted Early Decision. Sometimes there are two deadlines, approximately a month or two apart.

Early Action: If you apply Early Action, and you are accepted, the decision is binding to the school but not to you. You may still apply to other schools Early Action and Early Decision as well as Regular.

Single Choice Early Action is non-binding; applicants will find out whether they are accepted sometime before the holiday break, but you may not apply to any other school ED or EA. You can still apply Regular Decision to other schools even if you are admitted.

Restricted Early Action (REA on the CA4): A small number of schools have a plan with specific requirements that you must fulfill if you use this plan.  Check with the individual schools.

Rolling Admissions: Schools that have rolling admissions view their applications on a first-come, first-served basis until they have filled their class. So if you apply in September, you will hear from the school some time in the fall, and you have the option of accepting of continuing to “shop.”

You may also see references to “Priority Admission.”  Schools that offer applications on a rolling basis will post a priority date.  Applications received by the priority date are reviewed first and given an admissions decision before other applicants.  Also, some schools will then evaluate those candidates for earlier consideration for scholarships.

Regular: Applications are generally due between December 15 and March 15, most commonly January 1 (keeping in mind that high schools are closed for a winter break and will most likely require that you have all of your materials ready beforehand).

Keep in mind that your counselors and your teachers will be writing recommendations, and that they need time to do so at least a month before the deadline. Also, you will need to plan your SAT/ACT testing so that the scores will be sent to the schools in plenty of time.