Photo by Edwin Perez ‘18 | The Common Application provides a online application that more than 700 colleges accept. 

By Alex Kirshner ’18

THE ROUNDUP

The Common Application, or “Common App,” is a conscientious effort made by colleges across the country in order to make the college application process easier and less tedious for seniors.

In order to apply using the Common App, students must fill out their application and write their Common App essay, as well as supplemental essays that each school requires.

The application process can be extremely tedious, as students must fill out pages of information about their lives and write several supplemental essay for each school.

Not every school is on the Common App, though, and this creates more problems for students. The schools that have their own application force students to go onto their website, create their own account, and fill out pages of the same information that they wrote down in the Common App.

There are also several other websites that serve a similar purpose as the Common App, such as the Coalition Application. The Coalition App has 113 member schools, and many of the schools on the Coalition App are also on the Common App.

It is unnecessary, and all schools should allow students to apply via the Common App.

The schools that are not on the Common App say that they want to stand out from the crowd, and they want students who are applying to do their due diligence and research.

While this is a valid point, students applying to schools on the Common App must still do extensive research in order to fill out the school’s supplemental essays.

Many of my schools on the Common App require an essay that asks applicants to write down why they are applying to the school, and I have done extensive research on each school’s website, looking at programs and courses that interest me.

I also have applied to schools that are not on the Common App, and I didn’t feel as though I was doing more research or showing greater interest. I was just filling out the same information multiple times, and it did nothing but take up more of my time.

The Common App is an innovative software that allows for students to apply to multiple schools with one application, and the addition of the supplemental essays allows these colleges to maintain their individuality.

It is only a matter of time before all schools make the transition to the Common App.

This process will make applying to colleges less stressful and save both students and schools time and money, ensuring the college application process is centralized and flawless.