Abolishing the Common App?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please no. That is insane.

Do you remember doing this before the Common App? Don't you remember the piles of paper, the folders, the envelopes, all the special instructions, and the typing? THE TYPING.

Maybe you didn't apply to lots of schools, but I was from a place where we applied to the top schools and it was so much worse than it is today.

When and where did you apply that you typed your applications? I applied to UCs in the early 90s and hand wrote them. I got in to all the ones I applied to (didn’t apply to LA or Berkeley) so apparently hand writing was ok.

I typed in '88.

Me too!! In the typing lab at our Ffx Co HS...I had to use white-out and all that. It was brutal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please no. That is insane.

Do you remember doing this before the Common App? Don't you remember the piles of paper, the folders, the envelopes, all the special instructions, and the typing? THE TYPING.

Maybe you didn't apply to lots of schools, but I was from a place where we applied to the top schools and it was so much worse than it is today.

I remember this. It was a PIA. On the other hand, you had to work to apply to a school. The idea that someone can apply to 20 schools with one click is insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please no. That is insane.

Do you remember doing this before the Common App? Don't you remember the piles of paper, the folders, the envelopes, all the special instructions, and the typing? THE TYPING.

Maybe you didn't apply to lots of schools, but I was from a place where we applied to the top schools and it was so much worse than it is today.

I remember this. It was a PIA. On the other hand, you had to work to apply to a school. The idea that someone can apply to 20 schools with one click is insane.

It's not one click. All the schools DC applied to used the Common App, but then they each had their own things that had to be done within their specific sections. And some schools (Va Tech for example) made you go into their site and complete other pieces.

[Anonymous]

No. It’s simply too time-consuming. My DD applied to summer programs for the upcoming summer and there was no common application. While she only applied to just 4 schools, it was maddening to ensure every “t” was crossed and “i” dotted. It leaves room for errors. Her time is better spent preparing the essays or her audition videos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TBH, I think there should be a cap on the number of applications a student can submit in any given year. Ratchet down the pressure, the stat juking, the anxiety, etc.

As acceptance rates plummet, kids are incentivized to increase the number of applications. The colleges are incentivized to get kids to apply, only to reject them.

This is a collective action problem.

Totally agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TBH, I think there should be a cap on the number of applications a student can submit in any given year. Ratchet down the pressure, the stat juking, the anxiety, etc.

As acceptance rates plummet, kids are incentivized to increase the number of applications. The colleges are incentivized to get kids to apply, only to reject them.

This is a collective action problem.

Nonsense. This supposedly is a free and free market economy, not some centrally planned totalitarian dictatorship. Customers (students) have every right to solicit as many offers as they want from vendors (schools).

[Anonymous]

Before anybody tries to fix something, they should identify what is broken and tailor the fix to that problem. I don't see any serious problem that is fixed by throwing out the Common App platform. OP-- What problem would this address?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not immersed in the college admissions scene but curious if anyone is out there advocating for getting rid of the common app?

From my cursory introduction to this process, seems like only colleges themselves benefit from so many applications. Even though it might seem like a lot more work at first glance, wouldn’t kids benefit from reduced application rates as well as focusing specifically on the schools they want to actually attend (as opposed to Hail Mary apps they get forced into submitting in fear of being shut out)?

No. I'd recommend the opposite. All colleges that don't pay taxes MUST be forced to use the Common App which should also include an optional section for financial aid (FAFSA) and banish the CSS profile. Students should only be allowed to pay no more than $10 per college. Questions across all colleges are pretty similar. Let them all get together and standardize on those questions. No more than 5 questions in total so kids are not forced to answer the same crap multiple times for each college.

I know y'all (and college admissions councilors) think each college is "unique". They are not. Just use this input to evaluate the students. If not and you want them to pay more, start paying taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TBH, I think there should be a cap on the number of applications a student can submit in any given year. Ratchet down the pressure, the stat juking, the anxiety, etc.

As acceptance rates plummet, kids are incentivized to increase the number of applications. The colleges are incentivized to get kids to apply, only to reject them.

This is a collective action problem.

Totally agree.

+1

Common App should limit number of applications to 12. If a kid wants to apply to more, they would have to do so outside the Common App, which would mean more work for them (and I imagine many colleges would refuse to accept non-Common App applications). Sure, some colleges would still accept as many applications as they can get BUT they would know that kids sending in non-Common App applications were flooding the system (I assume that would be a strike against them) and it certainly would cut down on the volume to some extent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TBH, I think there should be a cap on the number of applications a student can submit in any given year. Ratchet down the pressure, the stat juking, the anxiety, etc.

As acceptance rates plummet, kids are incentivized to increase the number of applications. The colleges are incentivized to get kids to apply, only to reject them.

This is a collective action problem.

Totally agree.

+1

Common App should limit number of applications to 12. If a kid wants to apply to more, they would have to do so outside the Common App, which would mean more work for them (and I imagine many colleges would refuse to accept non-Common App applications). Sure, some colleges would still accept as many applications as they can get BUT they would know that kids sending in non-Common App applications were flooding the system (I assume that would be a strike against them) and it certainly would cut down on the volume to some extent.

Just because a student submits an application outside of the common app doesn’t mean they are “flooding the system.” My kid didn’t use the common app and only applied to five schools. What kind of disgusting person would want that to “be a strike against them?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please no. That is insane.

Do you remember doing this before the Common App? Don't you remember the piles of paper, the folders, the envelopes, all the special instructions, and the typing? THE TYPING.

Maybe you didn't apply to lots of schools, but I was from a place where we applied to the top schools and it was so much worse than it is today.

When and where did you apply that you typed your applications? I applied to UCs in the early 90s and hand wrote them. I got in to all the ones I applied to (didn’t apply to LA or Berkeley) so apparently hand writing was ok.

I applied mid-90s and used an actual typewriter.

I was so anal I xeroxed copied the applications, and typed everything out on the copies first as a practice copy. Sometimes I did two practice copies before typing on the actual applications. Got wait listed at four Ivies but into a top SLAC. Such a waste of time!

- And that’s the way we did it at NCS in the nineties.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please no. That is insane.

Do you remember doing this before the Common App? Don't you remember the piles of paper, the folders, the envelopes, all the special instructions, and the typing? THE TYPING.

Maybe you didn't apply to lots of schools, but I was from a place where we applied to the top schools and it was so much worse than it is today.

When and where did you apply that you typed your applications? I applied to UCs in the early 90s and hand wrote them. I got in to all the ones I applied to (didn’t apply to LA or Berkeley) so apparently hand writing was ok.

I applied mid-90s and used an actual typewriter.

I was so anal I xeroxed copied the applications, and typed everything out on the copies first as a practice copy. Sometimes I did two practice copies before typing on the actual applications. Got wait listed at four Ivies but into a top SLAC. Such a waste of time!

- And that’s the way we did it at NCS in the nineties.....

Oh, and also, I remember a lot of St Albans guys had secretaries type theirs. Either their dad’s regulat secretaries or secretaries hired specifically for the purpose of typing their applications.

Brown did require handwriting instead, if I recall correctly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you think kids would benefit by making much more work for them to apply to the same number of colleges?

Can you explain that logic please?

Because I think most kids would apply to fewer schools and the amount of work required with data entry is less with word processing capabilities. So I think the kid would make fewer stronger, more tailored applications. And all admit rate would increase because overall application rates would go down.

You think fewer applications will increase admit rates?

Of course it will.

Who does that help? No one.

Same number of seats at elite colleges, same number of kids getting admitted. All you did was make it harder for the kids and harder for the colleges.

Great solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please no. That is insane.

Do you remember doing this before the Common App? Don't you remember the piles of paper, the folders, the envelopes, all the special instructions, and the typing? THE TYPING.

Maybe you didn't apply to lots of schools, but I was from a place where we applied to the top schools and it was so much worse than it is today.

When and where did you apply that you typed your applications? I applied to UCs in the early 90s and hand wrote them. I got in to all the ones I applied to (didn’t apply to LA or Berkeley) so apparently hand writing was ok.

I applied mid-90s and used an actual typewriter.

I was so anal I xeroxed copied the applications, and typed everything out on the copies first as a practice copy. Sometimes I did two practice copies before typing on the actual applications. Got wait listed at four Ivies but into a top SLAC. Such a waste of time!

- And that’s the way we did it at NCS in the nineties.....

Oh, and also, I remember a lot of St Albans guys had secretaries type theirs. Either their dad’s regulat secretaries or secretaries hired specifically for the purpose of typing their applications.

Brown did require handwriting instead, if I recall correctly.

I remember Brown requiring handwritten! That was so weird. What was up with that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please no. That is insane.

Do you remember doing this before the Common App? Don't you remember the piles of paper, the folders, the envelopes, all the special instructions, and the typing? THE TYPING.

Maybe you didn't apply to lots of schools, but I was from a place where we applied to the top schools and it was so much worse than it is today.

When and where did you apply that you typed your applications? I applied to UCs in the early 90s and hand wrote them. I got in to all the ones I applied to (didn’t apply to LA or Berkeley) so apparently hand writing was ok.

Not the PP but definitely typed mine in 1986.