How Common IS The Common App?

“I Thought This Was Supposed to Be Easy Because of the Common App!”

A friend recently asked me to address this notion – just how many schools use an application other than the Common Application? According to the website, the Common App began in 1975 for 15 private colleges, and over five hundred institutions participate now. That’s a lot of schools, but the Fiske Guide to Colleges reports that there are over 2,200 4-year colleges in the United States.

Hopefully you’ve created that spreadsheet that I suggested. One of the column headings was for whether a school uses the Common App. The reason this matters is because for each school that does NOT use the Common App, your student will need to complete a separate online application. That involves typing names, addresses, honors, activities, essays, etc... over and again. You can’t overlook the time that takes and how some of these systems go into overload when too many students are trying to use them at the last minute.

Take a certain student I know who is considering applying to 10 different schools. Only FOUR of those schools use the Common App – less than half. So while the idea of the Common App is helpful, the reality is that she will be spending a lot of time entering and re-entering her personal statistics. One of these separate applications required her to add each class she took in high school and the grade she received – talk about time-consuming!

Here in Virginia, the Common App will cover many of your in-state choices including UVA, VCU, William & Mary, Mary Washington, Christopher Newport, GWU, Washington & Lee, and the University of Richmond. Some notable Virginia schools that require their own unique online application include JMU, Virginia Tech, George Mason, Longwood and VMI.

Encourage your student to at least get started on each of the online applications. Even getting through the simple steps will save time later. In addition, some applications require you to get through a certain number of steps before sending email notifications to teachers and guidance counselors for their recommendations. Give them the courtesy of NOT getting that notification at the very last minute.  It’s also helpful to cut and paste responses from one application to another document so that some of it can be re-used on other applications (taking care to change relevant school information, of course!)