College Admission: Using the Common Application

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The Common Application is an application form accepted by 350 public and private colleges and universities across the country. It was designed to simplify the college admissions process for students who would otherwise have to provide identical information in different formats to each college. A few colleges offer applicants a choice between their own form and the Common Application, including Princeton University, the University of Chicago, and Bard College. Many others now use the Common Application exclusively. This list includes Dartmouth College, Villanova University, Stanford University, Haverford College, and about 120 others. A few selective colleges (for example, Columbia University, Georgetown University, MIT, the University of Michigan, and the University of California) still don’t accept the Common Application, but the number is dwindling. Be sure to check the Common Application Web site, www.commonapp.org, for new additions as well as for the forms themselves.

Using the Common Application can save you a lot of time, since you need to complete a single application only—either online or on paper—regardless of the number of schools to which you apply. The Common App Online is particularly time-saving because you don’t even have to print and mail an application. Regardless of whether they use only the Common Application, the great majority of selective colleges that use it also require a supplemental form that asks one or more college-specific questions. All schools also allow you to submit your supplement online as well. Look a copy of Common Application over carefully. It will give you a good idea of what college applications are like in general. The latest version of the Common Application, with full instructions, can be found online through the Common Application Web site. There are modest changes every year, so be sure to use the current version, which usually becomes available in July.

Students sometimes ask whether colleges prefer their own form, and if submitting the Common Application will imply that students are less interested in a college than they might really be. The fact is that colleges that accept the Common Application pay a fee for the privilege. They also pledge to treat all applications, the Common Application and their own if they still have one, identically.

Another type of generic application, known as the Universal College Application, is also available. It currently has eighty-five schools participating; forms and member colleges can be found at www.universalcollegeapp.com. Some colleges accept both the Common Application and the Universal Application, but you will find colleges on the Universal College Application list that don’t use the Common Application. If your college list contains one or more schools in this latter category, consider using the Universal College Application in lieu of or in addition to the Common Application, depending on the other colleges to which you are applying: their features are similar.