The Common Application

The Common Application is a centralized application that students can complete for over 300 different colleges and as of July 1st is now updated and released for the Class of 2010 to begin working on their applications. The colleges that participate in this application method commit to treating applications received through the Common App with the same consideration as if students had applied through the institutions idividual application. This will generally mean that you have to spend less time filling out all of the basic information about yourself and can mean that you have fewer essays to write (but maybe not).

On the common app there are two essays - one short answer (150 words) and one long essay which is to answer one of the following questions:

- Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.

- Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.

- Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.

- Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.

- A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.

- Topic of your choice.

Then, the "tricky" part of it all is that many of the schools will also have supplements required which are other questions of their own that they want students to complete. Sometimes it is just simple questions that weren't covered on the common app, but would have been if you had applied through their individual application, but often times it includes short or long answer essays. Be aware and be prepared for that when completing your application. (I will say that over the last several days I have been looking at various supplements from schools that I know some students are considering and I caution you to double check before you start writing essays to make sure that it is an updated supplement - a few of the colleges still have last year's supplements posted and you definitely do not want to have to write any more essays than necessary.)

Not all schools use the common app - there are 17 Ohio schools which utilize the common application, but as you are getting ready to start applications for the schools you are considering it is worth your time to look and see if more than one school uses the common app.