The updated 2013 Common Application: What college-bound seniors need to know

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- August is upon us, and so is the college admissions process. This year marks the introduction of the fourth version of the Common Application, an online portal utilized by more than 500 universities nationwide. Changes include elimination of the paper version of the service, interface improvements, and updates to long-established essay prompts.

Laura Willard, a college counselor at The Woodlands High School, views these changes as beneficial for both student and university. “Common Application has streamlined it's online application so that once a college has been selected...questions can either appear or not appear (depending on that college's preference),” says Willard. “It's a more individualized version of ‘common’ applications.”

Colleges are therefore able to tailor the application to fit their purposes, and students no longer have to complete unnecessary portions of the questionnaire.

Changes to the essay prompts, however, are more meaningful. The open-ended “Topic of Your Choice” prompt has been removed in favor of more specific options. These prompts now direct students to examine personal failure and maturation, explain their unique situation, and exhibit individuality. “[The new prompts] emphasize the importance of global/community thinking as well as analytical thinking,” says Willard.

Common Application has also raised the essay’s word limit from 500 to 650 words, presumably to encourage more detailed and developed responses.

Once students write their personal statement, the Common Application allows them to use this one essay to apply to all member institutions. Instead of responding to a different prompt for each school, applicants can recycle the same essay to apply to Harvard or Ohio State or any other Common Application college. Such convenience is the main appeal of the service, and the application’s prevalence makes these slight changes important and far-reaching.

This year’s Common Application went live on August 1st and rising seniors can now begin the long, arduous process of applying to college. Students are reminded to enlist the help of their school’s counselors and to stay on top of deadlines.

See the link below to start your Common Application today.