Most students look forward to the unknown wonders of college. They count down the days until they can leave their house and start a sliver of their lives on their own. While wishing for these endeavors is the easy part, applying to college is a process that becomes increasingly intricate. However, with the creation of Common Application (Common App), the process of applying to college is much easier and efficient for students. What began as an idea to simplify the admissions process has grown into the most popular method that connects a student’s personal application to various colleges and universities. Instead of applying straight through a certain college, students should apply through Common App because of the numerous convenient tools it offers.
With the several benefits Common App offers, it is no surprise that a plethora of students use it as their main source of applying to college. Today, Common App represents more than 1,000 diverse institutions of higher education around the world. With the convenience of saving students time and having all of their information in one place, students should prefer to use Common App over applying directly through a specific college.
“I think it [Common App] makes the already difficult college application process a lot easier,” senior Grace Reichelderfer said. “All of the basic information is in one place, your essay is in one place and it saves you time on something that is already taking a long time.”
One notable benefit of applying through Common App is the convenience it offers to students. It gives students the ability to complete all of their specific information at one time. Instead of creating multiple applications for a multitude of schools with different requirements, Common App solidifies all the information into one application that students can send out to every college. This saves them a tremendous amount of time as they are not having to create various different applications. According to College Raptor, since several schools accept Common App, that’s several less forms students will have to complete. Excluding the new and daunting endeavor of creating applications, students are also faced with loads of stress from schoolwork. Having to come up with an application completely from scratch can consume most of a student’s time, so by having an application where all categories are already listed out, students can just fill in all of their information efficiently. This makes the application process as quick and easy as it can be. Common App is crucial for students and especially seniors who take rigorous academic courses or are involved in various clubs.
Common App not only makes the application process more efficient, but it also keeps track of all the students’ information. Within the application, there are certain categories that students can fill out regarding involvement, leadership, honors and the essay section. Within those activities it allows students to explain in depth about themselves and what they do among those endeavors. All of those categories have different divisions where all students have to do is fill in their information. Instead of having to come up with what personal information they are going to include, Common App has all of the information listed out for students. Having all of this information in one place allows students to have better organization within their application. Their activities, letter of recommendations, school information and essays are located in one spot. This can be especially helpful when students want to fix or edit their application. Common App gives them the ability to do that efficiently when all the information is in one spot. It also gives students the ability to access one application and send it to multiple schools. For example, when a student goes to write their essay, they can write one essay and send it to various schools versus writing multiple essays.
While some people may argue that Common App limits students to express their full involvement, numerous schools throughout the United States accept Common App. However, when students apply directly through a college, they have a higher chance of overdoing most of the information on their application. Common App helps students have the proper amount of descriptions and activities listed. It pays attention to the most vital information about each student to ensure that their most valuable achievements are seen by a particular college. It saves students large amounts of time when it comes to filling out their numerous activities, involvement and gives them tremendous amounts of help when they are stuck on what material to include. It was designed for students to have one application that they can send to varying universities, instead of having to create multiple different applications with different requirements.
Common App, being considerably popular throughout the United States, is the most efficient and convenient way of applying to college. The whole purpose was designed to help make the application process for students easier and more convenient. By having a free online organization that anyone can access, students should take the most out of the opportunity and deeply consider the advantages it has compared to directly applying through college. Students should feel confident and comfortable with their college application, and Common App is going to help ensure that.
