common application vs specific university applications

[Melissa B]

I never did the common application for my first two girls. 

My third is getting ready to start college applications. She is planning to apply to three universities. If all three accept either the common application or their own application should she just do the common application? I have heard so many negative things about it and we haven't found the state university applications to be too difficult, but it has been a few years and two of the three universities are schools neither of her sisters applied to anyway. Has the common application gotten easier since it was first introduced?

And it looks like she could start the common application now? I don't want to have her create an account if she isn't going to use it. I'm guessing it opens her email up to quite a bit of spam.

[MamaSprout]

None of my older kiddos used the CA either.

It doesn't open until August 1 for next school year, so if you create an account now you can play around with it, but you would need to roll it over and update one later.

I've been playing around with one that isn't even connected to the email address I will use later, but honestly it looks pretty straight-forward. I'm sure more experienced people will chime in.

Dd is also applying to just 2 schools, but will use the Common App and add on 2 more that don't really have any additional output, just in case.

Edited June 7, 2021 by MamaSprout
Gah!

[MEmama]

The common app is pretty straightforward. It literally walks the student through every step. Completing one application makes a lot more sense than repeating the process several times.

I would suggest she gets started earlier than later, especially if she’s applying EA or ED. October deadlines sneak up fast.

I've never heard of anyone applying to only 3 schools. All of DS's friends applied to 15-25. Admissions are insane right now, at least in the top tiers. With the fallout from COVID, it’s not the same game it was a few years ago. (I know you weren’t asking about, but thought I’d put it out there just in case it’s not on your radar yet). 
 

[RootAnn]

My dd#2 only applied to two schools this past year (freshman in the fall) and honestly never really considered #2. My dd#1 would have only applied to 3 if I hadn't forced #4 (free app that she didn't have to do anything except click a link to do) and #5 (reach so I would see if she got in).

But, back to the OP. I didn't find the Common App to be difficult for the student. There were some questions as to how to best fill out something, but it wasn't bad. Dd#1 chose to use the CA over the individual school apps when there was a choice, but it wouldn't have been an issue to do the individual ones. She would have saved $35 application fee had she done the school app vs CA because she would have had a fee waiver only available with the school's app.

Really very, very little spam. Occasional emails as reminders, but no big spam email jump with the CA, surprisingly.

If she doesn't mind, I don't think filling out each one individually is more work than for two. Three is the tipping point, IMO, that could go either way. Four or more, CA all the way. 

[Melissa B]

11 minutes ago, MEmama said:

I've never heard of anyone applying to only 3 schools. All of DS's friends applied to 15-25. Admissions are insane right now, at least in the top tiers. With the fallout from COVID, it’s not the same game it was a few years ago. (I know you weren’t asking about, but thought I’d put it out there just in case it’s not on your radar yet). 
 

She's not applying to any top tier or private schools, just state universities. 

Honestly, I had to laugh trying to picture my daughter's face if I suggested she apply to 20+ colleges. We would definitely be using the common application! One of my daughter's friends was pushed to apply to eleven colleges last year and her friend group was shocked and showered her with sympathy for such torture. 😂 Most kids here apply to the state flagship (which is local) and one or two other universities. She only wants to apply to two herself, but even state universities are not a guarantee anymore. All three that she will be applying to now have acceptance rates under 50%. 

[Dmmetler]

Be aware that common app doesn't necessarily streamline much. While the main dataset is shared, each school has their own supplemental stuff, so you still have to do that, and most of the time consuming stuff, like essays, is the supplemental. 

 

For state U's, there may be a state common application, or it's possible you'll get the "we've already filled out the application for you-click here to apply", and you'll just need to send transcripts and ACT/SAT scores. In my state, applying to state U's was super easy for that reason. 

 

[Clemsondana]

I've never filled out the common app from a student perspective (my older will be a sophomore so we're not there yet).  From a recommender's perspective - I hate filling them out for my students.  They ask you to rate students as being in the top 1%, 5%, 10%, 25%, etc, for a list of different things.  It's terrible because I usually have around 20 students a year at co-op (now that online is included it's more like 40)...so over 10 years I'd have 200-400 students.  Only 4 students can be in my top 1%.  But, i get a lot of very good students who would do well anywhere that they went.  I much prefer the evals that ask how a student is likely to do and what qualities would help them to succeed.  None of this may matter, depending on where your student is applying, though.  

On another note, I don't think I know any kids who applied to 25 colleges.  Most students aren't applying to highly competitive schools and many seem to apply to 3-5.  

[MamaSprout]

48 minutes ago, Clemsondana said:

I've never filled out the common app from a student perspective (my older will be a sophomore so we're not there yet).  From a recommender's perspective - I hate filling them out for my students.  They ask you to rate students as being in the top 1%, 5%, 10%, 25%, etc, for a list of different things.  It's terrible because I usually have around 20 students a year at co-op (now that online is included it's more like 40)...so over 10 years I'd have 200-400 students.  Only 4 students can be in my top 1%.  But, i get a lot of very good students who would do well anywhere that they went.  I much prefer the evals that ask how a student is likely to do and what qualities would help them to succeed.  None of this may matter, depending on where your student is applying, though.  

On another note, I don't think I know any kids who applied to 25 colleges.  Most students aren't applying to highly competitive schools and many seem to apply to 3-5.  

I sent myself a teacher recommendation request with my sandbox application for the two schools dd is interested in so I would have a sense of which teacher to ask, and I didn’t see this. Is it universal?

Edited June 7, 2021 by MamaSprout

[Clemsondana]

53 minutes ago, MamaSprout said:

I sent myself a teacher recommendation request with my sandbox application for the two schools dd is interested in so I would have a sense of which teacher to ask, and I didn’t see this. Is it universal?

I don't know - I've only done a couple of common app recs and it was on both of them.  Maybe the schools can pick from a set of questions?  Both of the ones that I did were identical, but it's possible that they were for the same school(s).  My favorite rec was for a well-regarded small private school - just a form with 5-6 questions asking for something that would indicate that the student would be successful at particular aspects of college. 

[teachermom2834]

For three state schools I would just do their direct applications unless their applications are far more demanding than those we have seen. Our state school applications, with the exception of our flagship, are very quick and easy. Our flagship has a lot more hoops to jump but those are there whether you do common app or not. Of my three boys, only the oldest did common app. He was applying more widely and the big advantage was that many schools in common app had a free application with no further work just by checking a box. He applied to 11 but only because many of those were just a box checked and ACT scores sent. 
 

So I don’t think you are missing out on anything by skipping common app and doing the direct applications. It is what I would do, having done it both ways.

[UmmIbrahim]

We used both the Common App and the Coalition App for my oldest son's application process. He found them to be equally simple to fill out, no spam emails were generated (this is not at all like when you tick the box with the college board to let universities contact you directly!), and it was nice to not have to reinvent the wheel by repeating demographic information everywhere. I also liked that the teachers my son asked for letters did not have to manage submitting documentation at multiple different universities and potentially having to modify their letters for different prompts/formats. It was one and done (well, two, because of the Coalition, but still not bad).

We did have a lot more than three applications though! None of our state schools (we're in VA) are shoo-ins as far as admissions go, so there were no guarantees here regarding apply to a state flagship and be done. It's nice that you still have less cutthroat admissions at your state schools! Seeing just how competitive ours were was VERY surprising to my husband and I, who hadn't really looked at admissions and test score averages in so many years.

As others have mentioned, if you just want to take a look, create a dummy email address and see what sorts of information you will be filling out. Then you could always compare it with your state school applications to see what seems easier!

[lewelma]

20 applications just makes me want to cry. We had enough trouble with 6.

[MEmama]

On 6/7/2021 at 10:36 AM, Melissa B said:

She's not applying to any top tier or private schools, just state universities. 

Honestly, I had to laugh trying to picture my daughter's face if I suggested she apply to 20+ colleges. We would definitely be using the common application! One of my daughter's friends was pushed to apply to eleven colleges last year and her friend group was shocked and showered her with sympathy for such torture. 😂 Most kids here apply to the state flagship (which is local) and one or two other universities. She only wants to apply to two herself, but even state universities are not a guarantee anymore. All three that she will be applying to now have acceptance rates under 50%. 

That is a big difference! Most of the schools DS and his friends applied to admitted well under 10%.
Still, yeah, a lot of state universities are a lot more competitive than they used to be when they had to admit everyone in state. I’m sure the levels of crazy are regional, too.