A question about the common app

[Serenade]

I just had a thought and can't find an easy answer by googling.

Do the college app people making any decisions about the worthiness of a college application before it goes to the individual universities to which a student is applying? 

[Farrar]

I'm not totally sure if I understand what you're asking. Are you asking if the Common App organization reviews applications before sending them on? Because the answer to that is categorically no. They don't even have actual access to the information in the application. It's privatized and would be a violation of FERPA for the Common App to read it. 

[Serenade]

28 minutes ago, Farrar said:

I'm not totally sure if I understand what you're asking. Are you asking if the Common App organization reviews applications before sending them on? Because the answer to that is categorically no. They don't even have actual access to the information in the application. It's privatized and would be a violation of FERPA for the Common App to read it. 

This is exactly what I was asking.  Thank you so much! 

[Dmmetler]

No. It just sends to the schools you select. 
 

The CBCA is different. Any of the 54 member schools can put in specific criteria, and the system will flag applications which match, as well as the ones you select. So, L got acceptances from schools that we had never heard of-but in fairness to their algorithm, they all were decent matches on major (generally ag schools or schools with an organismal bio focus), or type (women’s colleges) and were often schools where L qualified for their top scholarships and got at minimum fully paid tuition automatically, and in a couple of cases, free rides. 
 

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by Dmmetler