To save time and the tedious preparation for your college applications, the Common Application is the best option. The Common Application is a non-profit membership organization consisting of more than 400 universities and colleges in the United States that tries to streamline the college application process by having you only fill out the application once for all of the schools that use it. It provides an online and a printable college application that students can submit to many institutions that belong to this organization. In 2015, nearly 3.5 million applications were submitted through the Common App Online.
There are two problems with the Common Application, however.
- First, only 400 or so colleges or universities use it. That is a tiny proportion compared to the 2,500 four-year colleges in the US. And many schools that get tons of applicants – like UCLA and UC Berkeley – don’s subscribe to the Common Application.
- The second problem with the Common Application is that it isn’t very common. In other words, most colleges still require students to write a ton of supplemental essays and short answer responses for the application. So the Common Application can save you some time filling out your name and personal information, but it doesn’t reduce the number of essays you have to write.
If you are worried about paying for college applications, you can get a fee waiver for the Common Application. To take advantage of these free college applications, click here.
In spite of its drawbacks, the Common Application provides a very convenient way of sending college applications for both first-year university and college or transfer students. It is treated without any reservations in the sense that it is fully supported by all its members giving equal consideration to both the own form of the college and the Common Application.
Also, if you are a bit old school and you want a printable college application, you can actually use the Common Application in that way. In fact, its printable college application is used solely as the admission application of its many members. Its members are able to accept millions of printed applications every year. The Common App Online is part of the college application process that contains varied information about the students provided by their high school guidance counselors and teachers. This actually refers to an online school form which the counselors and teachers can complete online or print, copy and mail to the colleges concerned.
Although applying online is easy and quick, if the students want to print it out and edit it, they can do so by submitting the printable college application form through mailing them to the colleges they wish to attend. Copies of all the forms are in PDF format which they can download. After the completion of the forms either in print or online, including the Final Report, Midyear Report, Optional Report, and School Report, as well as Teacher Evaluation forms, they are then sent to any participating colleges.
In other words, if you aren’t comfortable filling out your college applications online, you can use the Common Application as a printable college application.