<p>DudeDiligence- your daughter must be related to mine. She also wanted to handprint her app, which she did. (I had no say in this matter - she consulted her counselor, who told her that was an ok option). She did use Word for her long essays and her activity list, which she included on separate pieces of paper. For the short essay, she wrote it on word, cut it and pasted it onto the app. I took her app to Kinkos and had it duplicated for each college she applied to. Once it was copied, the typed part blended in nicely with the handprinting.
Her printing is wonderful and as readable as the typewritten word, but I would never suggest that my son follow her method.(horrors) I think that most kids would be better off using the word processing method either online or processed and then mailed. But for some kids - maybe the creative/writing obsessed kind with beautiful printing, the handwritten app can work.<br>
She was very pleased with the way the whole thing looked, and it didn't hurt her in admissions at all. This was a couple of years ago, but if she were applying today, she probably would do it the same way.</p>