<p>I am really wondering with all the thousands of applications- do universities make copies of the whole common application and supplemental essays or are they viewed on a computer screen. There seems to be pros/cons for each viewing style, but i was just wondering how the process works in today's age of technology.<br>
can anyone shed some light?</p>
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<p>FYI: There only a handful of adcoms participating on CC, and most of them tend to stick to the individual college forum for the school they work for.</p>
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<p>I can’t believe they print out all of that material, but I also don’t see why it would make a difference. I sometimes like to proof something for errors hardcopy rather than on the screen, particularly if I’ve been writing/reading it over many versions, but I’m not sure how reading an application on paper or the computer would change how it is evaluated.</p>
<p>I have this reoccurring dream that they print out the application and lose it in the corner of the sofa. Finally retrieve it after the first counselor(the weeding counselor) makes the first cuts. it also would seem like such a wast of paper, but also by putting it on paper the student seems to come alive. Maybe that is just me</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about it; it’s not like you can really change your application to make it more appealing on a monitor vs. printed out.</p>
<p>Perhaps there are still some colleges that print them out but I imagine their being the minority. Office applications to read thru tons of docs is definitely digital oriented – look at the business world. Few orgs use paper files today. Most colleges immediately scan docs that are submitted in paper so they can be uploaded to electronic student files. that’s why colleges prefer uploaded docs whenever possible.</p>
<p>For the life of me, I can’t see any pro of hard copy prints in the volume we’re discussing. Reading a book for pleasure, the tactile feel of paper is fine. Reading several dozen essays each day? No way. I push docs all day long and rarely have to deal with actual paper.</p>
<p>A few months ago, I attended a session for USC alumni with a talk given by the Dean of Admissions. At some point, he said it’s been a few years since he actually picked up a hard copy of an application, although he does read many of them, all on computer screen.</p>