<p>whats the difference between the common app and universal app? they looked exactly the same</p>
<p>idk...never rlly heard of universal app. i guess more colleges use common?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/default.aspx%5B/url%5D">https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/default.aspx</a> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.universalcollegeapp.com/%5B/url%5D">https://www.universalcollegeapp.com/</a></p>
<p>Far more schools use the common app than the universal app.</p>
<p>are there any advantages to using the common app? or vice versa?</p>
<p>Harvard says it treats the Universal College Application just like the Common Application. The one advantage the Common Application has is the advantage mentioned in other replies: so far you can use that for a lot more colleges.</p>
<p>I just took a look at the universal app and it really looks no different to the common app- so I'm assuming that as colleges receive the same information from both there is no distinction between the two for admissions in colleges that accept both.</p>
<p>this year the common app originally announced that they would not allow any changes once you submitted (unless you were denied at ed school in which case you had to contact them to make a change). they backed off that ultimately (though it was still a pain to make a change) for this year, and supposedly will allow some but not entire application to be changed between college submissions next year.
i believe the universal allowed changes.</p>
<p>so if you will want to customize your application for different schools -- you should first look into this next year -- as to whether either of these provides more flexibility in that regard -- in any event of course, universal can only be used for those schools that accepts it.</p>