<p>Do most colleges accept the common application? Is this the best way to go?</p>
<p>We had about half take it and the other half did not.</p>
<p>I know UofM will only take common app…some schools will take either. I found it easiest to do the common app for all the schools that took it. </p>
<p>After Unifieds when we did walkins and needed to apply to the school it was very easy if they were part of the common app.</p>
<p>If you have a choice between the common application and the college’s own application, preview their application and determine which gives your child the best opportunities to include the most useful info about themselves. We also heard that for many of the college’s own applications, especially the ones that have no application fee, they aren’t detailed enough and may be used to boost that school’s application statistics. And, some universities, ONLY permit you to use their own application (Rutgers as an example- relevant if applying to Mason Gross School of the Arts).</p>
<p>I found the common app to be a beastly, detailed monster when I filled it out for my S two years ago. It is so long!! He applied to 6 schools though, and only one required the common app, so I filled out this very long detailed app for only one school. My D is applying to 14 schools this year, and I was happy to see that 9 of her schools use the common app. This will definitely save time!
Good advice to check both apps though, if they offer one or the other.</p>
<p>(And yes, I fill out the forms for my kids. They are very busy. They do the essays of course…)</p>
<p>If you are applying to multiple schools, the Common App can save you a lot of time in filling out the same basic personal and academic information over and over again. And it can save you from having to ask teachers for multiple recommendations. Additionally, most schools to which my daughter applied that took the common app did have supplemental essay questions for her to answer that were specific to their school. She never felt she did not have ample opportunity to express all she wanted to even when using the common app. I believe some schools as part of their theatre/mt application/audition request provess asked for even more info from arts related teachers and/or essays related to our daughters interest in a performing arts major. These were items nevessary for applying to the department itself and separate from applying to the university. So make sure you check both the college and the departments requirements for application.</p>
<p>Common App goes live August 1.</p>