<p>I am part of a group that received the following information by Common Application staff and I wanted to share it with all of you since there have been many postings that everyone is experiencing problems logging into the CA. I am not part of CA so please don't shoot the messenger. I just wanted to give an explanation from the source in order to relieve some of the stress. </p>
<p>"Good morning, everyone. </p>
<p>We are aware of the login issues users are experiencing. The slowness is due to a spike in activity among recommenders, which is having an impact in system performance for all users. The result is a time-out issue, which presents itself to users as an unsuccessful login error. We first observed the issue around 9:00 AM ET. Troubleshooting allowed us to resolve the problem within about 30 minutes. Unfortunately, the issue cropped up again about 30 minutes later and continues to persist. We are taking steps to address the problem as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>I suspect your follow-up question may be why we didn't anticipate this volume. In fact, we did--and the system is capable of managing volume far beyond what we are seeing today. The challenge is less about the volume itself than it is about learning how a brand new system responds to such volume. I realize this explanation won't dispel your frustration, but I hope it is helpful nonetheless.</p>
<p>It's tempting to close this message by thanking you for your patience, but I suspect that refrain rings hollow for some of you by now. As we have explained to our member colleges, we have asked for your patience far beyond what is acceptable, and those of you experiencing these problems are justified in your frustration. Many of you will use this list and other social media outlets to vent your frustration, and I understand that. If we are not responding immediately to your messages and posts, I assure you it is not because we are ignoring you. It's because we are working as hard as we can to research and fix the problems so you can do your work.</p>
<p>Thank you,
Scott</p>
<hr>
<p>Scott Anderson, Senior Director for Policy
The Common Application
3033 Wilson Blvd, Ste 500 | Arlington, VA 22201
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