<p>How many colleges would you apply to in order to make doing the Common App worth doing? If you are only applying to, say, five or fewer colleges, then wouldn't it be easier just to do the college's own application? I've read things about the Common App being confusing, or people not knowing where to fill in certain information, etc. DS is probably only applying to 3-4 schools, so I'm thinking we'll just bypass the Common App and go with each college's individual app. Especially if each college requires its own supplement anyway. Thoughts?</p>
<p>The common app is not that complex and is well worth doing rather than 3 or 4 separate applications. You do have to learn how it works, but if you do 3 or 4 separate apps you’d have to work through any concerns that arise in each of those separate formats. </p>
<p>There are many posts and questions from people who run into trouble. But, they post because there is a great community of people from whom it’s easy to get good answers quickly. For separate college apps if you have questions it’s going to be tougher to get answers. Also, the vast majority of people figure out the common app for themselves and there is no reason for them to post or question. </p>
<p>For your daughter’s recommenders it would be much easier if she uses the common app. They will have only one form to complete rather than a series and they can easily do it all online. It’s much less likely that something will fall through the cracks with the common app, too, because she’ll have a single log on, a single location to look for updates, an easy way to keep track of whether recs and transcripts have been submitted and received, etc.</p>