<p>I always thought common app prof recs could be photocopied as it would be a little ridiculous for professors to have to fill out the same form multiple times. But the Common App indicates:</p>
<p>If you have elected to create multiple versions of your Common App, **you should print out school forms intended for a particular college **only when you are logged in to the version of the application intended for that particular college. Otherwise, the wrong ID will appear on the bottom of the school forms page, which may cause confusion for your colleges. </p>
<p>So it seems each recommendation has a specific ID number for each school. Did anyone else realize this? If so, what instructions did you give to your recommenders? Is there a way to get around this ridiculous amount of work for our recommenders? </p>
<p>In addition to the above, I would like to know how we handle the situation where we apply to multiple colleges through the Common Application and have to answer "Why do you want to transfer?" A little bit awkward to generalize, right? So, I'm guessing most people just submit the onlnie application and forward the "Why do you want to transfer?" as a supplement via snail-mail? IDK, it sonuds like a recipe to bash my school. I have a distinct reasons for wanting to choose one place or the other. It seems like a waste of 250+ words or more.</p>
<p>I can answer that question (but still need an answer regarding recommendations). The multiple versions allow you to edit for each college. </p>
<p>Commonapp instructions:</p>
<p>Alternate application versions can be used in the event an applicant chooses to provide slightly different information to one institution from another institution. Below are the steps necessary to create an alternate version.</p>
<p>Step1: You must submit the Common Application to at least one institution first. You cannot create an alternate version until this has occurred.</p>
<p>Step 3: You will be presented with a screen titled Application Versions, where you will see information about the application you have already submitted. You should click on the Replicate link to make an alternate version of your submitted application. When this is complete, a second version will be visible on your screen and a special drop down list that will appear in the upper right corner of your application. You can use this drop down to move between application versions.</p>
<p>All data from your original version of your Common Application will be transferred to your alternate version, with the exception of any documents that you uploaded. You may edit any of this information before you submit it to another institution.</p>
<p>You only need to go to the special URL the first time you create an alternative version. Thereafter, additional application versions can be made by going to the Application Versions section within your original Common Application and using the Replicate link. You may make up to 10 versions, including the original version. You only need your original User Name and Password to access all versions.</p>
<p>You will have a separate My Colleges page and My Checklist page for each application version. Each institution can only be on the My Colleges list of one application version. If you elect to have multiple versions of your Common Application, please be sure to submit your supplement using the Common App version with which you want it affiliated. If you have not yet identified which version of the Common App it should be connected to, then you should wait to submit until that time.</p>
<p>Why not just use the generic download for the CA recommendation forms? It won't have your name and number printed on the bottom, but they should still be able to match it up with the rest of your application from the information on the form. And at least it won't be the wrong number which might confuse them.</p>