<p>The NYT takes a short but bittersweet look at the Common Application Supplements to ask a question many of us have no doubt pondered - if these additional essays add just the right touch or do they require too much additional work and ask for "Too Much Information?" </p>
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To ease the trauma of filling in the same blanks over and over, the Common Application ? a four-page form that asks for basic information and a 250- to 500-word essay ? was created. But even Common App colleges want to get their two cents in, so they make students fill out supplements.</p>
<p>Completing Northwestern?s supplement is worthy of course credit. It asks for an essay of up to 500 words, a personal statement of up to 300 words and two shorter statements. Then there are the ?optional? questions...</p>
<p>Are these truly optional? ?On occasion, they can get you in,? says Bruce Breimer, principal and director of college relations at the Collegiate School in Manhattan. ?Kids grumble, but they do them.?
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Completing Northwestern's supplement is worthy of course credit. It asks for an essay of up to 500 words, a personal statement of up to 300 words and two shorter statements.
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<p>When I read this the other day, I called over my daughter in a panic and asked, "WHAT essay of 500 words? Did we miss something?" I agree with the gist of the Times's story, but I think the writer got this bit wrong. Northwestern had the "Why Northwestern?" essay that was less than 300 words long and the two short (50 words each) questions: the painting and the roommate. I still can't figure out what the Times meant by the 500-word essay. If D left something out and I missed it too, I'm hoping NW lets her know. :)</p>
<p>I think the benefit of the CA may be more psychological. Once the main app is in there is perhaps the sense that one has basically applied and "just" needs to complete the supplements, one by one. Since my son sent the same CA to all his schools, there was no reworking of essay and short answer; he could put that effort into individualizing for the supplements. Though the CA may not have saved much work, I think it's made the process seem more do-able.</p>
<p>It's hard to imagine opting out of an "optional" essay for a highly selective school. I'd guess that would be "opting out" of admissions consideration.</p>
<p>Our son found the CA to be a great time saver. In one 2 hour session he got the basic application complete for 6 of the 7 colleges he applied to, not including the personal essay which he did one Saturday afternoon. And I think he was able to submit them all electronically.</p>
<p>The only supplemental required was the "Why Oberlin" essay. And because of the very memorable visit he had there, he whipped this out in a steram of consciousness flurry totalling about 15 minutes.</p>
<p>He probably spent more time preparing the individual application packages for his guidance office than he did in preparing the actual applications. His GC did want copies of all application for his file for prep of his submittal which included the gc rec, teacher recs, hs profile, etc. The office also suggested that the students supply the office with a SASE to guarantee that the guidance office submittal would be sent out the next day.</p>
<p>Hey, by early Oct all apps were complete and in the colleges' hands. What stress?</p>
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Hey, by early Oct all apps were complete and in the colleges' hands. What stress?
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<p>Lucky you. Nearly all of our common applications have included additional essays and thought. Everything from "Put something interesting in this box" to "Tell us about something you do just for fun" to "why ___ College?" Recycling essays has not been an option.</p>
<p>But what really gripes me is all the repeated information. More lists of EC's courses, honors and scores that you've already put on the Common App. Why bother with the Common App. at all?</p>
<p>mathmom, our son just put the most important EC's that fit w/i the CA boxes. He figured, why bother with freshman year ski club??? He was considering a supplemental comprehensive "resume" which could have been included with the guidance office package but decided against it.</p>
<p>Hey, he was accepted to all 6 CA colleges and offered a total of $352,000 in merit scholarships from them. I guess his minimalist plan worked!!</p>
<p>My supplements required me to write an extra 3500 words (no that's not a typo). This hardly seems in agreement with the idea of a common application.</p>
<p>I do think that some of the supplemental apps are quite substantial,(Tufts) while others are very basic( Dartmouth). Although my son is applying to the engineering schools and often there are additional essays for that. I do not like the idea of "optional" essays-- like previous posters have said, at a competitive school, who would dare to leave it blank? Either have an essay or don't have any essay-- either commit to using the common app or don't commit to using the common app, but don't try to have it both ways.</p>
<p>The CA has its ups and downs. The nice part is that you can submit everything electronically through one site. This alleviates all the stress of going to each individual site and signing up with possible different passwords and usernames depending on the requirements. The problem with it is that it's not common. Personally, I liked filling out the easy stuff on all of my applications. It was kind of soothing to answer the mindless EC's and personal information questions. Instead, in the CA you fill out the basic then you go through about 20 more questions for each school. Those extra questions aren't normally short or easy. Sometimes I question the Why College? questions anyways. The elite colleges know their applicants are busy and applying to numerous schools. The questions yields little to why attend and more to maybe this well deter more students from applying. </p>
<p>I applied to George Washington, Duke, Yale, UPENN, and Davidson through the common app. and none of the supplements were particulary fun or easy to fill out. The only good part was that I had to write so many essays for college admissions that I only have to tailor them a bit for scholarship apps.</p>
<p>ummm...optional questions can get me in?
But all northwestern's were was 1) if you'd ever done any research on some specific area & if you wanted to share 2) if you are not currrently in school why?</p>
<p>I could see how the research thing could get you in for med,science,math, (maybe) english; but my major was going to film. how the hell would that help my chance <em>thatitotallyscrewedupanywaybychokingonwhyiwanttogothereessay</em>?</p>
<p>well, applications for me are still a ways away (I'm a junior) but out of the schools I'm looking at now, only 3 accept the common app. I'm starting to question if it would be worth it to even do the CA when I could just fill out the forms for each of them. Does any one know if the CA+Supplement requires more work than a normal application?</p>
<p>The only advantage to the common app is that you don't have to input basic information like your name, address, test scores, and EC's more than once. The vast majority of the time you spend on college applications will be spent writing your essays. You should still use the common app if you are applying to schools that accept it, but don't expect it to make the application process any less time consuming.</p>
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ummm...optional questions can get me in?
But all northwestern's were was 1) if you'd ever done any research on some specific area & if you wanted to share 2) if you are not currrently in school why?
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<p>I don't think Northwestern's were optional in the true sense of the word. But other schools DO have optional essays, such as: "Show us your creative side. Let it all hang out, or make us laugh" or something to that effect. Another example would be, "Tell us about an aspect of yourself that isn't reflected in this application." My daughter tended to skip that last kind!</p>
<p>Common app is definately a time saver. Even with the supplements, you don't have to fill out as much crap, and it is definately better for teachers and councilors.</p>
<p>Definitely agree with the saving time for teachers and counselors. Even with the common app, my recommenders had to fill out 3 or 4 different forms. Without it, it would have been many more. If you consider the fact that most teachers have to write dozens of recommendations a year, they probably love the common app.</p>
<p>Yay yay, S's last Common App (and last app) is done and submitted. He did five Common App ones...two with no or minimal supplements, and three with a fair amount of extra writing: Cornell, NYU, and William & Mary, where, as Lurk said, they give you the "option" of making them laugh. Hope he did.</p>
<p>It's the most annoying part of applications. I applied to 4 out of my 12 schools soley based on the fact that they dd not require additional essays.</p>
<p>From what I understand, when UChicago moves to the common app as an option (the uncommon application can still be used) it will still require three of its own essays as it has done in the past, including their typically uncommon prompts. I'm not sure it will use the common app essay at all.</p>