<p>Also, not sure if anyone else mentioned it yet, but applying on-line allows you to "track" your application at many schools.</p>
<p>I just updated my list with about a dozen more schools. <em>pets it</em> I love my list...</p>
<p>If I do the online application, then how will I give the "brag sheet" (that explains my ECs further) to colleges?</p>
<p>Attach it. If the university says that it allows other information, then they usually have an option for attaching it to the online app in .doc or .pdf format.</p>
<p>You can also mail it separately. Just put your name and SSN and it'll get combined with the rest of your app.
Another benefit of applying online is that you can just pay for it with credit card, which imo is easier than sending a check.</p>
<p>how whould u attach ur fee wavier then?</p>
<p>Ah, that you would have to send to them separately. But that should be no problem...I did it for a few of my schools. That shouldn't stop you from doing apps online.</p>
<p>Can you attach the brag sheet via the common app online? at <a href="http://www.commonapp.org%5B/url%5D">www.commonapp.org</a></p>
<p>I prefer online because I have bad handwriting, and I also don't like using typewriters much. Online I can go back and fix things without it looking messy</p>
<p>I don't think you can attach a document on commonapp.org, but they do have a large space for Additional Information and you can just copy/paste it there.</p>
<p>Even though most colleges encourage the online app, does anyone else think that there may be some kind of subconscious inclination to favor someone who submits a <em>neatly</em> handwritten app? It seems to show that you are interested more.</p>
<p>Michelle Hernandez in "A is for Admissions" in 1997 was adamantly against the common app because she thought that everyone should use the school's own app. To her, anything else was an insult to the college, and just an indication that the applicant had xeroxed an app and mailed it to everybody. She modifies this in "Acing the College Application" (that I think came out this year) to say that you should use the school's app because what have you got to lose. At root, she is seconding the personal touch that ctgirl suggested, but I'm sure it depends on the adcom member, and your handwriting skills. If you mail the common app instead of doing it online, you can print each one separately instead of using the xerox.</p>
<p>I seriously doubt that the difference between handwriting your app or doing it online will make or break you...</p>
<p>I agree with zantedeschia. People who don't want to believe in the "crap shoot" or "lottery" at the extremely selective schools are willing to believe that the color ink you use will make a difference.</p>
<p>Seriously, you're better off using your time to work on your essays or out playing a sport or volunteering than arguing back and forth about the trivial things. </p>
<p>I did the online app for almost all my schools (one didn't have an online version- I did it on PDF and printed it, so none were with my handwriting) and it didn't make a difference at all. My app for Princeton was messed up because their HTML fields squashed all the text together, so I didn't even have paragraphs; just a big blob of words, and still, it didn't make a difference! </p>
<p>If a school really didn't want common app or online versions, they wouldn't make that option available to you!</p>
<p>Come on, I'm sure they reject you because your application was hand-written and they prefer online. One is easier, that's all. Geez...the colleges aren't trying to trick you by offering both versions</p>
<p>The reason so many colleges make their on-line</a> applications free is that they want you to submit that way. It's not going to hurt you to submit by hand, of course, but if colleges are not-so-secretly saying they want me to submit on-line, I'll probably do that.</p>
<p>The reason is probably more related to them not having to keypunch your basic info such as name and address into the tracking computer. That doesn't translate into an advantage or disadvantage in terms of admissions. The adcom isn't going to be sitting there saying that this person applied online and so they deserve more to be admitted.</p>
<p>...right. I'm not saying you're going to be helped or hurt in the admissions process either way. I'm just saying it makes more sense in many cases to do it on-line. They prefer it, it's easier for both people, it saves you money, and it makes everything nice and neat. Why not?</p>
<p>The University im applying to the online and paper app is completely diffrent. The online one you just type in your name,address,what school you, your essay and then there is a tiny box for EC you can only type what club you have been you cannot go into depth about what you did because its a literally tiny box. On the paper app they give you a two page additional comments/infomation page where you can go on about yourself and a section where they ask about ECs and you have plenty room to go into depth.</p>
<p>So im doing the handwritten one.</p>
<p>beginning, i was arguing for the online apps as well. Some people think that it looks so much more thoughtful if you handwrite it, but I was just saying that it doesn't make enough of a difference to warrant that much scrutiny. And as you've said, often online is cheaper (and it saves trees!) </p>
<p>kenshi, you can always send in additional information via regular mail if the online form doesn't allow you to attach extra documents. Your university probably just wants to streamline things in the database.</p>