The Common Application...a poor cousin?

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>Our D applied to Buxton, Putney, Williston-Northampton, Cambridge School of Weston, Millbrook, and Lawrence Academy. We used the Common Application submitted through SSAT.org. One app, one set of recommendations, one transcript, one set of essays...push a button and it goes to all the schools you selected. But now I see everyone discussing the miseries of filling out all their different applications and I'm wondering if they know something we don't? Is the Common Application considered inferior? There was no way her over-worked, under-payed public school teachers would have been able to fill out 6 different sets of rec forms...</p>

<p>Any thoughts?</p>

2

<p>They don't have the teachers fill out all the different rec forms - they're all basically the same thing, they just fill out the common one and then copy it for the rest of the schools. As for why people aren't using the common application...it has been discussed on here before...</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/419229-common-application.html?highlight=common+application%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/419229-common-application.html?highlight=common+application&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/508480-common-application-vs-school-s-application.html?highlight=common+application%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/508480-common-application-vs-school-s-application.html?highlight=common+application&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/286960-tabs-admission-forms.html?highlight=common+application%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/286960-tabs-admission-forms.html?highlight=common+application&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

3

<p>The common recommendation form is 100% fine to use. The common rec. form is usually the one schools give anyway (I know Choate and some others do). I personally wouldn't use the common application however. Schools ask certain questions for a reason. Boarding schools aren't exactly "universal", a student must posses certain characteristics to be a good fit and that's what they are looking to find out.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the input. The common app. was the right choice for us. We are taking the schools at their word when they say the CA is acceptable and will not adversely affect our chances for admission. If that doesn't play true at a particular school, well then that isn't the school for us. The weeding process works both ways, right?</p>

5

<p>I believe using the common application is fine for the schools you listed. At those schools, if your D is qualified and is full pay (or if the school has aid available/does not reject her if they can't meet the need) she is very likely to be admitted. At the most competitive schools, where many extremely qualified students are not accepted, it makes sense to do the school's own application. The common rec forms are always fine.</p>