I have learned from a TV program that was talking about a new common college application platform is being formed by the top universities in the US. They are planning to abandon the current common application process and go on to a more stringent platform that includes:
College applicants start the application process from 9th grade.
Not only the academic/testing results are going to be filed yearly, but also ECs, community services, leaderships etc are to be filed the same time.
More essays and personality portraits are going to be focused over time for final acceptance.
Family financial history will be evaluated for all 4 years so to determine the FA level.
Any more information about this and what are your reactions regarding this new platform?
What would happen to the majority of student who aren’t even thinking about this is 9th grade? I was so exhausted after getting my kids into high school that I wanted nothing to do with college applications. During 8th grade they toured and interviewed at several schools, we finally made a decision, and then we moved so I had to so it again in a 3-4 day period. Then they switched schools in 10th grade, then we moved and they switched again.
@intparent - I think this has the potential to give less advantaged students a heads up on the college application process. Kids at private schools get college counseling starting at the end of 8th grade when they create their high school schedule.
" I think this has the potential to give less advantaged students a heads up on the college application process."
Seriously? Please define what you mean by “less advantaged” and what high schools they might be attending where resources are available to help them navigate this.
These kids with college counseling starting in 8th grade are going to hit the ground running on this is ninth grade. They will be coached on skills leading up to that so even their ninth grade efforts look great. They will be guided and manicured to spectacular portfolios by application time. At public schools with hundreds of kids per counselor where first college discussions take place mid- junior year? Not so much. Do you somehow think funding and curriculum changes to support this are going to appear for those schools? I don’t.
For us it would have been a disaster for intra-family harmony to begin constructing such a profile or portfolio or record in 9th grade.
While we certainly encouraged our kids to take their academic work seriously, and we encouraged them to participate in EC’s of their choice, and as we watched the kids mature we had in mind the types of college that might be appropriate, we let college choices wait til late in junior year and early in senior year.
We and the kids were never into resume building. We (the parents) encouraged the kids’ strong interests and supported their talents. Neither was a serial joiner. They never joined any organization with the primary or even serious consideration of what it meant for college applications.
I am glad we are through this process. This new idea is awful.
I don’t buy the propaganda. This new system is not for the benefit of any high school student. It’s a way for the more elite schools to differentiate themselves (isolate?) from other colleges and universities. They want their own playground. Plain and simple. This is about creating a new brand, not helping students (that was a decent try at a marketing strategy)
This system will only benefit those kids who know about it. That means students in affluent areas where large percentages go to four year elite colleges with a strong college counseling staff will know about this system. This will likely be the top 10%? 5%? 1% high schools in the US.
Students in large high schools with a wide range of students will NOT learn of this system until their junior year, if they ever do. This will just put the same kids who need help most even further behind when they think college might - just might - be a possibility in their junior or senior year. (Oh right. Anyone with a internet connection can do a college search and find out about this system.)
If these schools were really serious about broadening their application pool to be more inclusive, they could have pooled money and set up programs local to these high schools to help students navigate high school and the college application process. With over six hundred colleges and universities in this coalition, that covers a lot of land, cities, neighborhoods and high schools.
I think it’s an awful idea. It’s sad to see how many students on here already believe that they need to spend all their time in high school impressing colleges. This will prove it to them.
^^correction - the Coalition has 90 members. The Common App has 600+ members. Even with 90 members, including state flagships, it can reach many many students through a coordinated outreach program instead of implementing this system
From the website:
58 Colleges and Universities Plan to Accept the Coalition Application this Fall
It’ll be interesting to see which schools have switched to the Coalition application.
Speaking as someone who actually WAS a disadvantaged student- very low income, parents never went to college, etc- this is yet another barrier to “disadvantaged” students.
I’ve ranted on this plan before but the crux of it is that it will be great for students who already have an enormous advantage- GCs that can work closely with them, parents who understand the college process, parents who can hire people to help their kids, etc- and will greatly disadvantage those who already face an uphill climb. You will lose kids with less resources every single time you put in another barrier. And that’s exactly what this is- a barrier.
Then what do you think is the motivation behind this?
It can not be that all of us see it as barrier yet they see it as helping the disadvantaged. How did they come up with that?
I think people at top college are completely ignorant when it comes to helping low income students.
I go to what I think is considered by many to be an “elite” school (Univ of Michigan) and I sat on in on a meeting a while ago that they held to figure out how to reach out to low income students. Not a single person that was really in charge of the new initiative had more than a very superficial knowledge of what low income students/otherwise disadvantaged students go through. They came from privileged backgrounds and didn’t think to reach out to students who actually come from the very populations they’re supposedly reaching out to.