<p>
[quote]
Over the past decade, the online version of the "Common Application" has quickly risen to superstar status in the college admissions world. More than 300 top-tier colleges and universities use it and the nonprofit outfit recently processed its millionth online application. </p>
<p>Last month a new competitor, Baltimore-based ApplicationsOnline, entered the field. At first glance the company's product, the "Universal College Application," looks like a sibling of the online Common Application: its software is the same, its team of engineers includes some of the same members, and its founder is a businessman whose company worked as a technology contractor for the Common Application for nearly a decade.
<p>It's basically a common application without essays or recommendations. Since the common application requires essays/recommendations, they're trying to cater towards public schools. Interesting...a good number of schools are already using it too, including WashU and JHU.</p>
<p>List of schools currently using the "Universal College Application":</p>
<p>
[quote]
Clark University
Drew University
Drexel University
Duke University
Guilford College
Harvard College
Illinois Institute of Technology
Johns Hopkins University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Seattle University
Susquehanna University
University of Maine Farmington
Ursinus College
Villa Julie College
Washington University in St. Louis
Wesley College
WPI (Worcester Polytechnic Institute)
<p>I think CommonApp could meet this new competitor rather effectively by allowing its member schools to opt out of the essay and recommendation portions. The applicant would still fill out those portions if some of their schools required it, but only those schools who require the essay and recommendations would receive them.</p>
<p>It seems that this would allow Common App to provide the same service as Universal with what seems to me, at least, is a simple modification. Common App would then likely remain vastly more popular than Universal, because it would include the service Universal provides without requiring the applicant to fill out duplicate information in another application.</p>
<p>I like the fact that the essays and recommendations aren't in this- that way you could choose which essays and which recommendations go to which colleges. More colleges should become members. Common App should be scared.</p>
<p>Sounds like they also want to get more public schools and more schools in general to use this. Less selective colleges sometimes don't require essays/recs so this might work better for them. I don't know what the costs are of the new system but I figure more choices is always a better thing.</p>
<p>i suppose it would work for the schools that dont need recs or essays but I feel like most schools do want recs and essays. also, for the common ap, if you do it online, you send the reccomendations separately and if a school doesnt need them, then you just send that part of the common ap and it doesnt matter if you don't send the rec part in the mail. frankly, i think most colleges should have at least one essay, which is what the common ap has. it's not a long essay really. it just gives the colleges an idea of the persons writing skills and something about them.</p>
<p>From the article in the Chronicle</a> of Higher Education:
"Only about 400 colleges in the United States require the application standards necessary for the Common Application, and 315 of them are already members. Rob Killion, executive director of the Common Application, said that his company had no plans to change its standards, and that low-income students were best served by a more intensive admissions process because it allows colleges to evaluate students on the basis of measures other than test scores and grades."</p>
<p>I think the Universal App is a good supplement to the Common App. The Common App is meant to be for colleges that use a holistic admission approach and the Universal App can be used by all other colleges.</p>
<p>What's the point? You still have to do the application AND the supplement for the "selective" colleges. So there's no difference between the Common App and the Unversal App. </p>
<p>If less selective colleges don't want (or need) to use essays then they just don't provide a supplement. </p>
<p>Have any of you actually looked at the Universal College App online? I did and, on page 5, there is a Short Essay (100-150 words) as well as a Personal Statement (500 words or fewer). These are marked with a red asterisk which indicates that they are required. If you look at the downloadable/printable version, there are also these essays on page 5. BTW, there are also reccommendation forms, which I suppose you would use if your college required them. So, I don't understand why the article says that the essays aren't required. These are clearly on the application and asterisked online.</p>
<p>The Universal app DOES require essays - the same 150 word one about EC's and also one 500 word essay. Plus there are teacher recs, except they just bubble in their approval rating of you (as opposed to writing a small essay about you)</p>