<p>Reviewing the application forms for Bryn Mawr, we discovered that they "prefer" online apps but offer only the Common App + supplement online. By post you can submit an all Bryn Mawr App. </p>
<p>The difference is that BMC requires its own essay on its app and the same one on the supplement. But suppose you send the Common App--would you have to write two essays? One on the CA and one on the supplement? Or could you use the supplement essay as "any topic" on the CA--thus still submitting one essay. It seems odd that some admissions applicants would be submitting an extra essay.</p>
<p>Also, if you submit the CA online--must you send the same essay version to all schools or can you submit different essays tailored to different schools?</p>
<p>We are getting a confused by this--some of my D's choices insist on the Common App plus supplement-- some give a choice.</p>
<p>I am surprised that BMC would ask for two essays, both the same. It does not make sense. You are right that some colleges just use the Common App, and some insist on having a supplement as well. For Harvard, my S used the Common App and used the writing prompt about a significant event or activity. He wrote an essay for the supplement, using the "any topic" writing prompt.
If you use the Common App for more than one college, you can definitely use different essays for different colleges.</p>
<p>marite, are you saying your son only wrote one essay by using the "any topic" prompt?
And are you saying that you can submit the common app online multiple times to different colleges with different essays--or is this only possible when mailing by post?</p>
<p>You can submit the common app to different colleges with different essays. Basically, you fill out the common app one time and submit to as many colleges as you want with version 1; then you go back and edit, save version 2, and mail that to as many as you want. I personally feel there should be a separate version for each college, and that info should be tailored & amended as needed to suit -- the common app is still convenient because you don't have to re-enter all of the demographic information.</p>
<p>That being said, 5 years ago my son submitted the same basic essay to all 9 colleges he applied to -- and was admitted to 8 - so it didn't hurt any.</p>
<p>No. My S wrote two essays. One was about a significant event and one, on the "any topic" prompt was about his love of writing. For the rest, Calmom is right.</p>
<p>Marite, I'm confused as to whether you mean the long and short essays for the common ap.,(the short one being an elaboration of an extracurricular activity, the long one about anything)-- for Harvard, that's all that's required. However, you can do an additional "optional" essay if you feel that it presents something not already shown about yourself (which my S did do). So, when you say your son did two essays, do you mean he also did the optional one (total of three essays-one short and two long)?</p>
<p>Hmm... If I remember correctly, my S did two long essays, one for the Common App and one for the Supplement; the second one was indeed the optional one. He also wrote a quite short paragraph about his extra-curricular activities. I suppose I don't count this as writing an essay. I doubt it was more than 100 words, if that.</p>