<p>Katherine Cohen, the "acclaimed" college admissions advisor, notably with her IvyWise program of getting in 75% of her clients into the Ivy League states in her book that using the Common App instead of the school's own app looks "bad" to the college cus it shows you were lazy and didnt put effort into your application as you would with their own app. </p>
<p>I mean, i will change the common app essay somewhat for each specific college I apply to (Cornell Early decision, johns Hopkins, Brandeis, Rochester, Tufts, NYU, Boston U)......BUT IS THIS EVEN REMOTELY TRUE?</p>
<p>psh that's bs. my college counselor told me she met with a harvard admissions guy and she asked if they preferred students to use their app or the common app and their convo went
admissions: "harvard lets in smart people."
counselor: "yes, it does...." (obviously)
admissions: "smart people aren't going to fill out 10 different applications [when they don't have to]."
soo , yeah... do the common app. or else harvard will think you're foolish.</p>
<p>My daughter used the common app where she could and got into many fine schools. Don't wrry about this.</p>
<p>They wouldn't agree to take the common app if they didn't want it. That's the biggest myth circulating on this board, and I wish everyone would get it straight! So don't stress, theyre not going to reject a perfectly good app just because the form it's written on isn't their own.</p>
<p>OK, you're right. Thanks for that large response. </p>
<p>What about this...Im really stumped with this:</p>
<p>If you submit an application through the college's website, and they require a teacher rec, its so much work for a teacher to write the same thing for example 7 different schools. I dont know if i want to use the common app for certain schools, because some skools offer it free on their site and its easier in general to use online college site apps instead of the common app. I dont feel that sending the same app to 7 skools is the best thing to do.</p>
<p>So my question is this: How do i get out of this dilemma? Do i forget using skool's own apps instead using the common app for all my skools, all of whom accept it? Or do i use the sites for those that have theirs on their site? How do i use teacher evaluations if i dont want to inundate my teacher with 5 forms, but i still want that teacher to fill out my recs? Can i use the common app teacher recs and send in the app online through the college's own site?</p>