Columbia, Michigan and Connecticut Among 25 Colleges to Add Common Application

By Jacques Steinberg
Common Application Web site The Common Application Web site

Students applying to Columbia, the University of Michigan, the University of Connecticut and 22 other institutions in the next admissions season will, for the first time, be able to use the Common Application.

Rob Killion, executive director of Common Application Inc., the nonprofit organization that produces the form, said in an e-mail message that the new additions would bring the total of participating institutions to 414. The next version of the Common Application, which has spared many recent applicants the chore of composing original essays for every institution they apply to, will be available Aug. 1.

In a statement, Jessica Marinaccio, dean of undergraduate admissions at Columbia, said that adding the Common Application would “make applying to Columbia more accessible to students from every background.” She added:

“We recognize the anxiety students and families feel throughout the admissions process, and hope that the standardized nature of the Common Application will make applying easier, more convenient and less stressful for students and the counselors and teachers who support them.”

Still, for all the paperwork it saves students, the Common Application is also believed to have contributed to the arms race mentality among highly selective colleges and their applicants. Ms. Marinaccio noted in her statement that Columbia had received more than 26,000 applications for this fall’s freshman class at Columbia College and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, the most ever.

Among Ivy League institutions, Columbia is the last to add the Common Application.

Here, as provided by Mr. Killion, are the 25 colleges adding the Common Application:

Alaska Pacific University

Albany College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences

Columbia University

Concordia University in Portland, Ore.

DePaul University

Fontbonne University in St. Louis

Husson University in Bangor, Me.

Jacobs University, Bremen in Germany (the first international member)

Johnson State College in Vermont

Maritime College (SUNY)

Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y.

Morrisville State College (State University of New York)

Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md., and Santa Fe, N.M.

Stephens College in Columbia, Mo.

SUNY Potsdam

University of Maryland, Baltimore County

University of Connecticut

University of Michigan

University of North Carolina, Asheville

Western New England College

Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Xavier University of Louisiana

Yeshiva University

At this point, Mr. Killion said, the colleges with national profiles that do not accept the Common Application are the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgetown, the University of Southern California and Howard.

To post a comment on the Common Application, please use the box below. I have also reached out to the deans of admission at Michigan and Connecticut, and will update this post with their responses, should I receive them.

Comments are no longer being accepted.

Crimson Wife March 23, 2010 · 1:11 pm

I’m surprised that it took Columbia and Michigan so long to accept the Common App and that MIT and Georgetown still don’t.

I do agree, however, that the rise of the Common App has made it way too easy for kids to apply to large numbers of schools. Back 15 years ago when I applied it was a major production to do individual apps and hardly anybody I knew did more than 4. Today it seems like most kids are applying to 10+ schools. No wonder the acceptance rates are now in the single digits at the top colleges…

Flora March 23, 2010 · 1:27 pm

Of course Columbia and Michigan would transition to the Common Application the year after I applied…

Paul March 23, 2010 · 2:05 pm

Flora,
Yeah, we’re quite lucky. Had we applied next year, we’d face a much higher number of applicants and much higher selectivity!

It’s a shame for Columbia, since accessibility is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s easier for disadvantaged applicants (poor, first-generation applicants especially), but on the other hand, it’s easier for Ivy collectors to apply to as well. People will apply, be admitted, and then choose to attend another school. Not being on that common app mitigates that to some extent, since less people not truly interested in the school will be less likely to apply!

Of course, that only applies to selective private schools. I have no idea why an open-enrollment public school wouldn’t adopt a common app. If they’re not selective, they should try to maximize accessibility.

not_satisfied March 23, 2010 · 6:02 pm

what about UC Berkeley and UCLA? are they not nationally-known?

Jeff March 23, 2010 · 8:59 pm

I don’t see it is a bad thing that the Common App makes it possible for students to apply to more schools. My child applied for ten schools, and when the scholarship and financial aid packages started arriving, it became clear that not all schools are created equal when it comes to meeting need. The difference in cost to our family from the various offers so far has been more than $8000 a year, or $32,000 over four years. Given the fact that any amount over the lowest cost college would have to be covered with loans, and it is pretty apparent that having more options can make a big difference.

Rob Killion March 23, 2010 · 11:37 pm

Hi all – Regarding not_satisfied’s comment – my quote referenced the remaining *private* national universities.

anon March 24, 2010 · 1:22 am

I strongly second not_satisfied! What about the University of California system???

Comment March 24, 2010 · 8:04 am

regardless – i think it is clear that there is some need for ‘smarter applying.’

as a columbia graduate; i’m proud it was a holdout. i know the reasons that the university held out, and for them it was sort of this unsettling aspect to hear students (and particularly their counselors) become so narrowminded in their approach to college applications that folks would ONLY apply to schools on the common app to reduce duplicity. in fact it is because in disadvantaged or overburdened schools that counselors restricted their students to commonapp schools that even such a jump could be fathomable. i mean – even without the commonapp columbia had the most diversity within the ivy league. but perception is key – and students clearly limit their choices based on who is on the commonapp.

it has in a sense become the exact form of trust operation that limits competition for those not within its fold, ironic considering the law on the books regarding university collusion.

and to think less than a decade ago even with the internet, there i was handwriting my columbia application that i got in the mail. alas, sans souci, its time to play the game again.

Parker Murray March 24, 2010 · 11:02 pm

Of all the listed colleges, St. John’s in New Mexico and Maryland stands out to me most. This move (switching to the Common Application) seems a strange one for such a progressive institution. I, for one, put off doing the application until I received the decision from my ED school–St. Johns’s had a rather lengthy essay requirement.

TNA April 4, 2011 · 12:17 am

I cannot believe that Georgetown and MIT still have not gone to the common app.

I just remember being so confused and aggravated by Georgetown’s website to begin with, and it is still a mess to navigate today. I ended up not applying.