What's Happening in College Admission?

This year, each College Connection issue will feature an article about a current college admission topic. The following story focuses on the Common Application. 

COMMON APPLICATION INCREASES COLLEGE MEMBERSHIP AND STUDENT USAGE
An undergraduate college admission application, the Common Application is used by more than one million students annually to apply to one or more of the Common App’s 1,100 member institutions. Students save time by filling out the application once and submitting the same information to different institutions.

Last season, the Common App welcomed over 1.4 million first-year applicants who submitted nearly 9.5 million applications to 1,074 member institutions—a 7% rise in distinct applicants and an 11% increase in total applications compared to the previous year.

Notably, the Common App reported that it also saw significant growth among underrepresented minority groups, first-generation students, and applicants from low-income backgrounds, with an 11% increase in applications from underrepresented minorities, particularly American Indian, Latinx, and Black or African American students.

Of the Common App’s member institutions, about one-third of them are “exclusive users” that use the Common App as their only admission application. For institutions that accept the Common App and maintain their own institutional application, both applications are given equal consideration no matter which application a student uses. 

FWCD juniors complete the Common App as a spring College Counseling Class assignment. This early introduction to the college application boosts students’ confidence and provides them a leg up in the application process long before they submit their first application in August or September of their senior year.