The Foreign Service Journal, December 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2013 53 T he Common Application, or “Common App” (www.commonapp.org ), was designed 35 years ago by a group of 15 colleges as a way to stream- line the American college application process. Since then, it has grown steadily in popularity each year, and more than 520 member institutions now utilize the application. A tool like the Common App makes sense: applications to colleges have increased exponentially in the past decade; today most high school seniors apply to seven or more schools. The new Common App includes the following sections, each of which can be filled out online and saved until the application is complete: ■ Essay (250-650 words in answer to one of five questions, or “prompts”) ■ Explanations (a way to explain disciplinary actions, criminal activity or interruption of education) ■ Additional Information (optional, where you can provide information not covered in the rest of the application) ■ College Page One (general informa- tion needed by the colleges you are apply- THE REVISED COMMON APP Here is a timely guide that will help you make the most of the Revised Common Application and its new essay prompts. BY FRANCESCA KE L LY Francesca Kelly, a Foreign Service spouse, is a writer and college essay application tutor. She writes frequently on education issues, and is a former editor of AFSA News. ing to. There will be one of these pages for each of your colleges.) ■ College Page Two (an additional writing supplement if required by your selected colleges) Although the Common App has been offered online since 1996, until this year it was also available in paper form for those who eschewed the online process. But the current (2013–2014) application season marks the start of a paperless, completely Web-based process. With this change have come a number of other changes to the application. Of these, the most important are in the newWriting section, including revised prompts and a more generous length. That’s the good news. Unfortunately, the new Common App is also full of glitches—some merely inconvenient, oth- ers serious enough that dozens of schools have pushed back their application dead- lines. More about those later. EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT ■ Profile (contacts, demographics, geography) ■ Family (household, parent/guardian, siblings) ■ Education (current school, history, academics) ■ Testing (results of college entrance and other exams) ■ Activities (10 slots maximum, a new limitation)