THE COMMON APPLICATION

Transcription

1 TIME TO APPLY

2 WHICH APPLICATION? Approximately 2.5 million high school students will apply for post-secondary education. The process can be painless and effective by being organized. You will need to complete college/university applications for each post-secondary school. All admissions offices are encouraging students to complete applications online. A few post-secondary schools waive the application fee for online applications. Some schools will waive the admission fee if you apply when you are visiting the campus. IMPORTANT: Please be sure to read the pages in this binder regarding writing essays, having your transcript sent, and obtaining recommendations. rl Common Applications: There are 527 colleges/universities that use the Common Application. To obtain the application, check the school's website or go to THE COMMON APPLICATION WILL NOW BE ONLINE-. 9NLY APPLICATION.. The application will no longer be available in paper form or as a downloadable.document for mailing. Students can still pri.nt-previ'~w an application, but the print-preview must not be mailed to a college. There have been numerous changes in the Common Appl~cation, read the instructions carefully. Online Applications: Most colleges and universities are using their website to manage their applications. Contact the school or visit its website. Please note: Before you click the "submit" button, print and proofread the hard copy of the application. Pennsylvania State System Universities' Applications: The State System of Higher Education s interactive web application process enables students to apply easily to one or more of the fourteen State System universities. Simply complete and submit any one university's application form at website and then select your additional institution(s). All of the common questions/fields share the data that is entered in the first application, so there is no need to re-enter the same information. If you change the information on one form, it is changed on all of the other forms. Please note: the application fees are collected online with a Visa or MasterCard payment on a secure server. If the fee is omitted, then the application will not be transmitted into the admissions system. The web application server stores the information you enter under the private user name and password you establish. Nothing entered on an application form is sent to the institution until it is transmitted. An application does not have to be compl~ted in one sitting. 24

3 THE COMMON APPLICATION FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS GENERAL QUESTIONS WHAT IS THE CO:MMON APPLICATION? The Common Application is a not-for-profit organization that serves students and member institutions by providing an admission application - online and in print - that students may submit to any of our 527 members. WHYUSEIT? Once completed online or in print, copies of the Application for Undergraduate Admission can be sent to any number of participating colleges. The same is true of the School Report, Optional Report, Midyear Report, Final Report and Teacher Evaluation forms. This allows you to spend less time on the busywork of applying for admission, and more time on what's really important: college research, visits, essay writing, and senior year coursework. IS IT WIDELY USED? Absolutely! Millions of Common Applications are printed and accepted by our members each year. In addition, last year almost 2.5 million applications were submitted via the Common App Online. IS IT TREATED FAIRLY? YES! Our college and university members have worked together over the past 35 years to develop the application. All members fully support its use, and all give equal consideration to the Common Application and the college's own form. Many of our members use the Common Application as their only undergraduate admission application. CAN ALL COLLEGES PARTICIPATE? Membership is limited to colleges and.universities that evaluate students using a holistic selection process. A holistic process includes subjective as well as objective criteria, including at least one recommendation form, at least one untimed essay, and broader campus diversity considerations. The vast majority of colleges and universities in the US use only objective criteria- grades and test scores - and therefore are not eligible to join. If a college or university is not listed on this website, they are not members of the consortium. Sending the Common Application to non-members are prohibited. WHAT IS THE COlvfMON APP ONLINE SCHOOL FORMS SYSTEM? As part of the application process, schools require a variety of information to be provided by teachers and guidance counselors who have interacted with you in the high school environment. Until last year, those forms were only available as PDF files that could be printed, copied, and mailed to the appropriate colleges. Now each teacher and counselor will have the option to complete the forms online via the Common App Online School Forms system if they desire. There is no cost to you or high schools, and using the online system is completely optional for your teachers and counselor. 25

4 When you create an account on the Common App Online, you must first indicate what high school you attend. Once this information has been saved, you can access a 'School Forms' section of the Common App where teachers and counselors can be identified. By adding a teacher or counselor to the list of school officials, an is triggered to the teacher or counselor with information about how to log into the Online School Forms system or how to opt for the "offline" or paper process. You are then able to track the progress ofyour various teachers and counselors via a screen within the Common App Online. TECHNICAL QUESTIONS HOW DO I GET HELP? If you are experiencing technical difficulties with the Common App Online, if you need to request your usemame or password, or if you have a general question about the Common Application (including access to our numerous F AQs), please submit a request to the online Support Center. All you receive from technical support will be sent from appsupport@commonapp.net Please be sure to add this address to your address book and/or safe list to prevent the messages from being blocked as "SP AM." This is particularly important for AOL users. IS PHONE SUPPORT AVAILABLE? No. In order to maintain the Common App Online as a free service to students and high schools, all tech support is provided via a much more cost-efficient system. Applicants: Please access the Application Support Center. Please do NOT submit support requests on behalf of a school official; the school official should submit those directly in order to avoid confusion and speed the resolution of problems. TIPS FOR CO:MPLETING THE COMMON APP ONLINE Save your work often. Logout after each session. Use a word processor to type your writing samples before cutting and pasting or uploading them into the online forms. Use Print Previews to view your forms before submitting. (You will need to install Adobe Acrobat Reader. It's free.) FOR INFORMATION ABOUT SPECIFIC COLLEGES AND THEIR REQUIREMANTS, GO TO: Go to: Go to: Member Colleges and Universities Click on: College Info Click on: The specific college to find the application requirements and deadlines 26

5 Choose a Career School Carefully Need training for a job? Before you sign up for career training,.first think about the type of training you'll need. Define your goals. Do you want to learn a skill, prepare for a test, or get a license or certification? Does on-the-job training, a community college program, an online course, or a career school make the most sense? Talk to someone you trust. If you're in high school, your school counselor can help you focus on your needs and goals, and he or she will have information about different types of schools. Your counselor also can help you collect or prepare application materials. If you're no longer in school, try an Educational Opportunity Center (search online for "educational opportunity center" and your state's name) or a One-Stop Career Center ( for advice. Visit our website at You'll find a tool that lets you search for a school based on its location, size, degree offerings, and other factors. Just enter your choices, and the search tool will tell you which schools fit your preferences. Going to school is a lifetime investment. Shop around. Statistics show that getting training after high school will help you get a better-paying job doing work you like. But going to school is a big investment. You're investing your time. Chances are you'll also have to invest your own money or take out a student loan to go to school. So you need to be sure that you're choosing the right school. You should check out more than one school, and take the following steps for each: Do a background check. Does the school offer a good combination of affordable fees and a solid education? Ask employers you might want to work for what they think about the school. Talk to recent graduates to ask about their experience at the school. Contact the agency that licenses or accredits the school to see whether it meets required standards. Check the Better Business Bureau ( Download this fact sheet at your state higher education agency, or the consumerprotection division of your state attorney general's office to find out whether there have been any complaints about the school. Visit the school Contact the school and schedule a visit, preferably while classes are being taught Take the time to talk with current students. Get a feel for the school; make sure you're comfortable with the facilities, the equipment, the teachers, and the students. Don't be afraid to ask! A good school will be happy to answer your questions about its programs. Ask the school about its students: How many graduate? How many get jobs because of the training they received? What kind of job placement services does the school offer? Check the cost. Make sure the school gives you a clear statement of its tuition and fees. Remember that any financial aid you get will be applied first to paying the school's tuition and fees. If there's any money left over, the school will give it to you to help you pay for things such as food and rent. Call the U.S. Department of Education's Federal Student Aid Information Center toll free at FED-AID if you have any questions about your financial aid at the school. You also can access our website at Important points: Take your time. Don't sign a contract until you've read it... and understood it Ask questions about repayment terms, refund and cancellation policies, and finding a job after you finish the course. What happens if you have to quit before you finish? It's a good idea to ask someone you trust to read and evaluate the forms too. Ifyou're unhappy with the school or program you chose- or if you think you were misled-complain. To whom? The agency that licenses or accredits the school, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Better Business Bureau. For further information about choosing a career school, access the Consumer Protection area of the Federal Trade Commission's website at edu/pubs/ consumer/products /prol3.pdf. 27 START HERE :::::::. G 0 F U R THE R.::::. :::: FEDERAL STUDENT AID