More Applications, More Rejections, and Change Ahead?

This time last year, the Common App was in the news for its botched roll-out of its new online platform.  Students were frustrated by the many problems they encountered trying to save and submit the application.  Colleges fretted over glitches and bad downloads.  Many schools pushed back their deadlines; some highly selective schools signed on with the lesser-known Universal Application.

Ironically, the Common App is getting attention this year for its ease of use.  Well, sort of.  That's part of a bigger story surrounding the increasing applications at selective colleges.  Journalists, students, and some college administrators have begun to ask about the implications of a convenient, one-size-fits-all application that seems to cater to the anxious student's need to cast a wide net.  By making it easy to apply colleges can increase their applications.  And in doing so, they can turn away more students.  

Some places like the idea of increased applications, but it leads to less certainty.  Colleges are having a harder and harder time understanding who in their applicant pool is legitimately interested in enrolling.  So the colleges hedge their bets, too.  They rely more and more on binding early decision (these are the applicants whose interest they can be certain about), which makes life difficult for students not wanting to commit early in the process.

Could a new shared application provide a solution to the uncertainty of increased applications?  Could a less restrictive application allow colleges to ask questions of applicants that would help them make better admission decisions?  Some colleges are starting to explore that idea.  I had a conversation earlier this year with a dean of admission who noted the need for his school to not just mindlessly increase apps, but rather to reach the right students.  That dean and colleagues at a number of other schools are looking to create a new application that better fits their needs.  Perhaps by this time next year we'll be talking about an entirely new way to apply to a group of schools.