Common Application Goes Mobile to Make It More Convenient for Students

For many high school seniors, applying to several schools used to seem like quite a daunting feat because of the numerous different essay questions that each school asked. Luckily, a Common Application was created as a way to cut down the amount of time and effort involved in applying to various schools.
In the past year, there were some technical issues that made the Common Application somewhat difficult, and at times even more stressful than traditional applications. However, it now seems that these bugs have been worked out and a mobile version is available for students to access via their smartphones.
The new mobile site allows high school seniors to use their phones to check on the status of their applications, payment, and any other materials that might be required. Currently, 456 colleges are accepting the Common Application, but most of these schools also require addition application materials.
Technically, the students who are applying with the Common Application could also fill out the application on their smartphones, but this does not seem logical.
“You could take your iPhone right now and you could go to IRS.org and fill out your tax return if you wanted to do that on a three-inch screen, but it’s just not very handy,” said Rob Killion, executive director of the Common Application. “The same thing is true for the Common App. For us, it was the monitoring part…for those students who want to quickly track what they’ve done [and] remind themselves what they haven’t done.”
Another challenge to filling out the Common Application on a smartphone is the essay section of the application. The Common Application requires an essay of up to 500 words. Now, I’m an avid texter, but even I don’t want to face that big of a writing assignment on my smartphone. I can’t imagine how many typos I would end up having.
“I’d be really impressed if [the students] were able to get their whole essay error free on a phone,” said Deb Stieffel, vice president of Susquehanna University‘s enrollment management.
Megan Greer is the associate director of admissions at Meredith College. Greer feels that creating a mobile site for the Common Application was a step in the right direction.
“With all of the technology we have now and all of the apps, that’s just a way of life,” she said. “That’s one thing we’re seeing in communicating with our students: They text all the time. They’re on the phones like [they’re] another appendage.”
It seems like this will be a great thing for those who are applying to college. Having a mobile site will make it much more convenient for students to stay on top of the entire process.
“This is the way the world is trending – particularly young folks,” said Killion. “To not acknowledge that people are wanting to interact with our website from their mobile device is to ignore what’s happening in the world.”
Via US News
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