With the college application deadlines rapidly approaching, the series of glitches that seem to continually bombard the Common Application website has been a great concern for many students across the nation.
“I came across glitches multiple times while trying to access the Common App. My first attempt to signing onto the website led me to an error page. The next time I tried logging in, the site indicated that my username and password apparently didn’t exist,” senior Alex Jiang explained.
Students have reported various technical difficulties such as frozen web screens or being led to an additional link to pay multiple fees for one application. Other students even noted that they were blocked out of their accounts due to their user names and passwords supposedly “no longer existing.” Not only did students have trouble submitting their applications and essays, but teachers and counselors also had trouble uploading student recommendation and other documents online.
“Using Common App for the first time was kind of confusing. There were long and tedious sections to fill. Sometimes, I wasn’t really exactly sure about what or how I was supposed to fill certain things in,” senior Stephanie Zacher commented.
Over 515 universities and colleges around the country use the Common Application as the main method for admitting prospective students. All of the Ivy League schools and many public universities utilize this admissions system, but since the release of the fourth online version of the Common App on Aug. 1, both students and teachers have reported multiple complaints.
“This year, Common App changed the format of the website so that my old login and password was no longer valid. I had to create a brand new login and password. There were actually a couple other problems too. As a teacher user, I was directed to the applicant form multiple times instead of the teacher’s page. The new format was sometimes confusing to use. Another thing I noticed was that Internet Explorer would lag quite often while on the Common App website. Google Chrome worked a lot better and faster,” science teacher Eric Sorensen commented.
However, students applying early for certain schools do not need to be too alarmed. Because of the numerous complaints about Common App malfunctions, many schools have extended their deadlines in order to appease the students applying for early action or early decision admission.
Well-known schools that receive the submissions of tens of thousands of applicants such as University of Chicago and Columbia, and Northwestern University pushed back their deadline from Nov. 1 to Nov. 8. Other schools are also planning to extend their due dates and notify early applicants soon.
