Nearing the end of January means nearing the end of the college application season. Common App is the most popular application portal for applying to private colleges in the United States, providing thousands of options available immediately. Students are easily able to fill out details about their background, grades, interests, extracurriculars, and more that are sent to all colleges or universities of their choice. Though private schools most often offer early action or decision, January is the marking period for regular decision applicants. Starting as soon as January 1st and leading into early February, if high school seniors choose to apply, regular decision is their choice. Here’s how different high school seniors have felt this regular decision season.
Overall Experience
High school senior Kate Maldonado used Common App to apply in-state, applying to one school, the University of Southern California.
Compared to Cal-State and UC portals, the Common App differs in how it requires a single main essay, the personal statement.
Maldonado stated, “I feel like nobody’s taught how to write supplemental essays…it was a little difficult, but I asked a couple of friends and on the internet I saw tips and tricks…”
Some universities and colleges require additional supplemental essays that can be answered through the Common App portal, which Maldonado had to fill out for USC. She stated, “For each college at USC you have to write an additional essay. The one I did [asked for] something that [I’m] passionate about, so that was a bit more easy.”
Overall, Maldonado stated her experience was, “…stressful but it was definitely worth it because I hope I get into USC.”
Maldonado also believes that rising seniors should be encouraged to pursue applying on Common App, stating, “California really offers a lot of public schools, but I think many of our Kennedy students are very high achieving and I think it’s good for them to apply out of state or to some private schools.”
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High school senior Joselyn Alvarado chose to apply on Common App as well, applying to six different schools.
Alvarado praised the Common App experience, stating, “[Applying] was relatively easy because [Common App is] pretty user friendly and it lets me sort through in-state, out of state, based on my qualifications, and if I get direct-admission. It’s just pretty easy to navigate.”
Alvarado detailed the supplemental experience as well, stating, “For some of the universities I didn’t have to do full essays besides my common app essay. [For some], there’s just questions that were a maximum of 250 words.”
The supplemental factors also made Alvarado think about applications and where she wanted to go in more depth. “…it was kind of eye-opening because it asked me questions like why I would want to go to that school. It made me reflect on my values and beliefs and where I truly desired to go.”
Alvarado ended by stating, “Overall it was pretty fun and easy, the worst part was just meeting the deadlines.” Thankfully, Common App sorts all of a student’s deadlines, making the experience easier.
Alternate Experiences
High school senior Colin Chong had a unique experience navigating through Common App. Unlike most scholars, Chong applied for the Posse Scholarship, though it still required applying with Common App’s regular decision.
“It’s a merit-based leadership and academic scholarship for students that demonstrate strong leadership qualities and provide them with a full-tuition scholarship for four years at a selective university,” Chong explained, stating he went through three rounds of interviews.
Chong got accepted into Middlebury College but didn’t have any supplemental requirements on the Common Application. He detailed his experience on Common App, stating, “My overall experience was very stressful. I re-did my personal statement five times within one week. I felt like Hamilton writing his essays.”
Now that the stress is over, Chong is most excited to, “…reconnect with nature and learn how to live by [himself].”
Now that the season for applications is over, soon-to-be seniors can look forward to filling out their Common App in the upcoming year, with it being an available resource that students can choose to pursue for applying to private colleges and universities if they desire. Though these seniors opted for regular decision applications, some schools on Common App have early action and decision starting as soon as November this year to be considered.
