With all of the questions surrounding the college application process, the Common Application is designed to alleviate confusion and help streamline the application process. With all of the follow up concerns we field at Study Hut about the Common App, it is clear that there is still plenty of confusion regarding how this process works.

The Common Application membership association is a non-profit organization that allows first-year and transfer students to apply to over 500 colleges and universities using one simple application. For nearly 35 years this organization has supported countless students in applying to a variety of schools including private, public, bi-coastal, Midwestern, and even international.
Applications are available in both online and print versions to member institutions that promote student access to education through using a well-rounded evaluation and selection process. With the help of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) students have been provided with reliable services that promote success in the college application process.

In more simple English, certain colleges and universities accept the common application in place of an application specifically to that particular school. This is advantageous to students; it allows students to fill out the common application, including the essay and short answer questions, and then select which schools to apply to. Any student or parent who has ever been through the arduous college application process knows how tedious it can be to fill out application information over and over and over. With the Common Application, students can apply to any participating school by simply clicking on that school and selecting it for application. Obviously, there is a cost for this, as there will be will all college applications, but it is no more costly than any other application. With the Common App, students can focus on making sure that their essays and responses are perfect, and then move on to focus on the bigger, more important question: what college do I want to attend?