The Common Application is a standard series of forms and essay prompts that are accepted at over 600 colleges nationwide. The goal of the Common App is to simplify the college application process by allowing students to send essentially the same application to multiple schools. For the most part, Ivy League schools require in a more personal application, and big state schools have individual processes to control their large flow of applicants, but many small, private schools will accept the Common App.

Usually the Common App prompts are released in August, but this year it was announced in May that the essay prompts for the application will remain the same as they were for the 2015-2016 school year. Teachers suggest it could be because the current rising seniors already had to manage the transition from the old SAT to the new SAT. This gives rising seniors the chance to start the Common Application right now if they so choose, and students are wondering what the pros and cons are of these precious extra months.

Rising Senior Liz Benjamin foresees herself needing the common app frequently in the near future because she wants to apply to many small, private schools.

“I think I’m going to work with a college counselor outside of Academy to get a large part of the Common App done before school starts.” she plans.

While Benjamin thinks that the extra time will make the process of completing the application less stressful, she suggests that there may be some drawbacks.

“I think they [college admissions] will definitely be expecting more detailed and interesting essays since we do have so much more time than the past seniors.”

Marco Benson has enjoyed two weeks of summer break from Jesuit and has already thought about the common Application.

“I’ll probably start it next week.” he offers.

Unlike Benjamin, Benson views the Common App as “one more thing on his plate”, after escaping a strenuous junior year.

Although it seems odd to Benson to fill out the application without technically being a senior, he does concede,

“I think we can complete it just as well as we would in August.”

What local schools accept the common app?

Florida State University              NO

University of Florida                   NO

University of Tampa                     YES

Florida Southern                          YES

Florida Atlantic University         NO