What do the New Common App Essay Questions Mean for College Admissions?
What do the New Common App Essay Questions Mean for College Admissions?
By Carol Barash, PhD, Founder and CEO, Story To College
Early yesterday morning in an email to insiders in college admissions The Common Application released the new essay questions for the fourth version of The Common App (CA4), which will be available online August 1, 2013.
The new questions are a significant shift in several ways:
Word limit: The first thing many students will notice is that the word limit is now fixed firmly at 250-650 words. Previously, there was a vague word limit of "approximately 250-500 words" but nothing stopped students from going past 500.
How essays are submitted: Where students previously uploaded their essay as an attachment to the Common App, now they will type their essays directly into CA4.
The questions themselves: The old questions were complex and multi-dimensional. Many students found it hard to parse the questions, much less answer them. The new questions are simply stated. The first question is particularly welcoming: "Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story."
There is no longer the option to ask and answer your own question, and there will be new questions every year.
Behind the new questions is a rededication to the Common Application's mission of simplifying the application process and broadening college access. In his email releasing the new questions, Scott Anderson, Director of Outreach at The Common Application, explained that the committee developing the new questions "worked diligently to ensure that all applicants, regardless of background or access to counseling, would have the chance to tell their unique stories."
Clearly, the intent is to cut through the aura of complexity that clings to the Common App, and especially the essays, and to create an essay that is explicitly user friendly and accessible to all.
The Common Application, founded in 1975 and online since 1998, is the industry leader in US college applications, the model that the majority of colleges and universities follow. There is a great deal more the Common App could do to reach its stated mission of broadening college access, simple changes that would level the admissions playing field and truly democratize US college admissions. But this is an important start and a true game-changer for every student applying to US colleges in the Class of 2014.
Want to learn tools to tell your own story in your own voice in the college admissions process? At Story To College that's what we teach. That's all we teach.
