College application season is here. People say that senior year is the best year of high school…until seniors have to start those dreaded, yet door opening, college applications. Students may not know a good essay topic to write about or what colleges they want to apply to yet, but the main issue is that not many people don’t know where to start. 

The first decision a senior has to make is how to go about applying to schools, the Common App or the actual college website. For incoming college students, many people don’t even know what goes into each application.

Applying through the Common App is indeed a painful process that takes hours to complete, but in many ways, it is a better way to apply to college than through the college website, and here’s why.

“I think it depends on what each student is doing specifically. The Common App is obviously made so that you can get a lot of schools done in one shot, but it really depends on what school each student is applying to, how they are going to apply, and what other pieces are needed for the application.” North Penn High School’s College and Career Center counselor Pat Brett stated.

Some students agreed that the Common App requires less stress and is indeed helpful in many ways.

“I think that the Common App is way better. There are universities that aren’t on the Common App but I think that only doing one college on a website and having to do the rest on the Common App is way better. It’s less stressful,” North Penn High School senior Xander Garcia explained.

“I think it’s easier to apply through the Common App because you can fill out the basic info about yourself and have it sent to all of the colleges you want to apply to rather than having to fill it out on each individual college website,” North Penn High School senior Savannah Bielecki said. “It’s also much more efficient and less time consuming.”

Through the Common App, all of the questions have to be answered only one or two times. Students fill in some basic information which can be tedious, but don’t have to keep filling out the same information over and over again on every college website application. After personally going through the application process already, I can say that applying through the Common App helped relieve some of my stress because I was able to save my work if I wanted to take a break. 

On the other hand, some schools require extra essays that need to be filled out after applying that can only be filled out on the college website. 

“Maybe you’re going for a specific program that needs other pieces filled out in the actual college application website, then do the college website,” Brett explained.

One final thing that makes the Common App better is that it allows students to apply to multiple schools in one shot.

“If you’re applying to more than one school utilizing the Common App, then the Common App is the right place to apply,” Brett said. If students have any more questions during the college application process, they should visit Mr. Brett in the Future Plans Center.