By Emily OlsonThe Daily Northwestern
The increase in early decision applications this fall could be due to the introduction of the Common Application, said Keith Todd, director of undergraduate admissions.
This was the first year prospective freshmen had the option of submitting the Common Application, a form used by 300 universities across the country, to Northwestern.
NU saw a 7 percent increase in early decision applications, from 1,220 in 2005 to 1,302 in 2006. Of the students who applied Early Decision this year, 573 were admitted.
Although more current data is not available, 73 percent of colleges reported increases in applications last year, according to May 2006 data from the National Association for College Admission Counseling.
“Peer research shows that when a school joins the Common Application, there is a significant increase in application numbers the first year and a steady increase after that,” Todd said.
The admissions office still is calculating the number of students who used the Common Application to apply to NU this year. Todd said there was “a lot of traffic” on the Common Application, although numbers won’t be available until Regular Decision applications are tallied.
In addition to the application form, NU applicants who use the Common Application, also submit a supplement that includes short-answer questions and an essay on why they’re applying to the school.
Last year, NU joined the Common Application membership association after reviewing the admission procedures of its peer institutions, Todd said.
“When you look at other highly selective universities, almost all of them, with a few exceptions, are Common Application members,” he said.
In order to join the association, NU had to sign an agreement stating that Common Applications would be treated the same way as NU’s own application in the admissions process. Todd said the Common Application would bring a more diverse applicant pool to NU, including students from urban areas and small towns.
“The Common Application is one of the few useful tools some students have to reach colleges,” he said. “It caters to a wider variety of backgrounds.”
Todd said he thinks students feel encouraged by the Common Application because it seems easier, eliminates redundancy and offers a more efficient way to organize the application process, he said.
Some of this year’s Early Decision admits agree that the Common Application helped simplify the process of applying to NU.
Liza Heiligman, a senior at Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, Minn., planned to apply to NU before she knew she could use the Common Application. But she found the Common Application easier to complete.
“I had already filled it out for other schools, and the supplement was not nearly as hard as others,” she said.
But despite the popularity of the Common Application, some students still chose the traditional NU form.
Michael Byerley, a senior at Lemont Township High School in the Chicago area, researched both applications before choosing NU’s, finding it “more straightforward and easier to accomplish than the Common Application.”
But Todd predicts the majority sided with Heiligman.
Students such as George Bajalia, a senior at Episcopal High School, in Jacksonville, Fla., could research a wider range of universities with a single application while still completing a supplement specific to NU.
“The Common Application for NU seemed like the most natural and easiest of all my applications,” Bajalia said. “In the end, the whole process really wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”
Reach Emily Olson at [email protected].
