Dive Brief:
- The Common Application’s plan to let colleges add an extra question about where else students are applying is drawing criticism from many admissions officers.
- The National Association of College Admission Counseling has argued this type of question puts undue pressure on applicants and opens the door for schools to admit students based on their likelihood of attending, Inside Higher Ed reports.
- NACAC bans institutions from asking students to order their school preferences and encourages the best practice of asking no questions relating to other applications, according to the article.
Dive Insight:
More than 500 institutions in the U.S. and abroad use the Common Application for student admissions. This allows students to fill out a single application and send it to multiple schools, making the process faster and easier. Accepting the Common App also increases the number of students applying to a school, making enrollment numbers seem more selective for institutions. Representatives from Common Application have not addressed criticism about the plan to add this new question. Colleges are, in part, judged on the number of students they enroll out of the number accepted.