Common App vs Direct College Applications

Number of Applications

You can submit your application to multiple colleges at once using the Common App. You can apply to a maximum of 20 colleges using the Common App. For more information, see this post here.

You will need to apply to each college individually through their respective application portals.

Efficiency

This is an efficient way to apply to colleges and will save you time compared to direct colleges applications. You only need to fill out one application instead of filling out multiple applications for different colleges.

Direct applications takes up more time as you will need to fill out individual applications for each college you want to apply to. This can become repetitive when filling out personal information and is more time-consuming.

Essay Requirements

Only one essay is required to submit an application using the Common App. If the college requires supplemental essays in addition to the Common App essay, there should be a section allowing you to submit supplementary essays on the Common App platform.

The essay prompts are not centralized and each college will have its own set of prompts that you need to answer. You may need to write more than one essay for each college which can be more time consuming than writing a singular essay for the Common App platform.

Application Fees

The application fee varies by institute and the total application fees for each institute can be paid collectively in one place on the Common App platform.

The application fee varies by institute, however you will need to make the payments individually through each college's application portals.

Fee Waivers

You can apply for fee waivers on the Common App platform for all colleges you have selected. This centralizes the application process and ensures your application fee waiver request and counsellor verification can be sent to all the colleges you want to apply to. For a guide on how to apply for a Common App fee waiver, see this post here.

You will need to apply to each college individually to request a fee waiver. Each college may have a different application process which might make it confusing to apply for fee waivers. If counselor verification is required, your counsellor will need to submit multiple verification instead of just one verification as needed by the Common App.

Account Management

It is easier to manage login details as only one account is needed for all the colleges you want to apply to.

It might be more difficult to keep track of login credentials as you will need to create multiple accounts for all the different colleges you want to apply to.

Recommendation Letters

All recommendation letters submitted by your teachers and counsellors can be viewed by all the schools you have applied to. Your teacher or counsellor will only need to submit a recommendation letter once.

Your teacher or counsellor will need to submit their recommendation letters multiple times to all the different colleges you have applied to, which can be time-consuming for them, especially when they may be writing recommendation letters for other students as well.

Deadline Reminders

The Common App portal will send you deadline reminders which are useful in helping you avoid missing any major deadlines.

Deadline reminders are usually not provided. You are responsible for ensuring you meet the deadlines of all the colleges you are applying to.

Monitoring Progress

You can easily track the status of all your applications to different colleges in one place.

You will need to login to each college's portal to track your application progress.

Editing Information

Any updates to your information are sent to all colleges at once.

Any updates to your information need to be sent to all colleges individually.

Mobile App

You can download a mobile version of the Common App so you can work on your college applications even when you don't have access to a laptop or computer.

All colleges may not have mobile apps that you can use to complete your application. You may have to complete most or all of your applictions using a laptop or computer.