The Universal College Application: The Next Generation of College Application

The Universal College Application is a new way to ease the college admissions and college application process. The Universal College Application is the new general application on campus– and it looks like it has staying power.

With 44 participating members since October 2007 (and up to 58 today… and counting), the Universal College Application (a.k.a. the UCA) is beginning to rival the Common App thanks to its goal of simplifying the college admissions process. With the UCA, college-bound students can apply to any member of its participating colleges online, in one shot. That’s right, you only need to fill out the application once.

Unlike the Common Application (which only accepts colleges that use “a holistic selection process”), the Universal College Application accepts colleges that don’t require an essay and letters of recommendation, which prevents them from using the Common App. The UCA therefore tries to have a more inclusive approach. While the Common Application boasts many more private colleges, the Universal College App includes large public universities (one of its goals is to get a diverse range of students using it).

The Universal College Application does demand that the schools it serves be accredited and uphold the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s Statement of Principles of Good Practice.

Like the Common App, colleges that participate in the Universal College App may also require additional supplements as a way of differentiating applications for each college. This can include medical or health history, an essay, additional information about whether you are planning to live on campus, standardized test forms, and whether you are applying for Early Decision or Early Action.

Check out CampusCompare’s college main pages to see if the schools that you are applying to accept the Universal College App form and check with the universities to make sure you have all the right forms.

So which general application will come out the winner? We’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, schools like Harvard accept both, in an effort to get as broad and diverse a range of students as possible applying to its school.

Looks like with more options, you come out the winner in the college search process!

POSTED BY Reisa Resource IN Applications

04.22.08

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 9:50 am and is filed under Applications. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.