It's Common sense

It just got a little easier to apply to the University of Pennsylvania; Penn will now by accepting the Common Application in addition to its own custom application.

Instead of applauding the decision, last week's editorial in The Daily Pennsylvanian criticized the move because, it said, "Penn will become just another member of the Common crowd."

But the DP had it all wrong.

The Common App is a terrific tool because it allows students to fill out mind-numbing application information only once; students can now easily avoid filling out the 90 pieces of information requested on the first three pages of Penn's custom application. And Penn will not simply be joining the "Common crowd" -- students must put significant time into the essay questions on the supplement, at least if they want to be accepted.

The view that Penn will suffer by making life easier for high school students to apply is mired in elitism and mistaken assumptions. Penn's new strategy not only retains uniqueness by requiring a supplement to the Common App but also saves applicants from wasting their time writing their mailing address, Social Security number and countless other bits of personal information on every application.

Applicants' citizenship status won't be changing from one application to the next, but their reasons for wanting to attend a university will. Penn should be doing everything it can to help applicants focus on the latter.

Eighteen-year-old Anique Drumright, a senior at my former high school who applied to Penn, would have filled out the Common Application if Penn had offered the opportunity to the Class of 2010. Instead, she had to spend 10 to 15 hours filling out the custom application.

With the Common App, "you won't have the bullshit work over and over again," Drumright said. "Even though you think that doesn't take a lot of time, it does," especially when you have to do it for every application.

By accepting both applications and including a supplement to the Common App, the admissions office has struck a great compromise. Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson told the DP last year that "we have always believed our application is unique and different, and we want to keep the application process for Penn very serious."

Sure, filling out the somewhat daunting old Penn application means that you are probably interested in actually attending, but the daunting parts of the application should be found in the supplement, not in the checkboxes. The Common App's single-best advantage is that it lets students skip standard information and direct their energy into the unique parts of the application that really matter.

It's all about making the college application process go more smoothly for high school students, who have enough to worry about. For stressed-out students like 16-year-old Adam Bloch, a prospective Penn applicant from Scottsdale, Ariz., every little bit helps.

"It's overwhelming," he said, while waiting to sit in on Avery Goldstein's "International Security" class after his campus tour Tuesday. "Anything any school does to make it a little easier is greatly appreciated."

While it seems to make sense to lighten the load, many Penn students look back upon their high school years with a triumphant sense of accomplishment; they survived, so why can't the new class do the same? College students are forgetting what it really felt like.

A student's junior and senior years of high school are incredibly stressful, and it shouldn't remain that way simply because we went through the same process or because high school students should learn to deal with stress. As Bloch's father, Jim, pointed out, "When kids are filling out five to 15 applications, there's enough pressure in just doing that."

Of course, some degree of stress is normal, but if devices are in place to lessen stress, it behooves Penn to use them -- especially when there are so few drawbacks to accepting the Common Application. Moreover, students should be spending their time stressing over their essays, not whether or not they entered their Social Security number correctly.

Both the custom and Common applications retain the unique value and the seriousness that befit the Penn application. Accepting the Common App means less stress, and it will even allow students the time to make page 217 of their autobiographies more creative and unique.

Evan Goldin is a junior history major from Palo Alto, Calif. and editorial page editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. P.A. to Pa. appears on alternate Thursdays.

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