Just as applying to college is a rite of passage for millions of students each year, delivering all those applications to campuses is a big business. Now, as one admissions cycle gives way to another, the industry’s two most-prominent operators are poised to move in new directions.
The players: CollegeNet Inc., a technology company that builds application-processing systems for colleges, and the Common Application, a nonprofit organization that runs a standardized online admissions form used by 548 institutions worldwide. The two entities, well known in higher education, are no strangers to each other: Last week, a federal judge in Oregon ruled against CollegeNet, which had filed a lawsuit against the Common Application, claiming its agreements with member colleges violated U.S. antitrust laws.
That ruling ended one chapter in the unfolding story of two rival entities, each with a large stake in the college-admissions process. Under new leadership, the Common Application, in Arlington, Va., has redefined its mission and terms of membership while planning for further expansion. Meanwhile, as The Chronicle first reported last fall, dozens of highly selective colleges plan to create a shared application.
The group has since asked CollegeNet, in Portland, Ore., to build it, according to admissions officials and college counselors with knowledge of the plan. Supporters of the new platform, still in a preliminary stage, say it would provide a welcome alternative to the Common Application, which now dominates the field.
Following decades of consolidation, during which many colleges ditched their own applications to hop onto the Common App’s big-name bandwagon, some experts see another shift coming: more differentiation, more options for students. “A multitude of apps,” said Richard A. Clark Jr., director of undergraduate admission at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “I think other groups will be right behind this, trying to get colleges to come onboard, making a different case for who should be involved.”
A ‘Coalition’ System
Soon, college applicants are likely to have at least one new application to consider: “The Coalition Admissions System.” That is the name of the platform CollegeNet intends to design, according to copies of a brochure that two admissions officials provided to The Chronicle. “The Coalition,” which includes “highly respected” public and private institutions, the brochure says, wants to “recast the nature of applying to college in the 21st century.”
How, exactly? For now, many details remain unclear. Jim Wolfston, the company’s founder and president, was traveling this week and unavailable to comment. Yet Jeremiah Quinlan, dean of undergraduate admissions at Yale University, shared some thoughts in a recent interview. For one thing, he said, the group intends to change the application timeline by allowing students to start building a “digital portfolio” — perhaps including video and examples of their work — well before their senior year of high school.
“There’s a future in which the application is not as transactional as it is now,” Mr. Quinlan said, “where a student can be engaged for a longer amount of time.”
As described in the brochure, the new system would include a “collaboration platform,” allowing students to invite college counselors, teachers, mentors, and advisers to view their portfolios and offer advice along the way. An application dashboard would help students keep track of their applications, with reminders about deadlines.
The pitch to colleges: control. Coalition members, the brochure says, could customize their member pages and applications, allowing each college “to personalize its admissions criteria and identify applicants with the strongest fit.”
Membership apparently would not be open to just any institution. Participating private colleges, the brochure says, meet the “full demonstrated need” of all first-year domestic students; public universities “make attendance affordable for large numbers” of in-state students. The six-year graduation rate for participants: at least 70 percent. The coalition, the brochure says, “represents a commitment to access and outcomes, creating a name that can be trusted.”
Mr. Clark, at Georgia Tech, thinks the application could help colleges get a better sense of an applicant’s “fit” with their campuses. “It’s a chance for students to make themselves more distinct,” he said. He thinks a platform used by prominent colleges would also help institutions distinguish themselves, which is one reason he expects to participate. “Institutionally, we need to be associated with the University of Chicago and Yale,” he said. “I don’t think we can be left out of that company.”
Like several college counselors, Ralph Figueroa described himself as intrigued by what he’s heard about the new application — but not sure what to make of it. “I’m both wary and optimistic,” said Mr. Figueroa, director of college guidance at the Albuquerque Academy, in New Mexico. “One problem is that it’s not a joint application but concurrent applications. It doesn’t do the same thing that the Common App does. It’s promising, but whether or not it’s an empty promise, whether it makes things easier for students, remains to be seen.”
New Roles for the Common App
As a new application takes shape, the Common App has its eye on the future. Established by a handful of private colleges 40 years ago, the organization recently changed its membership requirements in ways that allow a broader array of institutions than ever before to join.
Previously, the group required member colleges to conduct “holistic” reviews of applicants; institutions that did not require essays or recommendations couldn’t join the club. But after drafting a new mission statement last year, participating colleges are now free to waive essay requirements and the like.
That’s one way the organization, long criticized for policing colleges’ admissions practices, is taking a step back from its traditional role. “I’d love to have everybody in the world do holistic review — the most humane way to judge humans — but that’s not my job,” said Paul Mott, the organization’s interim chief executive. “The Common App feels that it’s just not its place to dictate to members what they shall do.”
Yet Mr. Mott wants the organization to define new roles for itself. By providing colleges with better data, for instance. The Common Application, which sits on a trove of data, has begun to explore more-sophisticated analyses of application patterns that, a spokeswoman for the organization said, could help members meet their enrollment goals.
And in an interview this week, Mr. Mott, a former college counselor, described an emerging plan for the Common App’s members to help educate middle- and high-school students in underserved communities about the admissions and financial-aid process, both virtually and in person.
“We’ll have approximately 600 members next year, we cover a large swath of this country, we can get boots on the ground,” he said. “I’ve got an army that could go on a mission.”
As for other changes, the organization is considering how to integrate more information about financial aid and scholarships into its application system. And it, too, is considering ways of engaging students online, well before they are ready to start applying to college.
“We’re hearing from our members, Can you bring some innovation into this process?” Mr. Mott said.
How will an organization bracing for continued expansion and diversification compete with a new application defined, in part, by the exclusivity of its high-profile membership? And how many application platforms does higher education really need?
Joshua J. Reiter would not hazard a guess. He is the founder of the Universal College Application, a shared platform used by 46 colleges. When it comes to processing applications, he believes, most colleges still want the same things they always have: efficiency, reliability, and value.
“With tightening budgets, an increasing need for broader, more differing kinds of applicants,” he said, “whoever can help these institutions craft the incoming class, in the least expensive way possible, is what they’re looking for. I don’t think that’s changed since 1995.”
Eric Hoover writes about admissions trends, enrollment-management challenges, and the meaning of Animal House, among other issues. He’s on Twitter @erichoov, and his email address is eric.hoover@chronicle.com.
