The 21st-century teenager has come to expect instant gratification when clicking through cyberspace. So Isaiah Walker was surprised when he tried to apply to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor this month.
After completing the Common Application online, Mr. Walker, a senior at Anchor Bay High School, in Michigan, went looking for the university’s supplement, only to find it was not yet live. As of this afternoon, it still wasn’t available, which means Mr. Walker must wait to submit an application to his first-choice college.
What’s going on? The simplest explanation is that the Common Application, which introduced a revamped version of its application on August 1, and some member colleges are still ironing out some technological kinks, according to Scott Anderson, senior director for policy. As of Thursday afternoon, 34 of the Common Application’s 517 member colleges did not yet have live supplements, which include additional questions and essay prompts. Without the ability to complete those supplements, students cannot submit applications to affected colleges.
In some cases, the delays are the result of colleges’ taking their time, Mr. Anderson says (in the past, some members have not made supplements live until September). In Michigan’s case, he says, the relatively intricate design of its application has slowed the process of integrating its supplement into the Common Application’s system.
“Michigan’s among a subset of schools that have an incredibly layered and complex process for their own questions, and there are conditional questions built on conditional questions,” Mr. Anderson says. “The complexity of the relationships between the questions makes it more difficult to build.” He expects that all of the members’ supplements will be up and running in the next couple of weeks.
Most students don’t apply to colleges before September. Last year more than 723,000 users submitted an application through the Common Application, but just 11,816 did so before September 15, according to Mr. Anderson.
Through a Michigan spokeswoman, Theodore L. Spencer, associate vice provost and executive director of undergraduate admissions, said the university had received some but not many questions about the delay, as it’s still early in the application season.
“We are concerned and watching this situation very closely,” Mr. Spencer said, “and hopefully our full application will be available to students very soon.”
On August 20, Michigan’s admissions office tweeted: “HS seniors, thanks for your patience while the Common App works out technical problems with the U-M member questions.” Two days later came this tweet, in response to a question from Mr. Walker: “Still awaiting word from the Common App, but we expect to be live any day now. Thanks for your patience!”
Mr. Walker had wanted to get his application in before the academic year began, for he knows he will soon have to juggle assignments in three AP courses. “At first I was kind of bummed, but then I realized there’s so much time left,” said Mr. Walker, who had long planned to apply before Michigan’s early-action deadline, on November 1. “Getting the application done early just gives you that kind of feel-good sense.”
