By Elizabeth LaScala
E-mail Elizabeth LaScala
About this blog: I post articles to offer timely and substantive college admission guidance on important topics and issues. Originally from New York, I have a B.S. from Hunter College in NYC and advanced professional degrees from the University of...
(More)About this blog: I post articles to offer timely and substantive college admission guidance on important topics and issues. Originally from New York, I have a B.S. from Hunter College in NYC and advanced professional degrees from the University of Michigan. After working in project management for several years, I returned to the graduate school and earned my PhD at UCLA. Clearly I love education. In 2002 I slowly merged my solid understanding of higher education systems with my research and counseling skills and founded Doing College. I am passionate about helping students and their families navigate the increasingly complex college admission process, strategize ways to make college more affordable, and prepare strong, cohesive applications. I provide personalized guidance to college, transfer and graduate school applicants; my East Bay California business is augmented by on line consulting services, to convenience US and international students who live outside the local area.
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The 4th of July signals celebration, BBQs and firework displays commemorating our independence, but in the college admissions world, this week also marks the opening of the
Universal College Application (UCA) and the
Coalition Application . While these applications may officially launch, most colleges have not yet released their admission requirements for the 2018-2019 admission cycle, thus making the opening day not particularly significant.
UCA was created in 2007 and has fewer members, as well as a strong and enduring reputation for its fine technology and client service. Included among the colleges participating in the UCA are Harvard, Princeton, Cornell and Johns Hopkins.
The newest college application platform is the Coalition Application. It wasn’t until fall of 2016 that students were able to submit their applications through the Coalition platform. Currently, 111 colleges across 24 states accept the Coalition App, and Coalition schools are primarily private, but about one-third of members using the platform are public institutions. For a complete list of schools using the Coalition Application,
click here.
The very popular
Common Application will continue its tradition of going live on August 1st. With over 774 US member colleges and 63 international member schools these numbers show strong evidence that schools are not concerned about the later start date. That start date has always given students plenty of time to submit their applications, including the early applications. That said, I see this entire process starting sooner each cycle, and I predict an increasing trend toward colleges moving early action and early decision deadlines to mid-October. What used to be long awaited, leisurely, and dare I say it, boring summers when I was a girl, have all but vanished for today’s high schools students. In my view, there is little to celebrate about that trend. So I applaud the Common Application’s decision to continue to go live on August 1st, although that too may someday be just a nice memory. Like summers gone by.
