6 things you need to know about the 2014-15 Common Application

High Point University is among the new Common App members.

Application season is getting into full swing.  Starting with the 2014-15 launch of the Universal College Application (UCA) on July 1, followed by the Common App on August 1, individual colleges and groups of colleges have already hit the internet with a variety of electronic applications and application requirements.

Because online application submission can be a complicated process with lots of twists and turns, the wise applicant should pay close attention to each set of rules and keep track of bothersome details such as system requirements, passwords, and user names.

And before getting started, it always pays to read whatever instructions are provided and get familiar with how each system moves individual applications toward successful submission.

In the case of the 2014-15 Common Application, here are 6 things you should know:

1.  Format.   Effective last year, the Common Application became an entirely online application.  There is no good paper alternative, as each student experiences the application differently depending on answers to questions activating drop down menus or other built-in “triggers.”  While annoying for some, the loss of the paper format is the direct result of the innovative smart technology introduced through the CA4 last year.

Hint:  Some non-exclusive Common App members also provide paper versions of their applications. Because these applications sometimes contain additional or slightly different information about the application process, they may be worth reviewing.

2.  System Requirements.  The Common App is accessed via a web browser over the Internet.  To learn which operating systems and browsers are supported, click on “System Requirements” at the bottom of the main page of the application.  Regardless of browser used, be sure that “cookies” are enabled and popup blockers are disabled.  And in case you think you might need tech support, add appsupport@commonapp.net to your safe sender list.

Hint:  Don’t hesitate to change computers if problems persist.  It’s sometimes easier to surrender rather than spend lots of time fighting systems issues.

2.  Registration.  Before you begin the Common Application, you will need to register.  If you registered before August 1, 2014, you will have to re-register for the 2014-15 application.  This isn’t complicated, but you will need to come up with a password that is between 8 and 16 characters, has at least one upper and one lower case alphabetic character, and at least one numeric (1,2,3, etc.) and one non-alpha-numeric (*, &, $, etc.) character.  And you need to make sure you provide a working email address—preferably one you check regularly. Registration is also where you provide permission for the Common App to give your contact information to colleges. If you agree to the information-sharing, expect to receive mail from colleges on your list. 

Hint:  Placing a college on your “My Colleges” list may be a form of “demonstrated interest.”

3.  Essay Prompts.  One of the biggest changes in this year’s application involves the location of essay prompts on the Common App.  Some are clearly located in the section labeled “Writing Supplement,” but others tucked into member-specific “Questions.”  In order to gain access or make sure you are seeing all full-blown essay or short answer questions—if offered—you must first complete all the college-specific questions.

Hint:  Some of the college questions act as “triggers” for both the Writing Supplement or essay prompts in the body of the application. Don’t wait until the last minute to complete these questions as you may be in for an unpleasant surprise in the form of additional writing requirements.

4.  Green Checks.   Green checks are awarded once individual sections of the Common Application are fully complete.  You will not be able to submit your application without a full complement of these checks.  But they can be a little touchy at times.  If all required questions appear complete for a particular series of questions and the checks don’t automatically appear, try clearing a couple of questions and then click the continue button to save changes.  Go back into the section, replace the answers, then re-click the continue button. Hopefully toggling the system will solve the problem and you will be rewarded with all the green checks you need to proceed to submission

Hint:  If you see a green check mark for any section that you have not completed already, it is because that section is not required for submission.

5.  FERPA Waiver.  The Common App recommender system offers counselors, teachers and others a tool for tracking students and submitting school forms online. But before this system kicks in, all applicants must complete the FERPA Release Authorization, which waives the rights of applicants to see letters of recommendations.  Applicants at high schools not using Naviance to control the recommendation process may complete the FERPA Release Authorization from within their Common App accounts by clicking the Assign Recommenders tab for any college on the My Colleges list [students in Naviance schools have a slightly different process].  Note that the waiver is completed only once and covers all current and future colleges and recommenders.  Once a student invites a counselor or recommender, the FERPA section locks and cannot be changed.  You cannot change your mind.

Hint:  Applicants are free not to waive their rights to access letters of recommendation, but be aware that the choice to not agree to the FERPA release authorization could have a significant impact on what recommenders write and how colleges view your application.

6.  Print Preview. The Common Application requires applicants to complete an application and begin the submission process before being offered the opportunity to Print Preview their work.  Don’t let this hang you up.  And don’t be confused by what appears in text boxes or on the “working version” of your application.  Simply work through an application, answer college-specific questions, paste in your personal statement and additional information (if appropriate), and invite recommenders. Then begin the submission process.  A PDF will appear which you can save and/or print out.  If there are errors in the application you wish to correct, you may stop the process and go back and make corrections.  But after you have actually submitted an application, you cannot go back and make corrections on that document. You may only change it for future submissions.

Hint: Once you submit your first application, you will only have two opportunities to change your personal statement for typos and content—up to three separate versions are currently allowed by the Common App (the UCA has no such restrictions).

The Common App is using Facebook and Twitter, in addition to the Help Center and a growing Knowledgebase to answer questions and keep applicants, their families and advisers up-to-date on changes, revisions, and improvements to the application.  In another month, recommenders will be given an opportunity to use live chat support to find answers to their questions.

In the meantime, everyone should feel free to direct questions to the Help Center, as it helps inform the technical staff of issues average users encounter while completing the application.

And you may find your particular problem is easily resolved.

11 prestigious science competitions for 2014-15

Each summer, thousands of high school students across the country gain valuable hands-on laboratory experience by interning for a variety of government, academic, and nonprofit organizations engaged in scientific research.

Locally, high school interns may be found in George Mason’s Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program (ASSIP) or in one of the two Science & Engineering Apprenticeship Programs (SEAP’s) sponsored by George Washington University, the Department of the Army and the Department of the Navy. They may also be found at NASA or one of numerous summer programs offered by the National Institutes of Health.

While they vary in terms of content and work experience, each of these internships supports opportunities to explore science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Students meet and interact with scientists, learn lab skills, conduct research, and possibly publish or patent findings.

In fact, some programs encourage their students to present research at poster sessions or similar scientific forums where they gain self-confidence, improve writing skills, and potentially earn credentials important to colleges and universities as well as future employers.  They also lay the groundwork for admission to post graduate studies in medical schools or PhD programs.

And many young researchers turn their summer experiences into competitive science projects and vie for hundreds of thousands in scholarship dollars offered annually by organizations supporting the goals of STEM education.

Here are 11 of the more prestigious and well-respected competitions:

1. Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology. Since 1999, the Siemens Foundation, has provided young scientists with opportunities to win scholarships ranging up to $100,000 for original research in team and individual categories. Registration is now open for the 2014 competition, and the deadline for entries is Tuesday, September 30, 2014.
2. Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge.  High school teams select an environmental topic related to energy, biodiversity, land management, water conservation, cleanup and/or air and climate.  The top team prize awards equal shares of a $50,000 scholarship.  This competition typically opens mid-August and ends the following March.
3. Intel Science Talent Search. The Intel STS invites the nation’s best and brightest young scientists to present original research to nationally recognized professional scientists. Open only to high school seniors, 40 finalists are selected to come to Washington DC and compete for the top award of $100,000. This year’s competition is also now open, with all parts of the application due by 8 pm EST, November 12, 2014.
4. National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. Individual students compete for scholarships and recognition by presenting the results of their original research before a panel of judges and an audience of their peers. Regional scholarships as well as seven national top awards of up to $12,000 and an all-expense paid trip to London are among the prizes available.  Different regions/states run on different schedules.
5. Davidson Fellows. This prestigious scholarship annually awards up to $50,000 to students, 18 and under, who have completed a “significant” piece of work in one of eight categories including Engineering, Mathematics, Science, Literature, Music, Technology, Philosophy, and Outside the Box. The Davidson Fellows application material submission link will open sometime during the summer of 2014.
6. Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. The Intel ISEF is the world’s largest international pre-college science competition, providing an annual forum for over 1,700 high school students from countries all over the world who compete for over $5 million in awards.  Competition begins at the high school level and culminates at the International Science and Engineering Fair, which will be held May 10-15, 2015, in Pittsburgh, PA.
7. International BioGENEius Challenge. This competition is designed to recognize outstanding research in biotechnology. Finalists showcase their talent and research before a prestigious panel of expert biotech judges and have the opportunity to win up to $7,500 in cash awards.
8. Google Science Fair. Beginning with online submissions, this competition invites young scientists from all over the world to compete for up to $50,000 in scholarships as well as a trip to the Galapagos Islands sponsored by National Geographic.  Finalists are invited to Google Headquarters to present their projects before expert judges.  Although this year’s competition is almost over, Google will soon be gearing up for 2015.
9. DuPont Challenge. This competition is designed for science students at least 13 years of age who can craft an original 700 to 1000 word science-related essay. Students are judged on their ideas, as well as on writing style, organization, style and creativity, as well as voice. The 2015 Challenge will begin this fall.  Sign up for the LAUNCH e-letter for updates.
10. ExploraVision.  Jointly sponsored by Toshiba and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), ExploraVision encourages collaboration by restricting the competition to group projects.  Although all participants win gifts and discounts, the top four teams receive US Savings Bonds worth $10,000 for each student.  Material for the 2015 competition will be available over the summer.
    
    
11. Microsoft Imagine Cup.  Microsoft offers three main competitions—Games, Innovation, and World Citizenship—through which teams come up with original technology projects involving software or a combination of software and hardware.  First place teams win $50,000 and all World Finalist teams win a trip to Seattle. The 2015 season will begin in September.
    

The opportunities are pretty amazing for high school students willing to trade time at the beach for time in a lab!

What you need to know about the redesigned PSAT set to debut October 2015

The new PSAT will debut in October 2015

It’s no secret that the College Board plans to introduce a redesigned SAT Reasoning Test in March of 2016.  But before the first group of college hopefuls sharpen their #2 pencils and tackle what could be a challenging and even longer SAT, they’ll have an opportunity to sit for a trial run with a redesigned PSAT, in October 2015.

Keeping in mind that the new PSAT will also serve as the National Merit© Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT) for the class of 2017, it’s worth noting that the October 2015 administration of the redesigned test will be more than just a sneak preview of what’s to come.  It will be the single most important component of the highly visible and possibly most prestigious scholarship competition in the country worth thousands of dollars to those students who score well.

While the College Board will continue to administer the old SAT through January of 2016, the opportunity to sample the new test in October via the PSAT/NMSQT© is being billed as a chance to “help students in the 11th grade prepare for the SAT.”  

But in the meantime, students who scored well in previous administrations of the PSAT and have some hope of earning “commended” or “finalist” status in the National Merit Scholarship competition will need to look closely at what’s coming down the pike and adjust their preparations to the new test—even if they plan to take the old SAT before it’s retired.

The good news is that most test prep experts are suggesting that students starting with the class of 2017 concentrate their preparation on building skills for the ACT, as the redesigned SAT is beginning to look a lot like that test.   Students with an affinity for puzzles and the kinds of test-taking know-how rewarded by the old SAT will have to redirect their efforts to mastering core curriculum if they want to do well on either the new PSAT or the new SAT.

The College Board continues to insist that the redesigned tests will continue the traditional emphasis on reasoning but only with “a clearer, stronger focus on the knowledge, skills, and understandings most important for college and career readiness and success.”  This sounds remarkably like a description of the ACT.

And taking another page from the ACT, there will no longer be a guessing penalty on the PSAT.  In addition, instead of five answer choices per multiple-choice question, new PSAT questions will only have four answer choices, giving students a better chance of guessing correctly with fewer answers to pick from—great news for the “lucky” among us.

It’s worth noting (both for students and in-school administrators) the redesigned PSAT will be substantially longer.  In total, the new PSAT will take 2 hours and 45 minutes.  The Critical Reading section will increase by 10 minutes; the Math section will increase by 20 minutes; and the Writing section will be 5 minutes longer.  But sticking with the old format, there will be no essay.

Another interesting change for the PSAT involves scoring.  While new “subscores” will be reported for every test, the overall scale will be the same as that used for the SAT—ranging from 400 to 1600 for the “composite” score and 200 to 800 for two “area” scores.

And for those curious about how this will relate to the National Merit Scholarship competition, the College Board is preparing concordance tables so students will be able to relate scores on the current PSAT/NMSQT to scores on the redesigned PSAT/NMSQT.

The College Board promises that sample questions to help students prepare for the PSAT will be available on collegeboard.org in December 2014/January 2015, and a full practice test will be available in March 2015.

You can bet that every test prep company in the country will be looking for those releases!

In the meantime, to keep current with the evolving changes in both the SAT and the PSAT, check the College Board website, which is being updated regularly.

The Common Application: What a difference a year makes

The 2014-15 Common App has been processing electronic applications for a little over a week now.   And satisfaction with the new management team is up while complaints about the system are down—way down from last year.

“…things here are percolating along nicely,” said interim CEO Paul Mott, in an email to member institutions a week after launch.  “As you likely know, we hit our internal target for launch with the system going live at 7:58 p.m., on Thursday, July 31.”

By the end of the week, the Common App reported

• 164,618 prospective applicant accounts were created
• 2,712 applications submitted (600 on the very first day)
• 1,524 e-payments received
• 14,716 recommender accounts created
• 1,761 recommendation forms submitted

In addition, the Common App indicated that as of August 11, 512 Common App member colleges and universities were fully live—a vast improvement over this time last year when only about 135 members were able to accept applications.

Naviance also went live on August 1, initially providing teachers and counselors with the ability to prepare recommendation forms.  By August 4, recommenders were able to actually begin submitting these forms.  This didn’t happen until early October last year—and even then the system experienced a series of hiccups that effectively prevented some teachers and counselors from sending recommendations electronically.

In another area of the application, a brief glitch appeared with Slideroom on August 4, which temporarily prevented applicants from submitting portfolios.  Within an hour of being alerted to the problem, the technology staff communicated with Slideroom and a fix was in place.

Similarly, a problem cropped up on August 2 causing applicants to have to log back into the Common App after submitting a payment.  Higher One was alerted to the problem and by the next day the issue was resolved.

For all the effort, the Common App has been rewarded with a significant decrease in the number of complaints via the Help Desk:

• 1,086 prospective applicant ticket submissions (2,889 a year ago)
• 24 minutes average applicant response time (55 minutes last year)
• 192 recommender ticket submissions (476 a year ago)
• 35 minutes average recommender response time (98 minutes last year)

And counselors who are already hard at work with applicants have noticed.

“The Common App has redeemed itself after last year’s debacle,” said Charlotte Klarr, an independent educational consultant with offices in Maryland and Virginia.  “I think the change in leadership has a lot to do with it.”

On the west coast, Archana  Sudame reports, "So far my students have encountered one or two irritating glitches but it's certainly much better than last year—oh what a difference!"

Yes, what a difference a year has made for the Common Application.