Coalition exclusive—University of Florida goes live

The University of Florida will be Coalition "exclusive" for 2016-17

As promised on its website, the University of Florida went live this morning with the Coalition application. Originally one of three Coalition exclusive universities, Florida remains the sole institution among the membership to offer only the Coalition application for 2016-17. Both the University of Maryland College Park and the University of Washington will join Florida next year as exclusive users of the Coalition application.

For colleges, one of the selling points of the Coalition is the ability to create highly individualized applications while still taking advantage of membership in a group project designed to support students in the college admission process. Each member has the opportunity to choose what information they want from applicants and to decide how that information will be provided.

Some Coalition members, like Vanderbilt University, provide for uploading a resume from the Student Locker. And still others are requiring students to self-report standardized test scores, in an effort to save fees associated with official score reports.  Yale is asking students to “upload a document, image, audio file or video” stored in their Student Lockers.

For the University of Florida, the Coalition application is relatively straightforward document to complete. There are no uploads from the Student Locker—only a series of questions including some related to residency, community service and employment. The required personal statement cannot be uploaded from the Locker and must be either typed or copied and pasted within a text box. The application does not request recommendations or transcripts.  Instead, applicants are asked to complete a Student Self-reported Academic Record (SSAR), which is entirely independent of the Coalition application and used by several Florida-based institutions in addition to the University of Florida. And only some, but not all sections are imported onto the application from the Student Profile.

The University of Florida joins Union College, Yale University, Washington University and the University of Chicago as the most recent Coalition members to launch their Coalition applications.  While still members of the Coalition, the College of William and Mary and the University of Virginia recently decided to postpone launching their applications until next year. This leaves 53 colleges and universities planning to accept applications from the Coalition platform this fall, with 15 ready to go now.