Reject the Common Application

It seems our venerable elitist University has developed plebeian proclivities over the summer break. Bowing down to the masses of conformity, Harvard has just earned the distinction of being the first Ivy League school to accept the "common application."

Instead of the dozen or so questions for the unique-to-Harvard application, the common application contains a set of standard questions which are accepted by more than 130 colleges. Applicants will have to fill out a few supplementary questions. Late this summer, Dartmouth followed Harvard down the path to commonality by announcing that it will also accept the common application.

According to our ever-diligent administration, the reasoning behind the change is twofold. The elimination of the Harvard application should reduce the time spent by high school seniors filling out college applications, according to Director of Admissions Marlyn McGrath Lewis '70. And William R. Fitzsimmons '67, dean of admissions and financial aid, believes that the common application will attract a broader and more diverse candidate pool. "We are levelling the playing field," he declares.

Although Fitzsimmons says that the change was not made to attract more applications and that he doesn't anticipate a large increase, we think that claim rings false. Does the admissions office really believe that applicant pool will not increase if prospective students can simply send in their $60 and xerox their common applications? Perhaps the real motivation here is a desire to increase the amount of fees collected or to reduce the percent of those accepted.

It seems, however, that the admissions office envisions an applicant pool of roughly the same size as previous years, but broader and more diverse. Yet for the same number of applicants overall to be more diverse, the applicant pool must somehow lose some of the less diverse applicants.

Despite the sugarplums of diversity floating around in admissions officers' heads, it seems something is being lost here. We like the idea of a Harvard application. Extra hours spent on individual applications shine through. Students should be required to list books they've read or explain their choice of role models. And they should be thinking about Harvard as they do so.

Even as the administration is touting the new viewbook hallmark--"distinction"--the common application is anything but distinctive.