This year’s applicants to the University could be the last to submit applications without the Common Application.
On Tuesday — the last day to submit applications to join the class of 2015 — the undergraduate admissions advisory committee discussed the possibility of adopting the Common Application this fall.
More than 400 universities currently use the Common Application in an effort to simplify the college admissions process.
“It allows the student to fill out an application one time and then to choose the colleges among those members of the group to submit the application to,” said Barbara Polk, deputy director of undergraduate admissions.
UNC would expect an increase of 15 to 20 percent in total applicants if the Common Application were enacted, Polk said, adding that peer institutions such as the University of Virginia and University of Michigan-Ann Arbor experienced similar increases when they adopted the application.
Triangle-area schools such as Duke University and Meredith College in Raleigh have already adopted the Common Application.
“Most of the top-tier colleges in the country use the Common Application, and we’re one of the few that don’t,” Polk said. “That isn’t necessarily good for the positioning of the University.”
Schools that use the program have the ability to create a supplemental form, which allows them to customize their application by adding additional essays or short questions.
David Ravenscraft, an associate dean in the Kenan-Flagler Business School, said the supplement could act as a means of controlling the increase in applications the Common Application would bring.
