Common App sees glitches

Technical difficulties with the Common Application have prompted UNC-CH’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions to extend the early action deadline from today to Oct. 21.

Ashley Memory, assistant director of admissions, said students have been experiencing multiple problems with the new online version of the Common App.

Students reported issues with essays, missing information and problems with credit cards being charged more than once.

Memory said the admissions office understands this is a particularly stressful experience for students who have gone through the process of preparing for college only to have technical errors with their applications.

“We are very sorry for the frustration this has caused our students,” she said.

The Common App is a not-for-profit organization that enables students to submit one online application to multiple colleges and universities at once. It has more than 500 member schools, with 10 in North Carolina, including UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Asheville and Duke University.

UNC-CH’s early action deadline occurs two weeks before the other three universities’.

Sophomore Rachel Desch, who used the Common App when she applied to Chapel Hill, said being able to apply to multiple schools at once was helpful.

But she said the difficulties being experienced by current applicants are awful.

“I think I would cry,” she said.

Freshman Casey Nelson also said that technical difficulties on a college application would be distressing.

Memory said this is the third year UNC-CH has used the Common App, which has contributed to an increase in the number of applicants.

She said it was hard to say whether this year’s technical issues would cost the University in applications.

So far, Memory said 6,424 applications have successfully been submitted and there are another 15,556 in progress.

There were 30,835 applications for first-year admission in fall 2013.

“We know that we’ve received hundreds of calls, just today, from students attempting to apply,” Memory said.

Memory said students have been extremely grateful for the extended deadline.

While no representative of the Common App was available for comment, Memory said UNC-CH has been in daily communication with the organization to see the issues resolved.

“They are letting us know how things are going on their end and they have been extremely apologetic,” she said.

“We’re certainly hoping that students with an application in progress that do not submit by our original deadline … will take advantage of our extended deadline.”

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