NVM ... That Application is Just Too Annoying!

Sally_Rubenstone · January 2016

Recently a high school senior told me that he decided not to apply to a (formerly) front-runner college because he hated the essay options. “Not only did the application look like a big pain at a time when I was already burned out from doing other applications," he explained, “but also the essay prompts made me wonder if the college was really such a good fit for me after all, if this was what was important there.”

Over the eons, I’ve certainly heard tales of many students who eliminated once-loved colleges because the application seemed like too much work or was annoying in some other way.

How about YOU ... did you cut a college from your list because of the application itself?

ntk131998 · January 2016

Yes. I was considering applying to Florida State, but I eventually decided that I didn't want to write the exact same things I had just spent so many hours writing on the common app.

On the other side of things, there were a few colleges I DID apply too because there was little to no work required at all (Washington College)

SouthFloridaMom9 · January 2016

Not the exact circumstance but similar . . . our son never completed his app to a private STEM school because they wanted extensive documentation pertaining to his homeschooling.

I can understand if a homeschooler has few "outside validated" grades, but our son will have 30+ dual enrollment credits, very solid ACT scores, etc. His standardized test scores are not tippy top, but they're good enough to qualify for merit scholarships at a multiple schools.

I created a document for one of our schools that laid out all of his homeschooling courses, the basics for each course, etc.; we did not write a paper on our homeschooling philosophy et al.

We just have application fatigue at this point.

My son did not want to jump through the FSU hoops mentioned above, but Dad insisted.

HRSMom · January 2016

My S dropped 2 based on Common App fatigue. But one other he just thought the prompts were dumb. It was borderline, I don't think he would have had it been a favorite.

Good for that senior tho! Vote with your feet. Sadly, the folks making the prompts probably don't represent the school much overall:(

hssenior27 · January 2016

I dropped Villanova due to the supplemental essays and fatigue from filling out the common app and the UMD app and Georgetown's app. I also almost entirely ruled out honors colleges at some of the schools because I was tired of applications but my parents made me and I'm glad they did.

Ksty1098 · January 2016

I dropped Caltech, because I didn;t feel like writing all those essays. Nor did I think that my answer to them would be particularly compelling for them to admit me.

me29034 · January 2016

My D dropped two she was planning to apply to RD due to application fatigue. The supplemental essay prompts at both schools required some real thinking and she had reached the point where she didn't want to bother anymore. She had acceptances in hand from her EA apps and the motivation to keep going had left.

OspreyCV22 · January 2016

My son almost dropped a school because its in house application did not play well with Google Chrome. He emailed the IT people at the school and never got a response. He figured out on his own that if he changed browsers he could navigate. The non response didn't bode well for a computer science school.

marvin100 · January 2016

I decided against applying to Deep Springs for this reason (many moons ago).

Karencat · January 2016

nvm= Never Mind?

ucbalumnus · January 2016

Lots of essays could be a way for colleges to screen applicants for a high enough level of interest without actually having to look for that when making admission decisions. The applicants who were willing to write the essays to apply have shown a higher level of interest than those who decided not to apply because of the essays.

TomSrOfBoston · January 2016

Boston College added an additional essay to its application so as to avoid students who could not be bothered writing it. Application numbers dropped 25%, yield increased by 25%.

CCMThreeTimes · January 2016

I was surprised that my son *didn't* say nevermind to a few of the prompts. Write a letter to your future roommate? That seemed difficult to me, when you know you're really writing for admissions, yet you have to seem like you're writing to a roommate without seeming phony by throwing in what you think admissions wants to read. Yikes. Also, that prompt for University of Chicago that's completely in jibber jabber but asks the student to respond in regular English sentences had me flummoxed. Son tackled everything serenely though, and he seemed to enjoy the various challenges. I write for a living, but I'm glad my college essay days are far behind me.

bfc2017 · January 2016

My brother didn't end up dropping Wake Forest from his list completely, but he strongly considered it; he wondered if he really wanted to go to a school that asked you "To Tweet or Not to Tweet?" (Basically, "does tweeting make you vain?") We all thought it was a pretty stupid prompt. I guess Wake just wanted to see if he could take a strong stand.

happymomof1 · January 2016

One nephew refused to apply to any place that required an essay. He applied to a home-state public U that guaranteed admission for students with his GPA and ACT score, and that was it. One and done.

anxiousenior1 · January 2016

I was the opposite. I was opposed to applying to UChicago since they inundated me with so much mail but after looking at the essay prompts I felt that applying there would be in my best interests since I believe the prompts reflect the school.

Anonymoose3 · January 2016

I decided not to apply to the University of Chicago after reading their supplements. I looked at the prompts and was able to discern that the school not such a great fit for me.

CCMThreeTimes · January 2016

That's what my son thought too, @anxiousenior1! He loved the quirkiness of the prompts and thought they reflected his personality so much better than prompts for other schools. His essay for UChicago ended up being his best by far.

ErenYeager · January 2016

Cornell.

usualhopeful · January 2016

Colgate. It wasn't a long prompt, but I felt like it was a really pretentious way of saying "How are you a good fit here?"
I had already been on the fence anyway, however.

anxiousenior1 · January 2016

@CCMThreeTimes yes! Exactly! None of those bland "Tell me about yourself" prompts or "What question do you want to answer?". I full enjoyed writing essays for UChicago and although I got deferred, am still hoping for a acceptance in the upcoming months.

NVM ... That Application is Just Too Annoying!

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