<p>What could you possibly mean by “unsurmountable obstacle”? The difference between having the Common App plus supplement and having a unique application amounts to having to type your name and address, and a few basic facts about yourself, one extra time. It can’t make more than a 30-minute difference (and that’s very generous).</p>
<p>Going to the Common App certainly seems to increase applications – that’s consistent across many different colleges. But it’s not actually that meaningful a change, especially in Chicago’s case where the real obstacle – a unique additional essay with a quirky prompt, in addition to the standard “Why This College? paragraph” – remains. (Harvard doesn’t ask for any additional essays in its supplement, and that surely contributes to Harvard’s high application numbers relative to its peers, but its peers have numbers close enough to Harvard’s to make it silly to suggest that ease of applying is the most important factor in generating applications.)</p>