Prestige schools team up on redesigned college application

More than 80 of the most selective colleges and universities are teaming up to design a new application system that aims to deepen engagement with high school students, especially those from low-income families.

By next summer, the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success plans to unveil an online application that will be an alternative to the well-known Common Application. It would take effect for students who are now high school juniors.

The coalition announced Monday includes 52 private and 31 public schools. Its membership spans the Ivy League and other highly selective liberal arts colleges and research universities, as well as public flagship universities in states, such as Florida, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina and Virginia. Officials said the timetable for adopting the new application could vary from school to school.

Applying to selective colleges is an annual rite that has become more intense in recent years. The peak of the stress hits in the fall of senior year, when students are racing to meet early application deadlines in October and November. At ultra-selective schools, admission rates have plunged to as low as 5 percent (at Stanford University) while application totals have soared. Students from wealthy families, with access to top teachers, counselors, tutors and consultants, are much better equipped to navigate application season than those who come from poverty. Often, disadvantaged students with strong credentials will apply to only a few schools in their region, in the mistaken belief that they couldn't get into or afford elite schools elsewhere.

"The college admission process today can be stress-inducing, and we know it can present barriers for all students, especially for those who are the first in their family to attend college," said Zina L. Evans, vice president for enrollment management at the University of Florida.

Florida and others in the coalition joined together to fashion what officials say will be a less-stressful and more user-friendly approach to thinking about college, one that helps underprivileged students raise their ambitions. They envision that students will use free online tools from as early as ninth grade to begin assembling an academic self-portrait and a list of possible colleges that might fit their goals. The first set of planning tools will be introduced in January.

"This is going to be a way to level the playing field," said David W. Oxtoby, president of Pomona College in California, which belongs to the coalition.

The coalition arose partly in response to concerns about the Common App, which serves more than 600 colleges and universities and is a dominant force in the admissions field. The Common App weathered heavy criticism two years ago when it rolled out a new version of its online application that was plagued with technical glitches. Those glitches have since been solved. Oxtoby said Pomona plans to continue to use the Common Application, as well as the coalition's own application. "Competition is always good," he said.

Aba Blankson, a spokeswoman for the Common App, said the organization has redesigned its Web site and taken other steps recently to help engage college-bound students. Asked about the coalition, Blankson said a primary goal of the Common App is to improve access for all students. "We're focused on doing what we've been doing for the last 40 years," Blankson said. "Helping more students apply to college, and helping them find the right fit."

Barbara Gill, associate vice president for enrollment management at the University of Maryland, another coalition member, said that too often college planning is "condensed into a very short window in the beginning of senior year. That creates a lot of frenzy." Getting more students to plan earlier, she said, "could decrease some of that."

Gill said some of the coalition's planning tools would be like an online "locker," allowing students to upload videos, photographs or other work that documents their academic record. That would help them talk about college goals with counselors and other experts. She said College Park does not plan to drop any of its core application requirements. Applicants will still be required to submit a transcript, an essay, admission test scores and recommendations.

College planning tools are hardly new. Many high schools pay private vendors to provide their students with online college research and planning services, such as Naviance. But the coalition says that its tools will be available for free, making them attractive to high schools with tight budgets.

To join the coalition, colleges and universities must have a six-year graduation rate of at least 70 percent. Those that are public must have tuition deemed affordable for in-state students, and those that are private must commit to meeting the full, demonstrated financial need of every domestic student they admit. "We want to make sure the universities and colleges that participate have a proven track record," Gill said.

Here is the full list of coalition members:

Amherst College

Bates College

Bowdoin College

Brown University

Bryn Mawr College

California Institute of Technology

Carleton College

Clemson University

Colby College

Colgate University

College of Holy Cross

College of William & Mary

Colorado College

Columbia University

Connecticut College

Cornell University

Dartmouth College

Davidson College

Duke University

Emory University

Franklin and Marshall College

Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

Grinnell College

Hamilton College

Harvard University

Haverford College

Illinois State University

Indiana University - Bloomington

James Madison University

Johns Hopkins University

Miami University - Ohio

Michigan State University

Middlebury College

Mount Holyoke College

North Carolina State University at Raleigh

Northeastern University

Northwestern University

Oberlin College

Ohio State University

Penn State

Pomona College

Princeton University

Purdue University

Reed College

Rice University

Rutgers University - New Brunswick

Skidmore College

Smith College

St Olaf College

Stanford University

State University of New York - College at Geneseo

State University of New York - University at Buffalo

Swarthmore College

Texas A&M University

Tufts University

Union College

University of Chicago

University of Connecticut

University of Florida

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Maryland - College Park

University of Michigan

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

University of Missouri

University of New Hampshire

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

University of Notre Dame

University of Pennsylvania

University of Pittsburgh

University of Rochester

University of South Carolina

University of Vermont

University of Virginia

University of Washington

Vanderbilt University

Vassar College

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Washington University in St. Louis

Wellesley College

Wesleyan University

Williams College

Yale University