UMBC joins Common App

University of Maryland Baltimore County is the first member of the University System of Maryland that has awaken to the value of the Common Application. As one of twenty seven new member colleges to the streamlined one-stop-shop application, UMBC can expect to see a huge increase in the number of applications it receives this year and hopefully that will force other Maryland state schools and their administrators to wake up and realize that their institutional applications are not only unnecessarily cumbersome, but that their outdated institutional applications are also preventing more applicants from applying.

Sadly, many top enrollment management directors at universities in the University System of Maryland don't even know what the Common Application is because they are that out of touch with the current admissions landscape. While high-ranking state beauruecrats many not care about the value of the Common App, Maryland's residents should be disgusted that more University System of Maryland colleges don't accept it. Why? 

1. The Common App makes colleges more attractive to applicants because it simplifies that application process. This in turn makes it far easier to apply to a Common App school, which brings in more in-state and out-of-state applications, which means more money for the colleges that accept the Common App.

2. Maryland's public universities are notorious for their arcane applications. These applications are filled out disproportionately by Maryland residents, who suffer by having to fill out so many different forms asking for the exact same information. This in turn takes time away from normal senior year activities like 

a. earning high grades

b. focusing on fall SATs/ACTs

c. simply enjoying life

If College Park, Frostburg, Towson, Salisbury, UB, and St. Mary's College of Maryland accepted the Common App, applicants who reside in Maryland would by and large be more attractive candidates for admission at all colleges to which they apply because they would be spending more time on productive activities and less time filling out unreliable Web forms.

3. University System of Maryland colleges could outsource the maintenance of their applications, thus reducing costs at each college. Why should each college have IT guys who are constantly asked to help applicants find their passwords or tweak/phase in new application updates, when the Common App can manage all that for these schools? This would allow the IT departments at each state school to either focus on other pressing matters or be trimmed to meet the new reduced demand. 

The bottom line is that UMBC is clearly forward thinking while the other sate schools are lost in the desert somewhere. It's 2010. Wake up to the competitive admissions climate and give applicants to your schools a break. In the process you will have more applications to review and your selectivity will increase, not to mention more out-of-state applicants will want to apply, bringing in more funds overall. 

Admissions season officially begins on August 1, when the 2010-2011 Common Application goes live online. To members of the Class of 2011 and their parents: Good luck and let me know if you need any support.

Craig Meister is president of Tactical College Consulting, a Baltimore-based college admissions consultancy that specializes in giving students the tools they need to find and get into their best-fit college. For more information, visit tacticalcc.com or email info@tacticalcc.com.