The summary introduces CA4, the next version of the Common Application. It will be released in August 2013 with an improved online interface and new features. Key changes include a streamlined application with dynamic questions, online payment options for international students, simplified fee waivers, and revised school forms. Member colleges can customize sections for their unique requirements through a new Member Page and Writing Supplement. The goal is to accommodate rising applicant and application volumes on a modernized platform.

1. Introducing CA4:
The Next-Generation Common App
Scott Anderson
Senior Director for Policy
The Common Application

2. Agenda
• Association Overview
• 2012-13 Review
• CA4: The Next-Generation Common Application
• Your Questions

3. The Association
• Not-for-profit membership association founded in 1975
• Mission: to promote holistic admission as a path to college access
• Free services for applicants and secondary schools
• Volunteer Board of Directors
– 9 chief enrollment officers
– 4 school counselors
• Two Advisory Committees
– Applications: primarily admission operations professionals
– Outreach: school and CBO counselors

4. 2012-13 Statistics (Projected)
Applications
• 730,000 unique applicants (+10%)
• 3.1 million applications (+10%)
School Forms
• 20,500 high schools represented (+10%)
• 350,000 school officials will submit an online form (+15%)
• 9.5 million school forms (+22%)

5. 2012-13 Averages
• 4.4 online applications per applicant
• Without transfers and singleton ED apps: 4.6
Public schools account for 74% of applicants
NE INTL MID-AT WEST SW MW SOUTH
SCHOOL
AVG
IND 6.5 5.9 6.5 6.2 5.4 5.5 4.8 5.8
CHART 6.0 5.2 5.2 4.2 4.4 5.7 3.9 5.0
REL 6.2 5.3 5.4 4.7 4.1 3.8 3.8 4.8
PUBLIC 5.2 4.9 5.0 4.0 3.6 3.3 3.3 4.2
HOME 4.7 5.0 4.1 3.6 3.5 3.5 3.1 3.9
REGION
AVG 5.4 5.4 5.2 4.3 4.0 3.6 3.6

6. New Members
33 new members (518 total)
•47 states plus DC (1 new: Hawaii)
•16 international members (5 new)
•7 countries outside the US (1 new: Austria)
•17 public flagships (3 new: Purdue U, CU Boulder, U. Oklahoma)
•81 public institutions (15 new)
•6 HBCUs

7. Why CA4?
• Current system is 6 years old
• Significant changes since 2007
– New technology
– Membership: 527 compared to 315
– Applicants: 730K compared to 318K
– Applications: 3.1M compared to 1.4M
– School Forms: 10M compared to zero
• $8M investment to accommodate anticipated volume

8. The Application
• Online only, paper discontinued
• Smart, dynamic questions presented one at a time
• Address verification
• Arts supplement replaced: Slideroom or institutional form
• Athletic supplement discontinued

9. Payments
• Payment and application submitted together
• Online payment for international students without a US credit card
or US-based checking account
• Simplified fee waiver process

10. School Forms
• Paper still available, but applicants must obtain forms from within
their accounts
• New demographic info on School Report
• No current-year courses on School Report
• International and Homeschool Supplements discontinued as a
standalone forms
• Transfer school forms
• Online: Revised College Report and Instructor Evaluation
• Offline: Mid-term and Final Report/High School transcript

11. Member Supplements
• Standalone forms replaced by two new sections
• Member Page
• Expanded, customized version of Future Plans
• Members select questions and permitted responses
• Submitted with Common Application
• Writing Supplement
• Short-answer or essay-length responses to member questions
• Uploads permitted for members willing to receive resumes,
research papers, and graded assignments
• Smart essay prompts
• Submitted after Common Application
• August 1st launch for all information for every member college

12. Writing
• Essay, Additional Information, Required Explanations
• Five new essay prompts, reviewed annually
• Short answer moved to Writing Supplement if member wants to ask
• Enforced 650 word limit for all sections
• Enforced 250 minimum for essay only
• Uploaded documents replaced by text-entry
• Basic formatting available (bold, italics, underline and accented
characters); cut and paste retains formatting

13. For Naviance Schools
• New online system for “Other Recommenders”
• Peers, employers, clergy, coaches, etc.
• Colleges control if and how many they accept
• Cannot be submitted through eDocs
• Requests made via Common App invitation process
• Some teachers may have non-teaching roles that require them
to use the Other Recommender process
• FERPA waiver/release authorization completed in CA
• Guidelines for students explaining implications of choice

16. Single landing page for all users

17. Home of all support resources

18. Live social media feeds

19. Application Sections
• Common Application
– Common Questions asked by all members
• Dashboard
– Status overview for all colleges
• My Colleges
– Page where students take action for specific colleges

20. Tabs help students navigate through the application to complete various tasks.

21. Left navigation menu displays main pages within the Common App.

22. Each page contains several sections but displays only one at a time.

23. Help Center displays articles relevant only to the task at hand.

24. Smart, dynamic questions – Example below shows display for married parents.

25. Changing marital status to “Divorced” prompts new questions.

26. New school lookup makes finding a high school much easier.

28. Accurate address and CEEB
information will automatically
populate in the School section
of the Education page.

29. If the school can’t be found…

30. …the student can enter the information manually.
A similar process exists for Home Schooled students.

31. Testing page is driven by what a student wishes to report.

32. Testing page is driven by what a student wishes to report.

33. Testing page is driven by what a student wishes to report.

34. Activities page remains largely unchanged.

35. Activity type uses the same picklist as today’s application.

36. The Activity name picklist appears if a student selects Athletics as Activity type.

37. Up and down arrows let students
rearrange the order of their
activities, just like today.

38. 150 character text field
50 character text field

39. 150 character text field
50 character text field
Activity type and Activity name do
not count against the character
count since they are derived from
picklists, not free text.

40. Essay Changes
•New prompts
•New instructions
•Text entry or cut-and-
paste replaces uploads
•Maximum 650 word
count is enforced

41. The application displays a word
count.

42. Students receive an error message if the essay is too short…

43. …or too long.
If cutting/pasting, the text box will accommodate the full
amount of text even if it exceeds the word count.

44. Dashboard displays an overview of the
application status for each college on a student’s list.

45. Clicking the triangle next to a college’s name expands the
view to show the status in greater detail.

46. My Colleges is where students go to take action on
tasks specific to each college.

47. Each college gets to select the questions it asks…

48. …as well as the responses a student can provide.

49. The Writing Supplement allows each college to ask short
answer and essay questions. Responses can be either text
entry or upload—or both—depending on the college’s
preference.

50. Note that while a college’s specific questions are submitted
along with the Common Application…

51. …the Writing Supplement is submitted afterward.

52. CA4 Info Page

53. Your Feedback Matters!
Thank you for attending the
Naviance Summer Institute 2013!
We greatly appreciate your feedback, please
complete a brief evaluation for this session at:
http://go.naviance.com/evaluations