Clemson University
The Common Application, colloquially referred to as the Common App, goes live for the 2020-2021 application cycle on August 1, 2020, and in the process is adding forty-two new members, including big name southern public universities such as Clemson, Auburn, and Virginia Tech.
The Amazon of the American undergraduate admissions process, the Common App is user-friendly and entirely uninspiring. Yet, it keeps growing because colleges yearn for more applications year after year in a manner similar to a drug addict yearning for a greater hit high after high. The Common App’s ease of use is very good at delivering the application numbers colleges crave, which in turn helps colleges appear far more selective than they otherwise would appear if students had to actually take the time and energy to apply to each college one at a time using college-specific applications.
In any case, there are still some big-name holdouts that refuse to go Common App. These include University of Maryland (one of only two remaining colleges that accept first-year applications exclusively through to the failed and ever-ghoulish Coalition for College app), MIT, Georgetown, the UCs, and University of Texas among others.
Here are the colleges that couldn’t hold out any longer and were seduced by the Common App for the application season ahead:
Mid-Atlantic
Bryn Athyn College (PA)
Carlow University (PA)
Holy Family University (PA)
Medaille College (NY)
Mid-West
Baker College (MI)
Buena Vista University (IA)
Bethel University (MN)
Cornerstone University (MI)
Lake Superior State University (MI)
Indiana Wesleyan University (IN)
Loyola University Chicago (IL)
Northern Illinois University (IL)
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (WI)
Wilmington College (OH)
South
Arkansas Baptist College (AR)
Auburn University (AL)
Augusta University (GA)
Clemson University (SC)
Coastal Carolina University (SC)
Lees-McRae College (NC)
Milligan University (TN)
Norfolk State University (VA)
Palm Beach Atlantic University (FL)
Richard Bland College of William and Mary (VA)
Spalding University (KY)
Texas Tech University (TX)
Trevecca Nazarene University (TN)
Tuskegee University (AL)
University of Georgia (GA)
University of Louisville (KY)
University of Texas at Dallas (TX)
University of Texas at San Antonio (TX)
University of South Florida (FL)
Virginia Tech (VA)
Winthrop University (SC)
West
Fresno Pacific University (CA)
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (CO)
International
New College of the Humanities, London
With plague sure to shutter a growing number of colleges over the coming years, expect more – particularly small – colleges to join the Common App sooner rather than later.
August 12, 2020 Update: University of Maryland College Park, the land grant university of the northern-most southern state, Maryland, also joined the Common App for the 2020-2021 admissions cycle just twelve days into the official application season.
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