Georgetown Needs a New Application Platform

Georgetown’s application is lame. It’s time for a makeover.

There are currently 750 colleges that subscribe to the Common Application. Georgetown University, however, is not among these colleges. And that’s absolutely fine. No college should have to join the Common Application. If a school wants to have its own individual application, we’re all for it. As we’ve expressed many times on the pages of our college admissions blog and in the press, we’re all for creating competition for the Common Application, an organization we have previously expressed has had policies that we believe restrain trade. But if you’re going to ask students to go through the exercise of completing a separate application from the Common App., might we suggest the application be superior to the Common App.? The Georgetown application is an inferior platform. Let’s examine why.

The Georgetown Application Feels Dated

The Georgetown application looks like it was designed in the early days of the Internet. Of course, the current Georgetown application wasn’t designed in the 1990’s but there is absolutely no sarcasm in our voice when we suggest that someone in 1998 could have designed a more effective, more aesthetically pleasing platform than the current incarnation of Georgetown’s application. If the guys from HBO’s “Silicon Valley” had a look at this platform, we have a feeling it would elicit eye-rolls.

There are these weird text boxes in which you fill in the boxes with typewriter-like font. There are weird buttons at the bottom that leave you wondering if your work will be saved when you click to go to the next page (why is the save button separate from the next page button — can’t there be a save and continue button?). You have to complete and submit the first page of the application to receive an application ID # before proceeding with the next part of the application. The activities section leaves little room for descriptions. It doesn’t indicate under the essay boxes how many words you’ve written towards the word count. We can go on and on…

The Creator of the Georgetown App. vs. Common App.

Interestingly, CollegeNet, the creator of the Georgetown application, is embattled in a lawsuit with the Common Application. As we’ve argued for many years, CollegeNet believes that the Common App. restrains trade in violation of our free markets. We’re with ya, CollegeNet! But, CollegeNet, while we support your litigation, perhaps you should focus your time on improving your application platform. We have much experience over the years with college application platforms and you are putting forward an inferior product to the Common Application. If you really hope to one day be a competitor to Common App. (since you’re also behind the Coalition platform), might we suggest you focus your energies on improving the quality of your product?

What do our readers think? Do you think Georgetown needs a new application platform? Do our readers think the current incarnation of Georgetown’s application is lame? Let us know your thoughts by posting a Comment below.