Two thoughts...
1) Interesting. Retro. Everything old is new again. The
CommonApp, created about 40 years ago, grew in popularity in the last decade, just about the time it separated from the National Association of Secondary School Principals (
NASSP), who also created National Honor Society (
NHS).
Prior to the CommonApp, colleges and Universities created their own applications processes, the flavor of which helped manage expectations about the college.
2) While reading the articles, I thought, "cui bono", to whose benefit? The articles seemed to be written to attract gifted kids, and yet possibly this alternative applications process might reflect an institution's self-interest: helping to drive up the number of applications so that their acceptance rate is a smaller percentage of applications received (it is currently about
37% according to U.S. News & World Report)... voila!... a more selective college!
Updated to add...
Production Update #4 of the the Self-Taught documentary talks about college admissions after homeschooling or unschooling.
For all Production Updates, see the Self Taught movie blog webpage.
