Campus News

Westminster College Announces It Will Accept the Common Application

 July 10, 2007

College application enables students to use one application to apply to 300+ schools. 

Westminster College announced today that it has joined the Common Application, a selective consortium of schools which agree to share a single application for admissions. The Common Application makes the college application process easier for students because they can submit one application to their choices among 300-plus colleges. Westminster will begin accepting the Common Application for freshmen and transfer students effective immediately

The Common Application is a not-for-profit organization that serves students and member institutions by providing an admission application - online and in print - that students may submit to any of the 300-plus colleges and universities that are members. Membership in the Common Application organization is limited to colleges and universities that evaluate students using a holistic selection process, meaning that these schools review student applications using criteria that include both subjective and objective admissions criteria.

Westminster has long used a holistic approach to review college applications. As part of this process, prospective students’ applications are evaluated based on their high school grades, and ACT or SAT scores, plus an essay, personal recommendations, and the student’s participation in extracurricular activities. In contrast, the vast majority of schools look only at objective criteria (grades and test scores) and are therefore not eligible to participate in the Common Application. Westminster College is the only school in Utah that accepts the Common Application.

“It has been demonstrated that a student’s success in college is much better predicted by a holistic review than by objective criteria alone,” said Joel Bauman, Westminster’s vice president of enrollment management. “We believe that providing our applicants the Common Application option gives them a convenient way to apply to Westminster, and it gives us a more complete picture of each student’s abilities.”

The Common Application can be accessed at Westminster’s web site at www.westminstercollege.edu/apply  or at www.commonapp.org .

Westminster is a nationally ranked college focused exclusively on student learning. With its graduate and undergraduate programs and its emphasis on both the liberal arts and professional studies, Westminster offers students active learning experiences, a dynamic campus community, and real word opportunities. These are further enriched with the opportunities presented by our unique location, adjacent to the Rocky Mountains and to the vibrant city of Salt Lake. For more information visit www.westminstercollege.edu .