In 2010, hundreds of Paly seniors — and millions of seniors nationwide — submitted their college applications. Many of these students used the Common Application, an online, standardized template for college application forms. The Common App was created in 1975 by a coalition of colleges that sought to create a universal application form that could be used at any member institution. Today, the Common App boasts over 400 member colleges.

One might think that given the breadth and quantity of the Common App’s users and its importance in the college application process, it would be in tip-top working condition. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case: the Common Application website is riddled with technical errors that could pose problems for applicants and colleges alike.

The Common Application’s system requirements lists “supported browsers” which include modern versions of Internet Explorer and Safari, among others. The accuracy of the Common App’s claim depends on the applicant’s interpretation of the word “supported.” On Safari, for example, the applicant is often unable to preview his or her application before submission.

This might not be a big deal — except that only on the preview can one see if one’s text has been truncated. Yes, it’s true: the Common App often truncates applicants’ text in both the “Extracurricular Activities and Work Experience” section and the short essay in the “Writing” section, even if the text falls within the stated word and character limit. Several students interviewed for this article complained that their text had been truncated.

But this isn’t the only problem with using Safari. According to Paly students who wrote common application supplements for early decision this year, the Common App sometimes does not allow students using Safari to copy paste their text from a word processor. Applicants using Safari might be forced to re-type many hundreds of words onto the Common App website in order for their work to be submitted.

Furthermore, the Common Application sometimes provides students with erroneous information about the status of their teacher recommendations. Sometimes, when the required number of teacher recommendations have been submitted on a student’s behalf, the Common App still informs the student that his or her school forms are incomplete. The Common Application support team acknowledged the existence of this problem in an email to a student who contacted the support team regarding the status of his teacher recommendations.

The Common Application is an important tool for reducing applicant stress levels by reducing the amount of work necessary to apply to college. Applicants, however, deserve to be aware of these important technical challenges with the Common App website. Common Application, for their part, owe it to the many thousands of students and hundreds of colleges to get their website in better shape.