First, a two-sentence long post that I wrote on November 1st, after I had sent in my common application, but kept private.

Well, that was easy: I just applied to college.
I just applied Single-Choice Early Action to Yale. The Common App online really does make things very easy–too easy, in fact, but that’s the point.

That impression is, I think, revealing–many of my friends had the same experience and the same feelings. After the application is submitted off into the ether, one sits dumb asking “is that it?” I would not call the online application a smooth process; it wasn’t really elegant like the University of Chicago’s online system. It was, however, faster and simpler than a paper application; cut-and-paste just can’t be beat. If another school didn’t require a supplement it was quite clear how I could literally apply to it in less than 30 seconds; not bad.

As the college counselling office was quick to remind us, though, there was a danger in this: many applications are blighted by a lack of due diligence, they’d remind us, that stemmed from being able to rush and quickly apply somewhere thanks to forms that fill themselves out from a master template. It’s important to be careful when it comes time to filing each application. Had I continued to apply to other schools, I would have had many supplements to remind me of this fact.