Prospective University of Maryland students will now be able to apply through the Common Application, the university announced Wednesday.
Students will also be able to continue applying through the MyCoalition platform, which was launched in 2016 by the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success, a cohort of 83 schools that has since nearly doubled in size.
The Common Application, also known as the Common App, serves more than three million applicants, teachers, advisers and counselors each year, according to the statement. It has over 700 hundred member schools more than Coalition.
“We are very proud to receive tens of thousands of applicants each year, and we constantly reassess ways to streamline pathways for a wide population of diverse and academically talented students to apply to be part of the Terrapin community,” Shannon Gundy, the university’s executive director of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, said in a statement.
[UMD makes SAT, ACT scores optional, citing testing barriers due to COVID-19]
A third of Common App applicants each year are the first in their family to pursue a college degree, according to the university’s statement. In Coalition’s first year, about a fifth of its applicants were first-generation students.
“Through membership with Common App, University of Maryland has demonstrated a shared commitment to pursuing access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process,” said Jenny Rickard, the president and CEO of Common App. “Thanks to our members, all students have the opportunity to easily apply to the college or university that will help them achieve their best future.”
