Bring Applications Online

In a few months, waves of acceptance and rejection letters will again begin flowing out of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. As accepted students follow Blue & Gray Society tour guides around the Hilltop this year, they will have more than just their accepted status in common: None of them applied to Georgetown online.

Georgetown holds many advantages over other universities competing for the best and the brightest students. Academics, tradition and location in the nation’s capital combine to place Georgetown a cut above the rest. But it is high time that Georgetown and its admissions office take a lesson from other schools and allow prospective students to apply with an online application.

The argument against online applications is rather straightforward: Online applications are not unique. Students are likely to copy and paste answers from one university’s application to another and apply to several universities without reflecting on the reasons why one stands out over another.

In today’s world, however, this argument falls short. Talented high school students rightfully expect access to the best resources, facilities and technologies that American higher education has to offer. Online resources — like applications — are as much a part of that expectation as physical environment.

In addition, both the Law Center and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences have online applications. The Office of Undergraduate Admissions not only needs to catch up with its peer institutions, but Georgetown’s own graduate schools!

An online application would not distract applicants from focusing on their Georgetown application. Most applicants type their essays, and many even fill in their applications on the computer then print. It makes little sense to force them to mail application materials when so much of the process is done on the computer anyway.

Today’s young students live in a digital world, and when many begin planning their undergraduate years they will look to the Internet to answer their questions. In the eyes of prospective applicants, a lack of online applications makes Georgetown stand out embarrassingly among its peer institutions for a glaring deficiency — even if the university stands out positively in other areas.