One more wrench was thrown into senior’s early action and early decision plans, as The Common App faltered with glitches and errors throughout the week of Oct. 15.

The Common Application website consolidates where students, counselors, college advisors, and teachers turn in college applications and letters of recommendation.

According to Senior Director for Policy at The Common Application Scott Anderson,  new version of the Common Application, developed and designed by Hobsons, launched on August 1.

“This new application system was intended to be a more robust system able to effectively guide applicants and schools through the complex college application process and to efficiently handle the growth of student applications and related forms,” Scott said.

Difficulties occurred after launching the new version of the Common Application, and they are using email communications and social media to keep everyone informed, Anderson said.

The Common App also has an official twitter account where they have been updating and addressing errors and glitches, and when they will be fixed.

Anderson said, “We have been responding immediately to these issues as they occur, and our technology provider is proactively testing and improving the system to reduce the risk and impact of any future issues.”

So far, students had been experiencing a wide range of technical difficulties. Counselor Chris Hartford said that when people tried to make revisions to their application on the web site, they would come out looking different and strange.

Hartford also said that parents had been receiving duplicate payments when registering for the website.

Now, the website is back up and running with minimal problems, and is a crucial part for students applying to the more than 500 colleges and universities that are on The Common App.

“The system is destroyed,” senior Spencer Gutterman said.

Gutterman also said that he thinks with all the new changes and added schools the system just isn’t up to date, and just too many people are submitting apps at the same time.

If one were to go on to the Common App, they would be greeted with a warning message describing the current technical difficulties.

But not all students were having issues.

Senior Cole Becker said “I haven’t had any issues, but I plan to submit apps three days early to avoid them.”

Becker said that he hadn’t submitted anything yet because his deadline is on Nov. 1st, compared to certain schools having Oct. 15th deadlines.

The Common Application technology provider has brought in more help to handle customer support and technical issues, Anderson said.

“We want to reinforce the message that we are sorry for all of the frustrations experienced during the rollout of our new system,” Anderson said. “We are fully committed to guiding each applicant and recommender to a successful submission.  With guidance from our technology provider, we have been vigorously preparing for the expected increase in volume as we approach the end of the year.”

The three major deadlines for early action and early decision are Oct. 15, Nov. 1, and Nov. 15, said Hartford

Hartford said that colleges give students two different ways of applying early; one is early action, the other early decision. Early action is a non-binding agreement with the school, so students can apply to a multitude of schools and pick one by May 1st. Early decision is a binding agreement so if a student is admitted they will have to go there.

According to the Washington Post top universities such as Columbia, Duke, Northwestern, and UNC Chapel-Hill have extended their deadlines to accommodate for students and administers who have had issues with the website.  Many more colleges and universities have followed suit.

Hartford said that roughly 35-45% of seniors do some form of early action, however not all schools have that option.  A lot of CSU schools have early initiative, and many of state universities have rolling applications.

According to Anderson,  even with schools extending deadlines, submissions on November 1 increased from last year at the same time. The total applicants increased by 20 percent, unique applicants increased by 23 percent, and the total school forms increased by 23 percent.

“We are grateful for the patience exhibited by member colleges, students, parents, counselors, and teachers as we worked to answer their questions and resolve their problems,” Anderson said.

Anderson  said he encourages students and counselors to submit their applications and documents before deadlines in order for The Common Application to offer timely support if needed.

“Our goal is to make this a smooth process for everyone involved,” Anderson said.

Note: This article was updated on November 15, adding information from Senior Director for Policy at The Common Application Scott Anderson.