{"246311":{"#nid":"246311","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Admission Staff Keeps Cool Amid Common App Issues","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EEven before the Common Application process sputtered last weekend, the Office of Undergraduate Admission had taken action.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe first sign of trouble started with the plugin used by high school counselors and teachers to submit materials to accompany student applications. Hearing about these glitches, Admission extended the deadline for supporting documents to Nov. 1.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETechnical issues continued to plague the Common App the weekend of Oct. 12, primarily with users experiencing slowness, login issues and payment difficulty. On Oct. 14, the day before Tech\u2019s initial Early Action deadline \u2014\u0026nbsp;and a historically high-volume day for incoming applications \u2014 the decision was made to extend Early Action by one week to Oct. 21.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDespite these issues, Director of Undergraduate Admission Rick Clark is confident all prospective students will have the same review and attention they have had in previous years.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhile this is certainly a challenge, it\u2019s not a crisis,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re committed to ensuring that all students are able to apply by the new deadline and will be fully and comprehensively reviewed for admission.\u0022\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat committment extends outside the walls of the Office of Undergraduate Admission.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cDebbie Rice in Enrollment Services and Rich Loftus and his team in the Office of Information Technology and Enterprise Innovation Systems have done herculean work in recent weeks and months to ensure our staff has all the necessary information we need,\u0022 Clark said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe hopes members of the campus community can be a megaphone for this message to any friends and family who may have a student applying to Tech. The main thing he wants families to hear is: Don\u2019t worry.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur staff and students are calm, and we\u2019re reassuring people that we\u2019re working to ensure that all normal procedures continue,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EClark even took the opportunity to share his thoughts about how Tech was responding through a National Association for College Admission Counseling listserv.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMany thanks for your clear, supportive approach, and the gentle tone used to communicate,\u201d replied Patrick O\u2019Connor, associate dean of college counseling at a high school in Michigan.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIf anyone has come out of this mess smelling like a rose, it is Georgia Tech,\u201d said Steve Peifer, associate director of college counseling at a school in West Palm Beach. \u201cThank you for your leadership and grace under pressure.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis is Georgia Tech\u2019s first year with the Common Application, an online standardized application used by more than 500 colleges and universities to make it easier and less time-consuming for students to apply to more schools at once.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMore information about current admission deadlines is available at the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.admission.gatech.edu\/apply\/freshman-application\/application-dates\u0022\u003EOffice of Undergraduate Admission website\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EEarly Action deadline extended in response to Common App technical difficulties earlier this week.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Early Action deadline extended in response to Common App technical difficulties earlier this week."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2013-10-16 16:16:53","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:15:09","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-10-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-10-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"212781":{"id":"212781","type":"image","title":"Buzz Fills Out Application","body":null,"created":"1449180076","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 22:01:16","changed":"1539802251","gmt_changed":"2018-10-17 18:50:51","alt":"","file":{"fid":"196972","name":"buzzcommonapp.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/buzzcommonapp_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/buzzcommonapp_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3972550,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/buzzcommonapp_0.jpg?itok=IDMDZDYf"}}},"media_ids":["212781"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/answer-sheet\/wp\/2013\/10\/15\/online-common-application-problems-lead-colleges-to-push-back-deadlines\/","title":"Washington Post: Online Common Application problems lead colleges to push back deadlines"},{"url":"http:\/\/admission.gatech.edu\/","title":"Office of Undergraduate Admission"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"5453","name":"admission"},{"id":"66241","name":"Common App"},{"id":"27271","name":"Rick Clark"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:matt.mclendon@ssc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMatt McLendon\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAdmission\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}