Common Application users have at least one thing in common: dealing with glitches.

The fourth version of the online Common Application, used by over 500 colleges and universities, went live on August 1, 2013. Since then, students, teachers and counselors have experienced a myriad of issues.

“There have been several technical glitches with the Common App from students not being able to upload documents…[to having] had their parents’ credit cards charged more than once for filling it out,” said Career Center Specialist Kelvin Coggins. “There have also been other issues like not even being able to log into the site and getting an ‘error’ message after an application is submitted.”

Questioning if they really did apply, students’ only option is to close the Common Application Web site and hope their application and payment went through. On top of that, the Common Application’s sometimes ambiguous instructions and other hiccups make applying an even more exasperating experience.

“[The Common Application] is really hard to figure out,” said senior Maggie Donahue. “Sometimes it doesn’t save the answer you put in.”

Students who believe they filled out every blank and checked every box are left wondering if they really did, and spend extra hours going over their application for the second, third or even fourth times.

In addition, students who write an essay in a word processor, such as Microsoft Word, and then paste it into the appropriate box in the Common Application are often confused at the essay’s appearance. The Common Application software reformats essays, sometimes leaving huge spaces between paragraphs and inserting paragraph breaks into the middle of sentences.

“If you paste it [from] Word, you have to go back in and add all your indents and stuff,” said senior Caitlin Herron. “If you have numbers, you have to start a whole new paragraph for it.”

Students cannot preview their essay until they begin the submission process, though essays are usually miraculously formatted correctly in the PDF preview file.

“You can’t preview what you’re sending in until right before you submit. That’s frustrating because I want to see it before…I submit,” said Herron.

Students are not the only ones experiencing problems with the new version of the Common Application. Teachers who are trying to submit recommendations for students are also encountering errors, such as not being able to open the recommendation link and emails not going through.

“The Common Application didn’t even open up and then I got all the error messages,” said American Sign Language teacher Sharon Bailey. She and many other teachers had students print out the teacher recommendation forms, which they filled out by hand and mailed in.

Because of all these issues, many colleges and universities have extended their deadlines. The College of William and Mary, Yale University, Stanford University and Loyola Marymount University, to name a few, gave applicants more time to finish their applications to reflect the Common Application issues.

“I was so happy about [the extension],” said senior Mary Claire Ragan, who applied to William and Mary. “It took a little of the weight off my shoulders.”

The Common Application keeps a running list of known and in-progress issues. Even so, students are worried that another unexpected glitch will materialize while they are trying to submit their applications.

“I’m really worried something [is going to] happen and all my work is going to disappear,” said Ragan.

In the end, however, the only thing students can do is submit their applications well before the deadline, giving them time to deal with any new issues that may arise.

“I have just been encouraging students to be as proactive as possible in submitting their applications and supporting documents at least a week ahead of the deadline,” said Coggins. “If there are any issues then they’ll have time to try to address them.”