The Common Application Bans the Box

Do you have a kid in high school? Are you in high school yourself and plan to go to college?

You may want to check this out.

On August 7, the Common Application announced that it will no longer ask about an applicant’s criminal record, starting with the 2019-20 pool of applicants. The Common Application is the application that over eight hundred universities across the country use to streamline their process.

Just last year, after considering this change, it had said it was keeping the question, which asks if you’ve ever been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony.

But some things won’t change. Individual colleges can still ask about it on their own applications. And the Common Application will keep its question about disciplinary records in high school.

For more on the announcement, see here.