The Common App Fallacy Analysis

Fallacy within the “App Store”: A Critique of “The Common App Fallacy”
In “The Common App Fallacy” written by Damon Beres, he argues that students would have a better chance at getting into college by banning the College Application which, he says, does not help students conduct individualized searches for colleges but is rather a “cheap, money-making scheme”. The author informs the audience that due to the convenience the Common Application, lack of commitment to personal college applications has become more abundant. He tries to convince the people who work and care about student college application processes that this will do nothing but harm the students because they “aren’t getting into the schools they want or deserve” due to the increasing
He continues with another example, telling us that no matter what his friends’ GPA’s were or the extracurricular activities they did, they were simply “shutout of everywhere.” There is no doubt, he explains, that there are definitely increases in applications due to this; which means that while more kids are after higher education, many schools turn them down. To overcome this obstacle, students apply to whatever position in the university that they feel they have a chance of getting into. He goes on to remark that with the promotion of the Common Application by universities and College Board, students are tempted to use these “mass applications.” This means that rather than being more beneficial to the student, the Common Application puts students at a risk because they show a lack of serious interest. Beres argues that the individualism and unique talents shown in the application, essays, and
He displays the purpose of the essay with facts and many useful comparisons such as “reporting substantial increases in applications” and “schools have a larger, more competitive application pool… kids are taking spots at universities that they may, in fact, have little to no interest in”. This information is significant and logical. It captures the sympathetic attention of the audience, a want to help these students. However, when he says, “the average [schools applied to] from people I’ve talked to seems to be around 10, though many I know have applied to upward of 16,” the number of people he talked to needs to be clarified. Also additional research needs to be done to make sure he is representing the larger group of college applicants. Lastly, his later paragraphs provide a poignant thesis to this essay displayed with an abundance of passion. Not only that but he provides a solution, “Maybe it has to be a joint endeavor… to discourage students from sending them out with reckless abandon”, which adds to his argument. However, the last paragraph seems to be out of place as it does not properly conclude this essay. The statistics, if used at all, would best be placed somewhere in the beginning of the essay. This would better support and lead into his