Prospective students will no longer have to hassle with typewriters and correction fluid because they will soon have the option of applying to the College through the Internet.
"An application on the World Wide Web for the Class of 2000 will be up and running next year," said Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg.
Furstenberg said the Office of Admissions plans to put a free electronic application and viewbook on the Web as an alternative to the traditional paper application.
The College is not trying to attract particular groups of students with this new method, but as time goes on, "probably fairly bright, computer-literate" students will be active Internet users, Furstenberg said.
Furstenberg said "it will make a huge difference with international students," because the traditional mail system takes more time and is less reliable than the Internet.
"When the form is completed the applicant can send the application to the web server, " said Computer Resource Center Manager Andy Williams. "The web server will pass all the information onto the Common Gateway Interface."
He added the College can set up its home page however it wants. It could be set up to not accept the application until the entire application is complete.
The College currently has applications available on computer disks.
Each application in "Apply!" is an exact copy of the paper application. Students simply fill one out on a computer, print it and send it to the Office of Admissions.
Among the schools that have their applications in this package are Dartmouth, Stanford University, the University of Pennsylvania and Duke University.
Furstenberg said the College allowed Apply Software Systems to put its application on "Apply!" two years ago.
Furstenberg said only a few hundred students out of an applicant pool of 10,000 use this program to apply to Dartmouth each year.
He added that "Apply!" users are primarily from the New York metropolitan area.
But because the format of the disk does not match that of computers in the Office of Admissions, students using "Apply!" must print out their completed applications rather than send them by Electronic-mail.
Currently, the Office of Admissions office receives test scores and alumni interviews electronically.
