New and improved Web sites are making applying to college an easier process for both students and faculty. Iowa State is responding to the trend by allowing students to apply online.

“There are a number of sites that allow you to apply online,” said David Bousquet, assistant vice president for enrollment services. “Applyweb.com is one of them. It is put out by CollegeNET, which is a vender we work with.”

According to CollegeNET’s Web site, “over 500 colleges and universities have contracted with us to serve their official Web-based admissions applications.”

On applyweb.com, students can search university and college Web sites worldwide and by region or state. There are 19 applications available for 10 institutions in Iowa.

Besides national undergraduate and graduate programs, there also are applications for international schools, graduate, undergraduate, study abroad, law school, transfer and summer programs.

A link to applyweb.com is available from the ISU Web site, allowing prospective students to submit their applications with the touch of a button. Bousquet said people may apply through the Internet to cut down the time it takes to process an application.

“They maintain a server that collects them and then sends the applications back to us almost immediately,” he said. “It’s a service provided that we think is great. It helps us out a lot.”

Use of online admission applications is becoming more popular, Bousquet said, as high school students are more computer-literate than ever.

“It has increased dramatically in the last couple of years,” he said. “I’m not sure there is much difference in who applies online, but it may be that they are more technology-savvy.”

The number of students in this year’s freshman class who applied for admission to Iowa State over the Internet has seen an increase over last year. In fall 1999, 791 people applied online and 172 of those enrolled, which is 4.2 percent of the freshman class, he said. “This fall, 1,844 applied online and 453 enrolled, which is 10.4 percent of the freshman class,” Bousquet said.

There are a couple of different ways to access an application online through the admissions link of the ISU home page.

Students can create an account which allows them to save and re-edit applications on the ApplyWeb system before they are submitted to the admissions department. Students also may choose between word processing or PDF options to print out and send an application.

Despite the accessibility and convenience of online applications, Bousquet said users should be aware that not all of them are complete. Students may have to print out supplementary forms for residency or financial purposes.

Alyssa Landon, undecided sophomore, printed out applications for the different schools she was interested in through the home pages.

She said she decided to get her college applications on the Internet because “it was quick, easy and cheap.”

“I think everything is easier over the Internet,” she said.