Applications - Why, God, Why?

From 10:30 this morning until 2:30 this afternoon, without pause, I worked on my applications to law schools and Ph.D. programs. And I have only one question to ask: why, God, why?

Why does every single school have its own application form? Why are all of the applications almost identical, but with nasty little differences such as order of listing employment, or amount of detail needed about parents? Why can't there just be one general application, found online, which gets sent out to all the schools? They seem to be doing that with letters of recommendation these days. Wouldn't that be simpler - one form for law schools, one form for graduate programs?

I have a dream for a future where when applying to 7 schools for law school and for Ph.D. programs, students will only have to fill out two application forms that will get sent to all of the schools.

In the meantime, I am going to continue ordering transcripts and certification letters, filling out innumerable spaces on countless forms with my name, birthday and social security number, and will go to bed every night, sobbing gently to myself as visions of online forms dance in my head.