When I re-wrote many of the screens that appear when people purchase items in our online store, it was especially important that we do a good job on those screens that appeared when something had gone wrong. So I particularly enjoyed this page my brother shared with me from The North Face's site that appeared when he was trying to read a half-marathon's course description. It's not necessarily as helpful as it could be, but at least it communicates with some personality to the user and doesn't just say "Error" with little or no explanation.
Might be something that the Common App folks should take note of.