College Prep: Everything You Need to Know About the Common App
A completed college application requires a lot of time, effort, and organization. There are many pieces that go into each college application, and the Common App creates one convenient location for tracking and completing several multi-part applications, allowing students to apply to several schools simultaneously. Here is everything you need to know to use the Common App to its full potential.
The Common App was introduced in 1975 as a solution for streamlining the process of applying to several different colleges simultaneously. Prior to the Common App, students wishing to apply to several different schools had to complete each application separately, making sure to track the different requirements accurately, and then submit each directly to the school. While this manual option is certainly still an option, the Common App has taken a lot of headache out of juggling multiple college applications at once. Today, over 700 schools support the Common App as a way of applying for admission to their schools.
Additionally, many college applications will include the same pieces. For instance, most schools will require students to include an official transcription with their application, and many require students to provide written letters of recommendation from teachers or mentors. Furthermore, it is guaranteed that every single application will want some basic information from the student: their name, their address, their GPA, etc. With the Common App, these pieces can be added to the system once and tied to multiple applications. This reduces a lot of redundancy and saves the student a lot of time.
The Common App will also track the application specifications for each individual school. For example, lets say University A requires students to answer three short essay responses on very specific questions but University B does not have a similar requirement. Those essay responses for University A will be included in the Common App specifically for University A and will not be applied to the application for University B.
Parts of the Common App
There are seven sections that comprise the Common App. You’ll need to provide different information in the form of answers to questions and/or documentation for each of the seven sections below.
Profile
Family
Education
Testing
Activities
Writing
Courses & Grades
Completing the Common App Process
Create a Common App Account
The first thing you’ll have to do is create an account. This is where you will work through the college application process and where all pieces of your application will be stored.
Add Desired Schools to your Common App
The Common App is currently supported by 733 American colleges and universities. That being said, it’s likely that many schools on your list will allow you to apply via the Common App, but it’s also very possible that a school or two will not support the Common App as a means of submitting your application. Once your account is up and running, add any of your desired schools that support the Common App to your account portal. This is how the account knows which schools to send your application to and what the requirements are for each application.
Review School Requirements
Once you’ve added the schools to your account, review the requirements that show up. Which schools require additional written essay statements? Which ones have submission deadlines that are different than the regular January 1 and November 1 dates? Make sure you know exactly what you are expected to include with your application and when it needs to be done by.
Gather Info & Get to Work on Application
There is generally a long list of items that is required to be included with college applications. This includes an official transcript, information about your parents, your standardized test scores, your GPA and school grades, information on what courses you’ve taken, and letters of recommendation. This list is not all-inclusive. Each school will have very different requirements. Regardless, you need to review these requirements and come up with a plan for making sure they get completed.
If you will need to write four total essays, make a plan for doing so. Maybe this would be a good thing to focus on during a fall break long weekend. If you need to include letters of recommendation, get thinking about those early. Who would be a good person to ask to write a recommendation letter on your behalf? Ask them as early as possible to ensure that they are not rushed with completing their part of the process either. Make sure you know what you need to do and when you need to do it. Then make sure you get it done. This is the phase of the Common App process that will take the longest.
When is the Common App due?
The Common App deadline usually depends on whether a student is applying early decision or regular decision. For early decision, the general deadline is November 1st. For regular decision, the general deadline is January 1st. Make sure to check the specific dates for any schools you are applying for via the Common App to ensure you aren’t missing important deadlines.
Important Tips
Start working on your college applications EARLY. Give yourself plenty of time to put together a strong, well-rounded application. You want to have time to write multiple drafts of your essay responses and let others read and offer feedback. You definitely want time to go back and review to ensure you’ve included all of the requirements and feel confident about your application package. There is no penalty for completing an application early, and you certainly don’t want to end up rushing to get everything done as the deadline approaches.
Create a To-Do List. As we mentioned earlier, it’s very important to make sure you get everything done that is required of a specific application. Knowing there will be many moving pieces to each college app, it can be incredibly helpful to create a list of all of the things you need to get done and when you need to get them done.
Complete Optional Steps. There are likely to be college application pieces for each school you apply to that are deemed “optional.” Just because something is optional doesn’t mean you should just ignore it. Consider whether including an optional piece of information could help strengthen your application. We often encourage students to go above and beyond and include optional information and documentation to further demonstrate why they deserve to be admitted to a school.
Pick the Right Essay Prompt. The Common App requires students to write one 650-word essay on a topic of their choice. They give students different essay prompt options to choose from to guide their writing. When going through these prompts, it’s important to pick one that will allow you to write a powerful, moving essay that is going to catch the eye of admissions teams. That being said, don’t simply pick the essay prompt that you think will be the easiest to write or that you think you could write the most about. Take time to reflect on the different prompts and what you could write about. Write about something that is important to you and that is real and true.
Save Your Progress. Make sure to hit save frequently within your Common App system. There’s nothing worse than working hard to get a college app together and then having it disappear and starting over.
Review Your Work. Take the time to go back through your application pieces to make sure that everything is ship-shape and high quality. Remember that you are applying to colleges and want to make sure your application stands out in the sea of other applications. Take time and care in making your application as perfect as you can.
Alternatives to the Common App
There are a couple similar organizations that are trying to do what the Common App has accomplished and create a more efficient means for students to apply to multiple colleges and universities simultaneously. A couple examples are the Coalition Application and the Universal Application. The main caveat of these other programs is that significantly fewer schools are members of them than the Common App. You can’t use a program to apply to a school unless it is included in that program. These alternative options are altogether less widely known less widely used but may be an option depending on the schools on your application list.
Good luck, and happy prepping!
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