Everything You Need to Know About Common App 2024

In one of our most viewed webinars, Judi Robinovitz, Certified Educational Planner, provided a detailed walk-through of the Common App. While we encourage you to view the presentation in its entirety or focus on the parts of your choice, below is a summary for each section.

What is the Common App?

Founded over 40 years ago by a forward-thinking group of 15 colleges, the Common App is a single application platform used by 1,000+ universities, allowing students to apply to up to 20 schools. Students enter “common” information and also answer questions specific to each school. Students share information about themselves and their families, and answer questions about their education, testing, and activities. They also respond to a personal essay prompt.

Common App Rollover

You can start your Common App any time, but know that the application will go “live” (meaning, you may start applying) August 1 of your senior year. Prior to this, the application will shut down for a couple of days in order to rollover for the next college admissions cycle. Any information you enter under the Common App tab (Profile, Family, Education, Testing, Activities, Writing, and Courses & Grades) will save. However, responses to college-specific questions found under the My Colleges tab will not, so start working on these after the rollover.

Getting Started

There are several things you can do before working on your application. First, create an email solely for college application use. You’ll use this email to create your account, and be sure to save and share your login credentials with the parent or family member helping you throughout the application process. Now is the time to have conversations about college affordability, including financial aid and scholarships, before you apply. A few other tips: Be careful to capitalize appropriately and spell correctly on your application, and be aware that very few questions are optional, with the exception of the Covid-19 essay. You’ll also need to have a copy of your transcript with your GPA and rank, along with your senior year course list.

Create Your Account & Application Overview

Go to commonapp.org and select “Create an account” on the top righthand corner of the screen. You’ll apply as a first-year student and enter in some basic information, including your legal name and date of birth. Don’t forget to save your login information once you create your account! Each time you log in, you’ll land on the Dashboard page. You can easily navigate among the different tabs: My Colleges (college-specific questions), Common App (the common pages), College Search (search and add colleges to your list), and Financial Aid Resources.

College Search Tips

You’ll add colleges to your list using the College Search tab. You can search by college name or city. Click on the blue “Add” button, and you’ll now be able to view that college’s application requirements and questions on the My Colleges tab.

Dashboard, Requirements Grid & My Colleges tab

You may view your college list on both the Dashboard page and the My Colleges tab. You can use the Application Requirements button on the top right of the Dashboard to generate a grid where you can easily view your colleges’ deadlines, fees, supplementals, testing policies, and recommendation requirements. Be sure to download and save for easy reference.

College Search tab

In addition to finding colleges by name and location, you can search by deadline, testing and essay requirements, and other factors. You’ll also find links for virtual tours and other college research pages. Reminder: you can only apply to 20 colleges using the Common App!

Pages “common” to all colleges

1. Profile page

Here, you’ll provide information about yourself: name, address, demographics, language, and nationality. We recommended answering all “optional” questions, including ones about gender, and ethnicity. For your first language, select all boxes: first language, speak, read, write, spoken at home. For additional languages, respond according to your level of proficiency.

At any time, click on the Preview button on the top right of any Common App page to view all responses to that particular section. This is also how colleges will view your application.

2. Family page

You’ll identify and provide information about your parents, along with any siblings and stepparents (if included). Here, you’ll need to know information about a parent’s occupation, level of education, colleges attended, degrees earned, and years. Ask your family for this information before completing this section. You can indicate if you have limited information about a parent.

3. Education page

Add your current high school and name and attendance dates (starting from ninth grade). If you attended another high school, provide its name, dates of attendance, and a brief explanation for leaving. Include any other high schools where you took classes, such as Florida Virtual. Note any college attendance (dual enrollment or summer programs) under Colleges & Universities, but leave the “degree earned” question blank unless you graduating with a concurrent college degree.

Under Grades, list your approximate class size, rank (if applicable), grade scale (usually 4.0 – ask your counselor if unsure), and cumulative GPA (use weighted if available). Only complete this when you have a transcript through junior year.

For your senior year schedule, start with core academic subjects: English, math, science, social sciences, and world languages. When selecting course levels, note that the lowest level is college prep. Honors refer to academic recognitions like National Honor Society. You have space for five honors but can combine similar ones if necessary.

Your Future Plans responses may vary by college and major selection. It’s fine to be “undecided” regarding your career interest.

4. Testing page

Here, you may share SAT, ACT, AP, and other tests’ results. Filling out this section has become more complicated with test-optional, however. Share your SAT/ACT scores if they are close to a college’s midpoint (or a little lower) or if your scores are high for your high school. You can also choose not to self-report any scores and instead send official score reports directly from the testing agency. You may wish to report AP scores of 3 or higher for less selective schools, and scores of 4 or 5 to more selective schools. You should report any future test sittings, such as dates for AP or IB exams.

5. Activities page

This is one of the hardest pages to fill out on the Common App! But, if you have a résumé, it becomes much easier. While information like activity type, leadership position, and time commitment is fairly straightforward to report, it’s the 150-character description that can be tricky to write. Using your résumé, you can adapt the top one or two points to a precise, concise Common-App-friendly description. See our handout for further tips. You’ll want to order your activities by importance, listing those relating to your major first.

6. Writing page

On this page, you’ll find the Common App personal essay prompts. Attend our upcoming webinar for more help on this section! Here, you’ll also find the truly optional Covid-19 essay. Wondering what to do with the additional information textbox? For colleges not taking a résumé, you can select 2-3 major activities and provide additional details from your résumé, removing any special formatting (use an asterisk for a bullet point, for instance).

Courses & Grades

You’ll need a copy of your transcript to complete this section. You’ll enter courses and grades from grades 9-11, and any middle school courses for which you earned high school credit. Not many colleges require this page, so only fill it out if you have to.

FERPA & Recommenders

You cannot complete these questions before the rollover. After August 1, you’ll sign the FERPA once so your high school counselor can send forms on your behalf. We also strongly urge you to waive your right to see your letters of recommendation. You’ll first ask your teachers for a recommendation (colleges prefer junior year core academic teachers). Then, you’ll provide some information about your teacher and his or her email address. If your school uses Naviance or a similar platform, you will likely request recommendations through that site and not the Common App.

College-specific pages

1. Questions Pages

Don’t work on these pages until after the August 1 rollover, as your answers won’t save. The responses to these questions only go to that college, and you’ll answer questions about application plan, term start, major choice – many of which are dropdowns. Watch for “optional” sections marked with the green check; usually the questions on these pages aren’t optional, such as uploading a résumé. You can also find college-specific essay prompts. You submit to one college at a time: each college will receive your responses to the common questions and its own questions pages.

2. Supplements

Only some colleges have a supplement, and these usually have college-specific essay prompts. The supplement is submitted separately from the application. You should always submit the application and the supplement at the same time to avoid looking like a procrastinator!

3. Supplemental Essays

The supplemental essays are as important as – if not more important than – than your personal essay! You can view all additional essay prompts here. These will be updated with the August 1 Rollover.

Have further questions, or need help with your Common App? Give our experts a call today!