What is the Common App?
If your parents applied to college way back in the ‘80s or early ‘90s, they probably filled out a few paper-based applications and sent them through the actual mail, with a stamp and everything. They also applied to fewer colleges than you’ll be applying to. Even so, filling out three or four different paper applications was a pain.
Enter the Common App.
The Common App is a college application platform used by about 950 participating colleges and universities. It’s designed to make the application process more equitable and accessible to a wide range of applicants. It’s free and easy, you can use it on your laptop or your phone (the app is actually pretty good), and the Common App website offers great resources to help you get started.
If you’re a sophomore or junior in high school, you may not be familiar with the Common App, so here are the answers to some frequently asked questions:
Do I need a Common App account? Yes. Though there are some exceptions (Georgetown and MIT, for example), most, if not all, of the colleges you apply to will accept the Common App.
How do I register? You can create an account at any time, but you’ll want to think about registering by spring of junior year. Common App makes the process easy, and as soon as you enter your information, you’re ready to start.
What can I expect? Once you’ve created your account, you’ll see that it’s organized into five sections: Dashboard, My Colleges, Common App, College Search, and Financial Aid Resources. The Dashboard helps you to get from one place to the next; My Colleges helps you manage your college list; Common App is where you enter common application details; College Search helps you explore schools; Financial Aid Resources helps students and families understand the financial aid process and opportunities.
What does the application look like? The Common App is great because (unlike in your parents’ day!) you only fill out the information once. The application includes the following sections:
Profile (address, demographic information)
Family (parents/guardian/sibling information)
Education (high schools/other colleges you’ve attended, grades, GPA, class rank, courses, achievements)
Tests (SAT, ACT, TOEFL, IB, etc)
Activities (all the things you do outside of classes, ranked and including a 150 word explanation for each: clubs, jobs, hobbies, volunteer work, etc)
Writing (here is where you’ll write the important 650 word Personal Statement either in response to one of several prompts or on a subject of your choosing; many schools ask for supplemental essays as well)
What if my high school uses Naviance? Naviance is a third-party vendor that links right to the Common App, so if your school uses it, no problem. If it’s too much to manage two different platforms at once, you can always opt out of Naviance as long as you haven’t already begun synching up your applications.
The Common App will also help you manage your deadlines and recommendation letters, among many other things. The sooner you create your account the sooner you can familiarize yourself with how it works, and we promise, it’s organized and easy to use!
We’re ready for you, juniors! Give us a call (617.851.9975) or send an email to info@yourmayfirst.com and let’s get started building those application materials!
Common App: It’s Time
Hey Rising Seniors! The Common App updated over the weekend and is ready to go for the 2021-22 application cycle. (Juniors and junior parents-- if you’re wondering just exactly what the Common App is, sit tight. We’ve got a post coming for you next week.) There’s a new essay prompt (announced last February), and a new inclusive question about gender, but other than that it’s pretty much the same.
It’s only August, so why should you care? Because it would be awesome to start senior year ahead of the game and not have to panic in October when the reality of applying to college becomes really time sensitive.
So what should you do?
Gather all the materials you’ll need to create your account and begin filling in your demographic information:
High school transcript
List of extracurricular activities (school and community), work, volunteer experience (there is some strategy to how you write and order your descriptions)
Test scores from the SAT/ACT (more about this in a minute)
Parent/Guardian information
Academic honors and awards
As a senior, you’ll register for a “First Year Student” account
Add your demographic information
Name (make sure you enter your name as it appears on all your legal documents and transcripts so that everything matches up)
Home address
Date of birth
Phone number
Email address (make sure you enter an email address that you check regularly in case colleges need to get in touch with you; we often advise our students to create a gmail account just for college applications and check it daily)
Test Scores? Most of the colleges that went test-optional for last year’s cycle are staying that way for this year’s cycle. If you took the SAT or the ACT and did well, submit your scores (as we said in our earlier post it’s hard to know if this matters to merit aid- some schools stopped using test scores in their merit formulas, some didn’t and for the most part they’re not sharing that info).
What else should you be doing? Probably most important, you want to begin brainstorming ideas for your personal essay (who wants to be stressing over this in October?!), and looking through your college list to see if they require supplemental essays (more on that next week!). Lastly, you want to make a list of people whom you can ask for killer recommendations.
If you’d like help on building your list, writing your personal statement, and all of the other important pieces of your college application give us a call (617.447.0186) or send an email to info@yourmayfirst.com and let’s chat. We’d love to help.