A Step-by-Step Guide to the Common Application for Applying to College

A Step-by-Step Guide to the Common Application

You’re an excited high school senior ready to embark on the scary but thrilling journey of college applications, and then you encounter something known as the Common Application. As daunting as all of the sections of the Common App might seem, if done right, it can help ease the process. The Common Application is divided into different sections:

• Profile
• Family
• Education
• Testing
• Activities
• Writing
• Additional Information

In this blog, we will take a closer look at the sections and provide tips for filling out each one. A very important factor to remember is that these upcoming sections apply for all of the schools on the Common Application! All of the colleges you apply to within this platform will see the same information that you’ve filled out in the Family section or Activities section of the Common App. Therefore, do not write anything that’s specific to any one of the schools. You can tailor your responses in the college-specific sections that come up once you have chosen a school, but the following will be sent to all of the schools on your list.

Your entire college application process rides on how you fill the Common App out! To help guide you through them, here is a step-by-step look at each of the sections and the best ways to tackle them.

Preparing To Fill Out  The Common Application

To fill out the Common Application, make sure you have all of the information with you. You will need:

• Your high school transcripts
• A list of your extracurricular activities
• Your parents’ or legal guardians’ employment information, education, etc.
• Your test scores
• Contact information for your recommenders and guidance counselor
• Your school’s College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) code

Start collecting the documents and asking for recommendations ahead of time. Your teacher or counselor cannot write a stellar recommendation on the spot if you only give them a days’ notice. You should ask them as early as the end of your junior year, or at the beginning of your senior year. 

Remember, each section is very important, not only individually, but how they work together to paint a more holistic picture of you as an applicant. Do not rush through these details. Think about all of these logistics carefully, and you will set yourself up for success as you fill out the Common Application.

Profile

The first piece that you have to fill out on the Common Application is the Profile section. The Profile section helps the admission officers get an overview of your background. While this portion might seem very straight-forward, these fundamentals matter. As an applicant, there are some important choices you have to make here. Through the following questions, admissions officers get a substantial idea of who you are and where you are from. The Profile section asks for: 

• Personal information – Make sure to fill out this section very carefully, as it’s easy to mix up information such as your first name and last name. This section allows you to put in a nickname if applicable, your name in another language if you have one, and if you’ve used any other names previously. It also lets you elaborate more on your gender identity if you don’t identify as male or female.
• Address – The Common Application has options for your permanent home address, as well as an alternate address if you have multiple addresses. For example, if you go to boarding school, you can check the “send mail to temporary or alternate address” box. This section matters because admissions officers at most colleges read applications geographically. Each admissions officer is assigned a particular geographical region, either according to each US state, or according to country. If you’re from Minnesota for example, your application is going to be read with the rest of the applicants from Minnesota. You could be going up against people from your school and from your area.

• Contact details –  The contact details section lets you add your preferred phone number, as well as any alternate numbers where you can be reached.

• Demographics – Filling out the Demographics section is optional. However, if you choose to do so, it helps colleges get a better idea of the race distribution in a class year, what ethnic or religious group might be underrepresented, and can be used for affirmative action purposes.You might not have been expecting to talk about your religious preferences or feel comfortable doing so. The religious preferences drop-down menu includes many different practices along with “none.” Listing your religion will not hurt your chances of getting into college. The US Armed forces status allows you to list whether you are currently in the armed forces, have been previously enrolled, or are the dependent of someone serving in the armed forces.
• Geography – This section asks for your country of birth, city of birth, and how many years you’ve lived in and outside the United States. As you can tell, it is pretty straightforward and gives you a bigger picture of where you’re from and where you grew up.
• Language – You do not have to be fluent in a language to add it to your Common Application. The application asks for your proficiency so you can denote whether you can only read and write or speak the language. This is a simple opportunity to show more about your interests and/or cultural background.

• Citizenship – You have to select your citizenship status from a drop-down menu—whether you are a US Citizen, a US Dual Citizen, a US Permanent Resident, a US Refugee, or non-US Citizen. If you hold a dual or non-US citizenship, you are asked to list your citizenships. Some colleges, including MIT for example, sort and read applications by citizenship. The question thus sets a context for your entire application process.
• Common App fee waiver – You can receive a Common Application fee waiver if one of the following applies to you:

If you qualify for the fee waiver, don’t hesitate to check the box. Talk to your guidance counselor if you have any questions about whether or not you qualify.

Family

The family section is divided into:

• Household
• Parent 1
• Parent 2
• Sibling

For filling out information about your parents, you need to know your parents’ marital status, their profession, their educational background information (including their school and graduation year), and their employment status (whether they are employed, retired, homemaker, or deceased). If relevant, your parents’ alma mater counts when colleges consider legacy students if you are applying to the same school. Legacy does not guarantee admission to a college, but it can give students an extra edge. 

Your family background is a big part of providing admissions officers a greater context of who you are and where you come from. They want to know if you were raised by a single parent, whether you grew up in a divorced home, whether one of your parents has passed away. This information helps provide admissions counselors with context regarding your familial circumstances. There is no specific answer that colleges are looking for—it will just help them understand your background better.

This section is also for admissions officers to find out if your parents went to college, what your parents do, and their current position. Many colleges value the perspective of first-generation students and look to see if you are coming from that background. They also want to know whether you have a sibling and whether you’re the oldest or the youngest sibling. Your siblings attending the same college also counts as legacy.

Education

The Education section asks for the following information:

• Current or most recent secondary school – For your current school, you have to indicate whether your school is a boarding school, when you started the school, and whether you plan to graduate from your current school. This section also asks for your counselor’s information. Don’t forget that your counselor writes a letter of recommendation alongside your teachers.  They can also act as a crucial liaison between you and colleges throughout the college application process. They make sure schools have received your application and can advocate on your behalf to schools you have applied to. Make sure you’ve put in the correct contact information!
• Other secondary schools – If you’ve transferred schools, there is a section that allows you to discuss this transition. Make sure to be clear in writing why you left your previous school in the 250-word limit given. Explain what the circumstance was so that admissions officers know whether it was for preference for something different than your previous school lacked, such as in the example below, or if it was something you had no control over, such as family obligations. If you had to relocate, admissions officers want to know this to see how the move might have affected your performance.

• Colleges and universities – In the Colleges and Universities section of the Common Application, admissions officers want to know whether you have taken classes at any college. One reason could be that you wanted to take advanced courses not offered at your high school. These courses are also a good way to balance out your grades if you are not happy with them. You could also be really interested in a subject and use the opportunity to learn more about the subject. All of these efforts show admissions officers that you took an extra step to explore a topic of your interest further than obligated at your school.
• Grades – The Grades section asks for your class size and class rank (if you have one) for more context on your student body. Colleges use class size and class rank to compare your academic standing with your peers. Your rank helps the admissions officers understand the value of your GPA, and how you would fare in the academic climate of their institution. This section also asks for your GPA Scale and whether it is weighted, along with your cumulative GPA so that admissions officers can truly understand how to read your transcript. A weighted GPA is one where the highest GPA varies depending on the course or the program. Your GPA could be on a scale of 0 to 4 for regular classes, but 0 to 5 for AP courses, and 0 to 7 for IB courses. But this will all change from school to school. Some schools only use letter grades, some use a 100 point scale, you get the idea. Understanding these systems helps admissions officers compare you with other students’ grades because not every school has the same grading system.

• Current or most recent courses – This Common Application section is straight-forward. Colleges want to know what courses you’ve selected and how they might have affected your grades as well. The drop-down menu under schedule allows you to select the system your school uses—between “semester,” “quarterly,” and “trimester.” Be careful of any spelling errors or any courses you might have missed.

• Honors – The Honors section is for you to put in any academic awards or achievements that you have earned starting from the ninth grade. This could include anything from a science award to an article in an economic journal. Since there are exactly five slots, if you have more than five awards, prioritize your achievements, and list the most unique and impressive ones. If you have less than 5 awards you can stretch the definition of “academic” to include more honors, for example, if you’ve won first prize in a regional or national art competition. If you have more than 5 awards, try to think of ways to combine them. Make sure these do not overlap with the answers in your Activities section! Keep your description short and to the point, as you can only use 100 characters per award for this section. Always put the achievement with the biggest impact on top. Make sure you do your best to take full advantage of this section. 

A list of honors that could be included are 

• National Merit Scholar
• Member of an Honor Society
• Award winner for writing, art, photography, music, etc.
• Publication in research papers, journals, newspapers
• Athletic character recognition awards
• Any state, national or international award that you have won in high school

A good example of listing an honor within the given space is: “1st Place, Intel ISEF, for inventing “Robocop”, robotic biomechanical law enforcement wearable unit”

Within just 99 characters, the student highlighted not only what the prize was but what the prize was for. Abbreviating “first” and the title of the Engineering Fair helped reduce characters. The purpose of the robot reflects the applicant’s Application Persona as a student who is interested in engineering and passionate about social justice.

• Community-based organizations – This is the place to indicate whether any community-based organizations such as Questbridge or Upward Bound have helped you with your application. Community-based organizations do not include guidance counselors or private counselors (such as InGenius Prep) who might have helped look over your materials.
• Future plans – The Future Plans section of the Common App can be daunting. Don’t worry about committing to your future life path in this section. Many high school students don’t know exactly what they want to do. Plans made in high school often change, and that is okay. The important step is to make sure you do not select “Undecided.” Think about what you are passionate about, what courses you are excited to study, what activities you enjoy. Leaving the answer as “Undecided” will show admissions officers that you have not put much thought into your interests or future career choices.  Your choice of major and your intended career should have a connection. Make sure your answers in the Future Plans section support the bigger picture of your Application Persona—the theme of your application. For example, you could be an aspiring photographer interested in capturing dance performances. Or, you might be a budding marine biologist who is passionate about climate change activism. If all of these things do not support each other, admissions officers might think that your plans are haphazard and disorganized. Individuals whose passions, interests, and career goals are more specific are more likely to be accepted, so think about how you can be focused in this section. For example, if you want to be a lawyer, specify a type of law. Just saying “lawyer” can sound very generic and common. For example, a student who is interested in Art and Engineering can combine both interests and choose Architecture as a career interest in the Future Plans section.

A student who is interested in business and starting her own company one day can select “Business owner” as part of the Future Plans section.

Testing

The Testing section asks you to self-report any tests you have taken, whether standardized tests such as the SAT or ACT (choose the one that is best for you), or tests based on what you’ve studied in high school, such as the AP or IB, or tests which show your English language proficiency, such as IELTS or TOEFL. 

Make sure to look at each of your colleges’ test requirement policies. When self-reporting your test scores, you must be honest. You also have to order your scores to be sent from the Collegeboard or the ACT websites to each individual school. 

Note that the Common Application asks you how many times you took the standardized test of your choice. Thus, taking the SAT 5 times and getting a strong score does not help your application stand out!

Different Score Options

Many schools allow score choice – where you are able to choose which SAT and ACT scores to report. This enables you to have a certain degree of agency as to which scores colleges see. A lot of schools that accept score choice recommend that you send all scores.  Some colleges have a superscore policy, which allows you to pick each of your top sub scores and combine into one superscore if you have taken a standardized test multiple times. Instead of superscoring across test dates, some schools will just look at your highest score from a single sitting. Then, there are colleges that do not require standardized test scores. Currently, due to COVID-19, standardized tests have become optional in many schools. You can find out more about them here.

Activities

The Activities section allows you to write about up to ten activities that you’ve participated in throughout high school. You only get 150 characters to sum up each activity, so make sure you are optimizing the space by summarizing your role and impact in each activity. The section asks for the following information:

• Activity type
• Position/leadership description + name of organization
• Activity description
• Participation grade levels: 9, 10, 11, 12
• Timing of participation: all year, summer, school break, etc.
• Hours spent per week
• Weeks spent per year
• Intent to continue in college: yes, no

For Activity type, the Common App provides you with a list to choose from. The options available are:

• Athletics: Club
• Athletics: JV/Varsity
• Career Oriented
• Community Service (Volunteer)
• Computer/Technology
• Cultural
• Dance
• Debate/Speech
• Environmental
• Family Responsibilities
• Foreign Exchange
• Journalism/Publication
• Junior R.O.T.C.
• LGBT
• Music: Instrumental
• Music: Vocal
• Religious
• Research
• Robotics
• School Spirit
• Science/Math
• Student Government/Politics
• Theater/Drama
• Work (Paid)
• Other Club/Activity

The activities list gives admissions officers a concrete idea of how you spend your time. With the hours, make sure you are being reasonable, even if it might be difficult to put down the exact hours if there is not a consistent number. Admissions officers can count and will notice if your participation hours exceed the number of hours in a week!

In the description itself, use strong verbs and be as specific as possible. Your achievements should be tangible or quantifiable. 

Writing

The writing section requires the following:

• Personal essay
• Disciplinary information: disciplinary violation at any educational institution, misdemeanor, felony
• Additional information 

The personal essay plays a crucial part in showing colleges who you are, and it has a strict word limit of 650 words. Within a little over a page you have to show admissions officers what makes you a unique applicant, a good fit for their school, and tie it all to your Application Persona while displaying strong writing skills. This is not easy! Having a well-written personal statement can be tough, especially when you are a high school student used to writing five-paragraph-essays.

The prompts for the personal statement are as follows:

• Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
• The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
• Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
• Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
• Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
• Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
• Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

Brainstorming Your Essay

When brainstorming your Common Application personal statement, remember your Application Persona. How does your personality tie into your Application Persona. Ask yourself questions. How can you take advantage of the prompt to provide your reader with a sense of your personal growth? When choosing your topic, it is very important to remember that the admissions officer will be reading thousands of applications. Think about topics to avoid. Do not write about middle school achievements, about others’ achievements, or try to accomplish too much.

You want to stand out, you want to tell your story, and share some of your biggest passions and important parts of your life. If you talk about a debate competition that you almost didn’t win, admissions officers might not be very engaged or impressed. Lots of applicants win debate competitions. Think strategically about how you can differentiate yourself.

Narrative Structure

As for the actual writing, pay attention to your narrative structure. Narrate your story by showing the reader your personality and emotions instead of telling. Provide the reader with a theme or a takeaway message. Show them how you’ve grown stronger or how your topic has changed your perspective. Don’t forget to edit and proofread.

Additional information 

The additional information of the Common Application section asks the question:

Do you wish to provide details of circumstances or qualifications not reflected in the application? You may use the space below to provide any additional information you wish to share.

You should always be very careful when filling out this section. Admissions officers go through a lot of applications. You do not want to waste their time with something that could have been mentioned elsewhere in the Common App. It could be used to provide context on whether there is a particular trend in your GPA, or whether any unforeseen circumstances, such as illness or a death in the family, impacted your school performance. You could use it to build upon any research abstract or include your art or writing portfolio. You could also use it to address any disciplinary action that might exist on your record. 

This section is not a place to extend your personal essay or add to your activities list. Those word limits and guidelines exist for a reason. You absolutely do not have to fill out this section if you don’t have anything else to add. It will not make or break your application. 

COVID-19 Question

In 2020, the Common Application introduced a question for students to outline any changes in circumstances due to COVID-19. The prompt states:

Community disruptions such as COVID-19 and natural disasters can have deep and long-lasting impacts. If you need it, this space is yours to describe those impacts. Colleges care about the effects on your health and well-being, safety, family circumstances, future plans, and education, including access to reliable technology and quiet study spaces.

• Do you wish to share anything on this topic? Y/N
• Please use this space to describe how these events have impacted you.

(250 word maximum)

The Common App COVID-19 question speaks for itself. Within 250 words, you have the opportunity to inform colleges whether the Coronavirus outbreak and social distancing protocols affected your health, family life, and learning abilities. Many students will have experienced disrupted testing dates and summer programs or other plans—and that’s okay to unpack those obstacles here if they were significant and unique issues. Keep in mind that this was a global crisis. Testing cancellations occurred for everyone, students across the world coped with online learning, and more. However, If you experienced bigger problems as a result of the pandemic, provide context for your circumstances, whether it’s unemployment or lack of learning resources at home. You might have fallen ill yourself—or had to take on added responsibilities in your family because your parents were sick. Colleges want to know this kind of information so that they can understand the factors affecting your performance and opportunities this past semester.

You may not be sure about exactly how candid you should be in your response. Remember that first and foremost, the prompt has been introduced for your benefit — to provide colleges with a better understanding of how your life was influenced by the crisis. You won’t be harshly judged if you had significant changes to your life and academics. In fact, it’s meant to serve the opposite. If you’re usually a straight-A student whose grades slipped because they had difficulty keeping up with Zoom classes, let colleges know. Or, if your parents might have faced difficulties with their jobs, use this section to expand on that. 

As you think about your response, remember that it is valuable to talk about how you’ve moved forward. If you’re a candidate who has done well even through setbacks — and taken advantage of this time — that can show how you’ve persevered during tough circumstances and made the most out of the hand you’ve been dealt. Be honest in your answer, and if you’ve done well despite the circumstances, admissions officers will certainly make note of it. 

Final Components of the Common App

Courses & Grades  – This section is self-explanatory. Admission officers want to see your academic track record, and what classes you have taken at different levels. Not all of the members of the Common App require your courses and grades. As a result, this section only becomes available if you select one of the schools on the list. Note that even if a school does not require Courses & Grades on the Common App, all of your high school transcripts go to each school. As usual, be careful when transcribing information onto the Common App. You do not want to list a C instead of an A!

Letters of Recommendation – Your teachers, guidance counselors, and other recommenders can submit their letters of recommendation directly on the Common App—you will invite them to contribute through the application platform. Build these relationships as early as possible. Pick people who know you best, understand your background and interests, and can provide perspective on you as a student and a person. 

Besides knowing you as a student and person, your recommender should also be familiar with the components of your application and your Application Persona. They should be aware not only of the theme you hope to achieve, but how they can help elevate it in their letter. Talk to them openly about your interests in the major of your choice, about the activities you want to pursue in college, and the extracurriculars from high school that you have tried to highlight in your application. The better your recommender understands what you are aiming for in your application, the stronger their letter will be.

Moreover, make sure your recommender is someone who takes the time to sit down with you, has time to dedicate to a careful letter, and is enthusiastic and excited about your application. 

School Specific Essays – A lot of schools have specific questions that they want to ask about your interest in their campus and course offerings specifically. They want to know that you have researched the school and that you are genuinely interested. These questions can include what major you want from their list of majors, and what activities you would partake in at the college. They can also include supplemental essays, usually asking why you want to attend their school. Always be as specific as possible in these essays.

There are countless ways in which you can answer how and why a college appeals to you. For example, if the school you’re applying to is a liberal arts college, you can highlight how the community or small faculty to student ratio appeals to you. If you’re applying to an engineering school, talk about the equipment and facilities available. Mention specific faculty members you might want to do research with. If you’re an athlete, talk about the importance of the team’s spirit if it appeals to you. Talk about alums who have inspired you, about extracurricular opportunities that resonate with you, and how the location might be of importance. If you visited campus, write about what you enjoyed.

Next Steps

Now that you have an idea of what each Common Application section is like, you are all set to begin your application process. To start, you have to go to the Common Application website, and first create an account. You can then start adding your school list and going through the sections to understand the requirements for each. You can always come back to this guide for tips and tricks, as well as visit any of the blogs linked on this blog to get more detailed information on how to approach each section.

Time to start tackling your college applications. Good luck!