How To Add More Colleges On Common App

Over ane million loftier school students utilise the Common App each year to apply to colleges. The Common Application website can seem disruptive at first, but we're here to simplify things. Looking for Common App instructions? Want to learn how to add colleges to Mutual App profiles? Just desire to know what the Mutual App looks like earlier you dive in? We answer all those questions and walk you through each section of the Common App and so you lot tin can create the strongest college application possible.

Mutual App Overview

The Common Application is an online platform that allows you to apply to multiple colleges at in one case. The Mutual App streamlines the college application process by assuasive students to make full out details such equally their contact data, extracurricular activities, grades, and essays just one fourth dimension. It's the most popular college awarding platform, and more than a million students use it each year.

Using the Common App is free for students, though you'll probable have to pay application fees for the schools you're applying to. If you're worried most these costs, y'all can apply for a fee waiver.) Over 900 colleges use the Common App, then there's a high chance that all the schools yous're applying to permit Common App submissions.

The big benefit to using the Common App is that you can apply to schools through a centralized college application organisation instead of having to submit all your applications individually. This type of system not just makes the whole college application procedure a lot easier, but it likewise saves y'all a ton of valuable fourth dimension since you lot won't have to keep filling out the same information for each schoolhouse.

How to Prepare Upwardly a Mutual App Account

Setting up your Common App account is a fast and easy procedure. First, get to the Mutual Application'south website. In the upper correct corner is a push labelled "Create an Account." Click it! You'll select if yous're a student, parent, or education professional person. (Most people will select "starting time year pupil" since they're applying to enter college as a freshman.)

Then you'll ready your account. You'll enter bones information such every bit your email (which will be your username) and password, as well as your proper name, phone number, engagement of birth, and address. Finally, you'll decide whether yous want the Common App to share your contact information with colleges so they tin send you school brochures and if you want the Mutual App to send yous emails and texts not straight related to your application. Both of these are completely optional and won't impact your awarding.

Click "Create Business relationship," and you're prepare to go!

What does the Common App await like? After your account is created, and every new time you log in, you'll exist brought to your dashboard, which looks like this:

How to Add together Colleges to Common App Account

Once you accept your Common App account set upward, you tin start adding the schools you desire to apply to. To do this, click the "College Search" tab. Enter the name of the school into the search bar, then click the plus sign to the left of the schoolhouse name to add together it to your list of schools.

Adding schools right at present is non-binding, so don't stress too much about this. Just add every school you're planning on applying to. To remove a school, click its proper noun, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click "Remove college."

In one case you lot accept all your schools added, click the "My Colleges" tab, and you'll see them listed on that page. You can click on the name of each school to see that higher's contact information, awarding deadlines, standardized test score policy, letters of recommendation policy, personal statements required, and whatsoever additional application information. These pages contain a wealth of information, so be sure to bank check them out!

Common App Instructions for Each Department of the Application

Nether the "Common App" tab, you'll see seven sections to complete. Here we explain the Common App instructions for each of these sections to ensure you fill them out correctly.

Profile

This is basic demographic information like your name, contact data, native languages, citizenship, etc. You're only required to make full out the questions with a blood-red asterisk next to them. Leaving the optional questions blank won't negatively bear on your applications. There are a fair number of questions to answer here, just they're all short and easy, so this volition be one of the fastest sections to complete. If you lot accept a fee waiver or believe you're eligible for one, this is also where you lot'll betoken that.

Family

This is similar to the Contour section, but these questions are well-nigh your family unit members, not yourself. You lot'll answer questions almost your parents' educational status, birthplace, and occupation, and your siblings' age and education level. (If any of these don't employ, you tin can marking that and skip those questions.) Similar the Profile section, the Family unit section has a bunch of short, like shooting fish in a barrel questions that shouldn't take y'all long to consummate.

Instruction

In this section, you'll enter information about the high school(southward) you attended, your GPA and class rank, any community college classes you've taken, each class you'll be taking this yr, and whatsoever academic achievements y'all've received. You lot'll already be sending your bookish transcripts to the schools you're applying to, but this is a way for schools to speedily view some of the chief information from your transcript.

Testing

Here you lot'll enter your standardized exam scores (although yous'll notwithstanding need to submit official score reports to colleges you're applying to). You lot'll choose which test scores you're reporting, such every bit Sat, Act, AP, IB, TOEFL, etc., and then you'll enter information virtually the blazon of test you took, the date you took it, and the scores you received. As long equally you have your scores handy, this will exist a quick and easy section to fill out.

Activities

For the Activities department, y'all'll listing each of the extracurriculars yous've been involved in. This includes both school-related extracurriculars, like being on the JV soccer time, and not-school extracurriculars, like jobs you've had or private clubs you've been role of. For each action, you'll list the activity, the position you lot held, how long y'all participated, how many hours per calendar week you lot spent on it, and if you programme to continue the activity in college. You lot'll likewise demand to requite a cursory clarification of the activity (up to 150 characters long).

For the descriptions, we recommend using upwardly all those 150 characters (which really isn't much) and putting in as much information as y'all can nearly how you participated and if you had any leadership role or won awards. For all extracurriculars, colleges honey to meet leadership, dedication, and skill. This means, emphasize all the times you took charge, had a not bad achievement, went above and beyond, or made an impact.

This section often takes a fair corporeality of time to fill out because yous need to recall a lot of information and decide how to describe each of your activities in the best way to show your skills and dedication.

Writing

This is the section where yous'll complete your personal essay. There are seven essay prompts; yous'll choose one of them and write an essay 250-650 words long. Some colleges don't crave this essay. At the top of this folio, you'll see which of your schools require it, and which don't. Nosotros have an in-depth guide on the Mutual App personal statement, how to cull the correct prompt, and how to write the strongest essay. We recommend you spend a off-white amount of time on this role of the Common App, since a lot of schools do look closely at your personal statement. We recommend writing it in a word document, looking information technology over several times, and request a parent and/or classmate for their opinion earlier pasting it into the Common App.

This is also the section where you'll discuss whatsoever disciplinary history you may have had, besides as where you can complete the optional "COVID prompt." The COVID prompt is where students tin can explain impacts the COVID-19 pandemic may accept had on them, both personally and academically. Information technology can be upward to 250 words. It's totally optional, and if the coronavirus didn't negatively bear upon your grades, extracurricular participation, or anything similar, then don't experience the need to respond this prompt.

This is also where you take the opportunity to answer the prompt, "Do you wish to provide details of circumstances or qualifications not reflected in the awarding?" This is your chance to explain things that negatively impacted your grades/transcripts/extracurricular participation and aren't related to the coronavirus. For example, you lot might accept gotten mono sophomore year  and missed a lot of class, which injure your grades. Y'all may have had a expiry in the family unit with a like bear on. Y'all might have broken your arm i year and non have been able to participate on the basketball team. Again, information technology's completely optional, but if you have something y'all want colleges to know, this is your place to discuss it. Yous can write up to 650 words.

Courses & Grades

Some schools don't require you to complete this section (again, at the pinnacle of the folio, it'll say which of your colleges do). If none do, then you're very lucky, because this tin exist a time-consuming department to fill out. To consummate it, you'll need to enter every class y'all took, when yous took it, the grade you got, and the level it was taken at. Like we said, it'll take some time. We recommend having your transcript next to you as you fill up this section out. Hither's what the form you'll need to fill up out for each class looks like:

Common App Instructions for Supplements

Almost colleges you lot're applying to will accept supplemental questions and/or essays y'all need to complete. To complete them, click on the schoolhouse'southward proper name under "My Colleges." You'll encounter supplemental questions under "Questions," "Recommenders and FERPA," and "Writing Supplement.". The questions are easy to complete and can enquire annihilation from if you have siblings attention the school to if you lot plan on applying for financial aid to if yous plan on living on-campus your freshman year.

If a school requires letters of recommendation, it'll be under "Recommenders and FERPA." Yous'll sign the FERPA agreement, decide whether or not you want to waive your rights to viewing what your recommenders wrote, and so select who you want to write your letters. Each school will have instructions on how many messages they want, and who they desire them from (such every bit teachers or guidance counselors). Enquire the people you desire to write your letters first before inbound their information considering they'll immediately be sent the invitation grade, and you don't want to take hold of them off guard.

For schools that do have supplemental essays, they often focus on why you desire to attend that particular school. Nosotros call these "Why This College" essays and take an article entirely devoted to how to answer them.

Submitting the Mutual App

Once you have all the sections of the Common App completed, yous're ready to submit! A nice thing about the Common App is that it'll alarm you lot to any required information y'all oasis't answered, and then you don't demand to worry about forgetting something important. If a required question is left blank, you won't exist able to submit without answering information technology. We do recommend double-checking your answers though, to make sure you included all the data you wanted and there are no errors.

Y'all'll submit your application separately for each school. When you're ready, go to your "My Colleges" tab, click on the school's proper noun, and click "Review and Submit." After you've confirmed that your awarding is complete, you'll be directed to a third-party site to pay the school'due south application fee. Finally, you'll be brought back to the Common App to sign and submit your application. Repeat this process for each of your schools, and you lot'll exist set! Remember to transport transcripts, official test scores, and other boosted information the schools request (you tin see this data by clicking on the schoolhouse's name).

What'due south Adjacent?

Working on your college essay? Larn what not to do with our in-depth guide.

Trying to decide if you should retake the SAT or ACT? Learn how to develop a target ACT score or SAT score based on the colleges you lot want to utilise to.

Which schools accept the Common App?See the complete list on our guide to schools that accept the Common Application.

Desire to build the best possible college application?

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Most the Writer

Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Ecology Biological science and Geography and received her Primary's from Duke University. In high schoolhouse she scored in the 99th percentile on the Sat and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biological science in several countries.

How To Add More Colleges On Common App,

Source: https://blog.prepscholar.com/common-app-instructions

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