For over 400 colleges and universities around the country, the Common Application (informally known as the “Common App”) is now a required part of the undergraduate admissions portfolio. This is a benefit to both the applicant and the institutions to which they apply because it saves the student time (which is always appreciated during junior and senior year), and the college or university is more easily able to compare students side by side. It’s an exciting, nervous time for many students, but it doesn’t have to be tedious to boot.

How does the Common Application work?

Students can obtain the application through www.commonapp.org or download it directly from a participating school. The application is available beginning in August each year. Required questions include demographic information, academic history, a personal essay, and, of course, contact information. Students choose colleges to place in their profile for submission. Once they do so, they’ll be able to view deadlines, fees, and form requirements. Once the application is complete, students can submit online or via mail.Schools that accept the Common App vary from public to private, from local technical schools to Ivy League colleges. A comprehensive list of schools is available at collegedata.com.

Why Should I Use the Common App?

First of all, it’s convenient. Certain information all colleges and universities will ask for—info like grades and test scores—will be exactly the same on every application you fill out. The Common Application gives students the freedom to furnish that information just once, giving students time to concentrate on more complicated aspects of the application process—like application essays—as well as freeing up time for things outside of the application process, like senior year coursework, says commonapp.org.

Second, you may not have another option. Many institutions that accept the Common App do not accept any other form of application for undergraduates.

What Additional Materials Might Be Required?

Many institutions ask for extra information outside of that requested in the Common App, and some simply give students an opportunity to submit anything they feel will give the admissions office a more complete view of the applicant. Students should be careful to take note of requirements. Some common examples of optional and required supplemental materials from top colleges and universities include:

• Yale University- Yale provides a space to report additional test scores and asks for a required second essay as well as short answer responses to questions like:
  • Why Yale?
  • What would you do with a free afternoon tomorrow?
  • What do you wish you were better at being or doing?
• Cornell University – Cornell requires an additional essay specific to a student’s desired area of study, such as:
  • Applicants to the College of Engineering must describe an engineering idea or their interest in engineering as well as how they believe Cornell can foster this idea or interest.
  • Applicants to the College of Arts and Sciences must describe their “intellectual interests, their evolution, and what makes them exciting” as well as how they will use Cornell’s programs to explore their intended field.
• Duke University – Duke gives students the option to discuss research conducted out of school, and allows a student’s friend or relative to send a one page letter stating why that student should be admitted to Duke.
• University of California, Berkeley – UC Berkeley asks students to fill out a worksheet listing up to five items in each of the following categories: courses taken outside of the standard college preparation track, academic enrichment programs outside of school, volunteer and community service, work experience, awards and honors, and extra-curricular activities.
• Northwestern University - Northwestern’s supplement asks questions related to a student’s level of interest in the school, requiring information like the date of the student’s most recent campus visit and which, if any, Northwestern representatives the student has spoken with. In addition, the supplement asks students to respond to a required essay question about why Northwestern is the right school for the student, and an optional question about independent research a student has conducted.

Students should carefully consider what optional supplementary materials to include: more is not necessarily better. According to Yale, supplementary submissions make sense for students whose talent “cannot be conveyed adequately in the rest of the application.” The university recommends submitting materials such as audio recordings, art samples, writing samples, and the like but discourages additional examples of something already submitted, such as an extra letter of recommendation or personal essay, as it may not offer any new information that will be helpful to the admissions office.

Points to Remember:

• It’s free to use the Common Application, but you must still pay each college’s application fees.
• Students can revise and save their applications as many times as they’d like before submitting, according to collegedata.com. They can also create different versions for different schools if they want to tailor their application to the institution (for example, submitting a different essay).
• Students should save a backup copy of their applications, just in case something gets deleted by accident and, if creating different versions, to proofread each version separately before sending it.
• Some information is required of teachers and counselors. When a student enters faculty contact information on his or her application, an automatic email is sent to the faculty member. Students can track the progress of faculty through the Common App Online and should be sure to communicate with teachers and counselors whose contact information they have given.

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