WHAT IS THE COMMON APPLICATION?
The Common Application is a not-for-profit organization that serves students
and member institutions by providing an admission application – online and in print
– that students may submit to any of our 346 members.
WHY USE IT?
Once completed online or in print, copies of the Application for Undergraduate
Admission can be sent to any number of participating colleges. The same is true
of the School Report, Midyear Report, and Teacher Evaluation forms. This allows
you to spend less time on the busywork of applying for admission, and more time
on what's really important: college research, visits, essay writing, and senior
year coursework.
IS IT WIDELY USED?
Absolutely! Millions of Common Applications are printed and accepted by our
members each year. In addition, last year almost 1.4 Million applications were
submitted via the Common App Online.
IS IT TREATED FAIRLY?
YES! Our college and university members have worked together over the past 30
years to develop the application. All members fully support its use, and all give
equal consideration to the Common Application and the college's own form. Many of
our members use the Common Application as their only undergraduate admission application.
CAN ALL COLLEGES PARTICIPATE?
Membership is limited to colleges and universities that evaluate students using
a holistic selection process. A holistic process includes subjective as well as
objective criteria, including at least one recommendation form, at least one untimed
essay, and broader campus diversity considerations. The vast majority of colleges
and universities in the US use only objective criteria – grades and test scores
– and therefore are not eligible to join. If a college or university is not listed
on this website, they are not members of the consortium. Sending the Common Application
to non-members is prohibited.
WHAT IS THE COMMON APP ONLINE SCHOOL FORMS SYSTEM?
As part of the application process, schools require a variety of information to be
provided by teachers and guidance counselors who have interacted with you in the high
school environment. Until this year, those forms were available as PDF files that could
be printed, copied, and mailed to the appropriate colleges. In 2008-2009, each teacher
and counselor will have the option to complete the forms online via the Common App Online
School Forms system if they desire. There is no cost to you or high schools, and using
the online system is completely optional for your teachers and counselor.
When you create an account on the Common App Online, you must first indicate what high
school you attend. Once this information has been saved, you can access a 'School Forms'
section of the Common App where teachers and counselors can be identified. By adding a
teacher or counselor to the list of school officials, an email is triggered to the teacher
or counselor with information about how to log into the Online School Forms system or how
to opt for the "offline" or paper process. You are then able to track the progress of your
various teachers and counselors via a screen within the Common App Online.
WHAT IF I'M A TRANSFER STUDENT?
There's a Common Application for Transfer Admission as well as First-Year Admission.
The Transfer Application is available primarily for online submission; however,
the form can be downloaded in PDF format from our
Download Forms page.
TECHNICAL QUESTIONS?
If you are experiencing technical difficulties with the Common App Online, if you need to request
your user name or password, or if you have a general question about the Common Application (including
access to our numerous FAQ's), please use the online Help Desk. Our Help Desk is staffed 24 hours per
day, 7 days a week, between October 1 and March 1.
We are not able to offer phone support for our free online service to applicants or their advocates
and do not post a publicly available telephone number. Email communication you receive from technical
support will come from application_help@commonapp.net. Please be sure to add this email address
to your address book and/or safe list to prevent the messages from being blocked as "spam." This is
especially important for AOL users.
Applicants: Please click here to access the Help Desk. Please do NOT submit support requests on behalf of a school official; the school official should submit those directly in order to avoid confusion and speed the resolution of problems.
School Officials (counselor/teachers): Please
click here to access the online Help Desk. Please do NOT submit support requests on behalf of a student; the student should submit those directly in order to avoid confusion and speed the resolution of problems.
HELPFUL HINTS
- Web browsers. Make sure you are using one of the following recommended browsers -- they're all free:
- Print Previews. Install Adobe Acrobat Reader--it's free:
Adobe Acrobat Reader Download Page
- Application Completion.
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Save your work often
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Logout after each session
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Use a word processor to type your writing samples before cutting and pasting or uploading them into the online application.
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Treat the online application with the same care you would treat a paper application. Think carefully about each question, take your time before answering, and don't wait until the last minute to begin.
