The Common App, an online college application that is accepted by hundreds of colleges nationally, opens for students August 1st of every year. And though your kiddos might not be waiting up until midnight July 31st to be the first to submit, they will have to fill it out soon! The Common App has made some changes in 2021, and you can advise your child to have the following items on hand to make the process efficient. There are A LOT of fields that need to be filled out, and a few minutes of prep time in advance will pay off.
Students, filling out the Common App is easy if you gather these together first:
- Your unofficial transcript. You will need to know your cumulative GPA to date, if your school ranks students (and how – percentile, quartile, not at all). You’ll also need to know if your school is on a 4.0 scale, and if GPAs are weighted. (Your school weights GPAs if, for example, AP classes are on a 5.0 scale and standard classes are on a 4.0 scale.) If you don’t have online access to your transcript, reach out to your high school guidance counselor office – they usually have some summer hours.
- Your senior-year course schedule. You will be asked about what courses you are taking, at what level (standard, AP, IB, college-prep), and if they are semester-long or full-year.
- The most unexpected information to gather in advance regards your parent’s education. The Common App will ask you what level of education your parents have, and quite a bit of detail about what degrees they have earned. You need to know how many degrees they have and what kind they are (Bachelor’s, Masters, Doctorate, etc.). Additionally, you’ll need to ask them the name of each degree-granting institution and the year they earned it. (For this little fact-finding mission, you might ask them to take you out for coffee or ice cream – it might take awhile!)
- All of your standardized test scores. You are asked to self-report test scores on the Common App, and individual schools often want the official score report sent. Gather your scores from any SAT, ACT, AP subject test, IB subject test, and TOEFL test you’ve taken, among others. If you know you will be taking one of these in the future before your application is due, write down the date.
- After you input all the data above, you will be prompted to start filling in the more interesting part of the Common App: the activities and honors sections. Hopefully you’ve gotten some sage advice early in high school to keep lists of these things. If not, you’ll want to start your list now. Think back to your freshman year, and take notes on any activities you’ve participated in, and the honors and awards you’ve received. While I won’t get into detail about these sections here (as I will in our fall workshop), documenting your activities and honors in an organized way as you recall them is a great starting point for this portion of the Common App.
Once you have all of the above information complete, you can get to work on your essays! Interesting in learning much more? Click here to learn about our senior application and essay writing workshops. Let’s chat, schedule your free consultation here!
