All you need to know about Common App

What is Common App?

Usually termed as Common App, the Common Application has been proved to be a successful and streamlined online application system used by a large number of students worldwide in order to apply for admission into its partner colleges and universities. Although its more than 900 partner institutes are spread all over the globe, however, a majority of them are based in the USA.

Established in 1975, Common App aims to make the complex admission processes easier and more feasible for international students. Since it permits the students to apply to different institutes at once, therefore, it is quite time-saving and beneficial for the students on both national and international levels.

When should you submit the Common App?

The deadlines for the submission of Common App vary from institute to institute as there is not a definite deadline mentioned. Therefore, students ought to scrutinize the admission deadline details for the institutes in which they want to apply. Moreover, students who want to get admission followed by Early Action acceptance in case they already have strategized their study plan, need to apply quite earlier before the deadlines approach.

Which institutes accept the Common App?

Approximately over a million students are claimed to use the Common App for their online admission application to the concerned institutes that range from more than 900 institutes located in different parts of the world. However, some of the top-notch US institutes that accept online admission applications from students all around the globe via the Common App include:

• Brown University
• Cornell University
• Duke University
• Johns Hopkins University
• The Ohio State University
• Stanford University
• University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• University of Pennsylvania
• Yale University
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Northwestern University
• Columbia University
• University of Chicago
• Dartmouth College
• Vanderbilt University
• Princeton University
• Harvard University
• Arizona State University

How to submit admission applications by Common App?

It is highly preferable for students to choose Common App if they wish to apply online for admission into undergraduate programs in prominent schools and colleges of the USA as well as many other institutes associated with Common App located in more than 20 foreign countries. It is quite accessible and feasible for students to use the Common App by following simple and general steps mentioned as following:

1. Common App account

Firstly, you need to create a proper login account in order to submit the online admission application via Common App. While creating your Common App account, you need to simply provide your email, login, and password details along with some general inquiries regarding the guardian or counselor details along with the time by which you want to submit your online application.

2. Confirmation of your concerned institute’s link to Common App

Followed by creating the Common App account, you need to check if the school or college of your interest accepts their admission applications via Common App or any other online platform. In order to confirm the admission portal of your concerned institute, you have to enter the name of those colleges in the “My College” list mentioned in the Common App account you had created previously.

3. Check and fulfill the individual requirements 

The submission of a single admission application (Common College Application) on your Common App account enables you to apply for various institutes of your interest at a time yet the specific requirements may vary in terms of testing, letter of recommendation, writing, and essay submission, etc. You need to check all such requirements particularly for the school or college in which you wish to apply.

4. Common documents required

Some of the most common documents required include your previous academic transcripts, personal essay, letter of recommendation, testing scores like SAT or ACT, contact details, academic and employment background of your parents or guardians, extracurricular activities you had been involved in, and so on.

5. Tracking of your application process

Having filled all the required fields, you can easily track your application status for online admission into all the concerned institutes. There is a particular color indication on the dashboard of your Common App account which specifies the application status, for instance, the green color indicates the successful submission of your application to the concerned institute whereas yellow may denote that your application is still being processed.

Is it free to apply via Common App?

Common App has been a popular choice amongst the fresher students for many reasons, however, the provision of a free service remains one of the most prominent reasons. Well, the majority of the institutes associated with the Common App usually do not impose application fee charges yet there are some schools and colleges which may require certain application fees.

Therefore, it is quite crucial to check individually which institutes demand admission fees before adding them up to the list of colleges in which you want to apply.