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Application guide for first-year students

Get tips and best practices to give yourself the best chance at success.

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Whether you're applying to college for the first time or transferring to complete your degree, here’s how to get started on your college application.

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Application guide for first-year students

Get tips and best practices for putting together your best application.

Apply now

What is Common App?

Each year, more than 1 million students apply to more than 1,200 Common App member colleges worldwide through our online college application platform. Although some colleges have application fees, using the Common App platform is free. Learn more about applying through our first-year application by following our step-by-step guide below.

Get ready to begin your journey

Walk through the application with us before you apply.

1. Gather materials
2. Create an account
3. Add colleges
4. Engage supporters
5. Understanding requirements
6. Plan essays
7. Submit your application
1.

Gather materials

The information you’ll need to complete your applications

Filling out your application takes time.

And if you have to interrupt your progress to find information, like a certificate for a continuing education course or the address of your last internship, it can take even longer. Get a head start by collecting this information before you begin.


A copy of your high school transcript

In the Education section, you will enter your high school grades and current courses. Some colleges also need you to self-report your high school transcript. You can check out your Courses & Grades section to learn more.

A list of your activities, work, and responsibilities

You can share your interests and who you are outside of the classroom in the activities section. You can share information about things like work, hobbies, clubs, and community engagement. And don't forget, other 
responsibilities and circumstances
can also be important to share. This is the place to show colleges what makes you unique!

Test scores and dates from your college entrance exams (SATs, ACTs, etc.)

You may self-report scores for standardized tests you've taken in the Testing section. Every college has different testing requirements. Some colleges will always need your test scores. Other colleges may be flexible or have a test optional policy. Be sure to check the Testing policy of the colleges on your list.

Parent/Legal guardian information

Many colleges collect this information in the Family section for demographic purposes. We will ask for your parents' occupation, employment status, and education level. If applicable, we will also ask which college(s) they attended and how many degrees they have earned.

Academic honors and achievements

The Activities section isn't the only place to show your passion and where you excel! You will also have the chance to share any academic honors or achievements from high school.

2.

Create an account

Get started at any time

Creating a Common App account is easy and should only take a few minutes.

You can create a Common App account even if you don’t plan on applying for a few months or a few years. You can answer questions in My Common Application and build a college list at any time.

  • Create your account and choose your student type.
    • If you haven’t yet attended college, select “first-year student”
    • If you have college credits from dual enrollment high school courses, you should still select “first-year student”
    • If you have already attended 1 or more colleges after graduating high school, select “transfer student”. We also have a separate transfer student guide to help you out.
  • Add your email address and password. Colleges may need to contact you during the application process, so be mindful of the email address you choose. Sometimes, your high school email address may filter out emails from Common App or colleges, so consider using a personal email address instead. When choosing an email address, be sure to use one that:
    • You check regularly
    • Does not use inappropriate language
    • You will have access to long-term, including after you graduate from high school
  • Complete your registration information
    • We will need some basic information about you, like your name, home address, phone number, and date of birth.
    • Be sure to use your legal name as it appears on official school documents and standardized tests. This will make sure colleges can match documents to the correct person.
    • At the end, you will adjust your communication preferences and accept the Common App privacy policy.
  • Select "create account"
    • You will need to verify your new Common App account.
    • You’ll receive an email with a verification code. Enter the verification code into your open browser window to verify your account.
    • If you aren’t able to verify your account when you create it, you’ll be asked to verify your account the next time you sign in.

ACCOUNT ROLLOVER

Common App accounts can roll over from year to year!

With 
account rollover
, you can start exploring Common App and save answers to questions in My Common Application at any time.

3.

Add colleges

Start building your My Colleges list

Once you’ve created your account and explored the colleges that accept the Common App, you're ready to start adding colleges.

The College search section is where you will search for and add the colleges you want to apply to. If you have a school in mind, you can search for it by name. If you want to keep exploring, you can use the more filters button. Some filters include:

  1. State or country
  2. Distance from a zip code
  3. Enrollment term
  4. Application deadline
  5. Application fees*
  6. Writing requirements
  7. Standardized testing policy
  8. Recommendation requirement

Adding a college is easy! You can add a college using the Add+ button in the search results list. You can also select a college and add it by using the Add to My Colleges button on its information screen.

Once you've added colleges, you can see them on your Dashboard and in My Colleges. Keep in mind that you can only add up to 20 colleges. You may adjust your list of colleges at any time. Once you've submitted, you will not be able to remove those schools from your My Colleges list.

* While some colleges may charge an application fee, others have no fee to apply. Many will also offer fee waivers under certain circumstances, including financial need, veteran status, and other qualifying factors.

Fee Waiver

A request to the college to remove the application fee. Using either the Common App fee waiver, which your counselor must confirm, or a college-specific fee waiver, you will not be required to pay the fee to submit your application.

Coed

Coed is a term used to describe a college or university that offers the integrated education of male and female students in the same environment.

4.

Engage supporters

Collaborate with counselors, teachers, and more

All colleges need things like official school forms. Many colleges will also ask for letters of recommendation.

Counselors, teachers, and recommenders will submit these kinds of forms on your behalf. Here are the types of recommenders you can invite in the Common App.

Counselors

Counselors share their perspective using the context of the entire graduating class. They also submit the School Report and transcripts.

Parents

Parents will only need to submit a form if you apply using a college's early decision deadline. They will fill out part of your early decision agreement.

Teachers

Teachers give a firsthand account of your intellectual curiosity and creative thought.

Other Recommenders

Other recommenders are usually non academic recommenders like coaches, employers, and peers. They give insight into your interests and activities outside of the classroom.

Advisors

Advisors do not submit any forms. They track and check in on your application progress.

Every college gets to choose their own recommendation requirements. You can find more details on each college's information page.

If you're planning to apply this school year, you can start inviting recommenders. If you don't plan on applying until next school year or later, skip this step for now.

How to invite and assign recommenders:


  • From My colleges, select a college and then go to Recommenders and FERPA.
  • If you have not already done so, you will need to complete the FERPA Release Authorization.
  • Invite recommenders using the invite button from each section. You may also use the Invite Recommenders button at the top.
  • Select the type of invitation you would like to send. For each invitation, you will need information like their name and email address.
  • After you add a recommender, you can view their info using the Manage Recommenders button.
  • Note that teachers, parents, and other recommenders will not receive an email invitation until you assign them to a college. To assign these recommenders, go to their section within this screen. Select their name from the dropdown and use the assign button.
  • If your high school uses Naviance or another partner software, you will not invite your counselor or teachers here. There will be instructional text on this page explaining what to do next. You will still add other recommenders and advisors using the steps above.

Generally, each college has its own recommendation requirements. For example, one college may need two teacher recommendations. Some colleges may not want any teacher recommendations. Colleges can also determine what kinds of other recommenders they want. Some may allow for any recommender type, whereas others only allow an employer recommendation.

5.

Understanding requirements

Keep track of each college’s unique application requirements

It's important to stay organized as you work on your applications.

Each college needs you to complete My Common Application and add your counselor.  Beyond that, their applications vary. Each college can determine its unique requirements for:

  1. Deadlines
  2. Application fees
  3. Personal essay
  4. Courses & grades
  5. Test policy
  6. Portfolio
  7. Writing supplements
  8. Recommendations

Here are some places where you can find each college's specific requirements:

Explore Colleges

Each college's 
Explore Colleges 
profile provides lots of information about the college. You can find details on application information, campus culture, scheduling visits, and more.

My Colleges

In My Colleges or College search, you can learn more by viewing a school's college information page. Here, you can find the requirements for testing, writing, deadlines, and more.

Requirements Grid

The 
requirements grid 
 is a comprehensive PDF that lists all the colleges that use the Common App and their requirements. You can also find the grid within the application.

Writing Requirements by College

We maintain a list of all Common App colleges and 
their essay prompts
. This resource will help as you begin planning your essays. For more help on planning essays, check out our essay planning worksheet.

ACCOUNT ROLLOVER

You can save answers to My Common Application questions year over year.
Get started on tasks like your personal essay or the activities section at any time.

Only get started on things like college-specific questions, writing supplements, or portfolios if you intend to apply this school year. For more info, check out our account rollover FAQ.

6.

Plan essays

Organize and plan for your writing prompts

Sometimes writing essays can feel like the biggest part of your application. With a little bit of planning, organizing, and drafting, we can help you make this task more manageable.

As you work on your applications you can find essays or short answer questions in three sections:

Common App Personal Essay

Colleges can either make the personal essay optional or required. In the writing section of My Common Application, you will see a table that lists each college's requirements.

College-specific questions

Many colleges include short answer questions or essay prompts within this section. You can find specific information about each college's individual writing prompts 
here. 

Writing supplements

Some colleges use a separate writing supplement. Not all colleges have a writing supplement. Some colleges only request this supplement based on your answers to other questions. You can find more information about writing supplements in My Colleges.

7.

Submit your application

Review and submit your application

Submission is a three-step process:

  • 1. Reviewing your application.
  • 2. Paying the application fee (if applicable).
  • 3. Submitting your application.

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