Every year I speak to Grade 11 and 12 families who have never heard of the Common App.
By the time they find out what it is, deadlines are already close.
This newsletter exists so that does not happen to your family.
What is the Common App?
The Common Application is a single online platform that allows students to apply to over 1000 universities across the United States and around the world.
Instead of filling out a separate form for each university, your child fills out one profile and submits it to 20 universities.
It covers everything. Personal information. Academic history. Extracurricular activities. Essays. Recommendations. Test scores.
One application. Multiple universities. Each University has its own deadline.
It is the standard for university applications in the US and is accepted by almost every major university including all eight Ivy League institutions.
What the Common App includes
The Personal Essay
One essay of 250 to 650 words. This is your child's opportunity to speak directly to the admissions committee. It is the most personal and most important part of the entire application. More on this below.
Activities List
Up to ten extracurricular activities. Each one gets a brief description of what your child did, their role and the time commitment involved. This is where four years of deliberate profile building shows up.
Academic Information
Grades, courses, class rank if available and any academic honors. Universities will also request official school transcripts and predicted scores separately.
Standardized Tests
SAT or ACT scores. A strong score can strengthen an application significantly and can be beneficial for scholarships too.
Recommendations
Two teacher recommendations and one school counsellor recommendation. These are submitted directly by the recommenders through the platform.
Supplements
Most universities require additional short essays specific to their institution. These are submitted through the Common App alongside the main application.
The personal essay - Do not underestimate it
Of everything in the Common App, the personal essay is where most Indian students lose ground.
The most common mistake is writing an essay that sounds impressive but reveals nothing personal.
A list of achievements dressed up as a story.
Admissions committees read thousands of these. They remember almost none of them.
The essays that get remembered are the ones that are honest, specific and human. A moment. A question. A realization. Something that could only have been written by your child and nobody else.
Start early. Write multiple drafts. Do not submit the first version.
When to start
The Common App opens every year on August 1st.
Early Decision and Early Action deadlines fall in October and November.
Regular Decision deadlines fall in January.
Your child should have their personal essay drafted and their activities list ready before August 1st. Not after.
The families who start in August are already behind the families who started in June.
One thing to do this week
Go to commonapp.org with your child.
Create a free account. Explore the platform together.
Understanding what is required before the pressure begins makes everything that follows significantly easier.
Hit reply and tell me - has your child started exploring the Common App yet? What is the one part of the application process that feels most confusing right now?
I read every reply.
Forward this to a parent who needs it.
To explore how GIDE AI can guide your child's future, visit www.gide.ai
Warmly,
Abhishek Gupta
A Father. A Founder. A Counsellor.