Getting Started with the Common App

Happy August 1st – AKA Common App Day! The much anticipated 2025-26 Common App rolls out today after having had a big makeover from years prior 🎉. You should be able to login (or re-login) to your account at www.commonapp.org to see all the changes, or you can sneak a peek here! While the Activities Section and Personal Statement are the most important and time-consuming pieces of the application, here are some tips about the first three 3 sections of the application to get you started: 

Profile:

• If your family is applying for need-based aid (filing the FAFSA), you need to list your social security number (and this might be your first time ever learning this number!), otherwise you can leave it blank.

• Feel free to answer questions honestly about your race/ethnicity, knowing that colleges are now unable to view these answers. It is also perfectly fine to just leave them blank.

• If you are proficient in/speak languages other than English, make sure to list all of them! There is a choice of proficiency levels so you can be more specific about your skill level in each language.

• Ensure you are using your legal name (that will match what is on your transcript!) If you have a chosen name/nickname, there is a space to put that as well. 

Family:

• Make sure you sit down with your parent(s) and have them provide detailed and accurate information with you about both their current occupation/role (retired or stay-at-home parent are valid entries!) as well as their educational history. List ALL colleges parents attended (including if they transferred or did not receive a degree) as well as ALL graduate institutions and degrees received. 

• If you have one or more stepparents or other guardians, try to provide as much detail as possible; better to over-explain your situation than leave anything out!

• Make sure to list ALL of your siblings - younger ones and ones already in college!

Education:

• Make sure you self-report your GPA as accurately as possible! If you are unsure about whether the listed GPA is weighted or unweighted, ask your school counselor! Another thing to ask your counselor about is if you are unsure of your class rank (or if your school even ranks students). If they don’t, just click the “school does not rank” option from the dropdown.

• Make sure to list ALL classes (including electives) you’ll be taking senior year! If you’re filling out the application now and your schedule isn’t finalized, put in what you think you will be taking and make sure to update it if that information changes.

• If you are taking any “dual enrollment” courses (i.e. college classes not offered directly through your high school (including at a community college) or college courses over the summer), don’t forget to list those under the “Colleges Attended” section!

My number one overall tip for completing the Common Application is: double-check the accuracy of ALL details! No lie, I once had a student submit an application where he realized after the fact that his birthday was wrong! Make sure you have at least one parent or guardian review all of the information as well as it’s good to have another pair of eyes. Best of luck this application season!