Understanding the Common App for Juniors
By Karen Treon, Senior Editor & College Parent
Right about now - springtime of junior year - students start hearing a lot about college applications. Testing, Common App, Letters of Recommendation, etc. It can be overwhelming. This post is specifically about Common App, and the TL;DR is that it is time to start thinking about the Common App but starting to fill it out is premature. It’s not a race.
First, what is the Common App? The Common App is a widely used platform for college applications. Over 1,000 colleges and universities use it, and if your junior is planning to apply to more than a handful of colleges, odds are that they will use the Common App.
We don’t suggest that juniors rush to get started on the Common App. It’s a bit early – most colleges won’t even update their supplemental essay questions until the summer, junior year grades aren’t complete, and letters of recommendation aren’t finished. Most juniors aren’t yet sure where they will be applying, and most colleges won’t accept applications until summer - at the earliest! Most importantly, kids run out of gas if they start this process too early. That said, it doesn’t hurt to get familiar with the Common App. Your student can open an account and click around if they want to check it out, and parents can have a look at the very helpful Parent Resources page. We are also big fans of the AXS Companion - a free tool developed by Oregon State University and the Independent Educational Consultants Association to help students navigate the Common App.
If your student is eager to get started, we recommend starting with the following steps:
Have a look at the current year essay prompts. Students will see that the prompts are broad. Now is a good time for students to start jotting down ideas about things they might want to write about. We have more information about essays and links to great guidance in the Senior Year section of our blog.
Start thinking about Letters of Recommendation. You can review our Sixth Semester blog post for more information on Letters of Recommendation.
College application season is a marathon and not a sprint. There is plenty of time ahead to work on the Common App and build compelling and authentic college applications.
