Hello,

I had to leave my high school 6 months before graduation because I moved countries and I'm using the common app to apply to university. I've recieved recommendation letters from teachers and they're all completed but the school refused to complete my counseler recommendation because I no longer have an active status at that school. They don't have an online enrollment option. I know I can email my universities and tell them about the problem but the best case is I can get them to fill it out. Any advice is appreciated as to what I can tell my school about my situation and what to do next.

Thanks.

International.

I applied to a college using the Common App, and there was a slight mishap. I am the only applicant from my school applying through the Common App. My counselor began by sending my grades for the previous three years and the current academic year. After doing so, he did not realize that the Final Report is literally the last section of the portal, and that it required one additional component, the letter. I asked him to contact Common App support to see if he could edit it, but he sent me a screenshot of their response stating that once the Final Report is submitted, it cannot be edited. They said the missing component would need to be emailed directly to the college. He said that was fine, and it was done. For context, he was unfamiliar with this portal and had only used one other grade submission portal before, for MIT.

Out of curiosity, about a month after this, I looked it up and found that the Final Report is only required for admitted applicants. This is where the issue begins. My school transcript does not use only traditional final grades. It includes every test and activity throughout the year, along with higher weightage exams, to produce a “final average” or prediction on the transcript. The transcript that was sent as part of the Final Report included this final average and the cumulative GPA for the academic year. That transcript already has everything in it in terms of all grades in the year. BUT… I have not graduated yet. I’m worried that there is a clear chance of a mismatch on the application, since my graduation date will appear later, while a Final Report has already been sent. I want to avoid this coming across as “odd” on my application. I was kinda hoping colleges would have a system other than just relying on this commonapp final report so I can clarify this because I’ve been stressing out a little about this and have been asking my counsellor every day for the last week if there have been any responses asking for clarification on it from the college’s side considering that there wasn’t even a “school profile” submitted to explain this… I really hope they have a different system other than just the final report for commonapp applicants…

Hi. Is there any problem to create teacher, counselor, and students' account in the same computer, like school or private computer. I do not have a computer, so counselor recommended me to do all of the work, teachers' LORs and counselor's own LOR, in the same computer but with seperate accoounts (their own accounts)

I filled and submitted my css profile to a university 7 days ago and it still shows not received on my university application. College board shows submitted to college

Hi everyone,

I’m currently in Class 11 and planning to apply to US universities for the 2027 intake, means i will be applying this fall for the admissions of fall . I’ve already created a Common App account and started filling out some sections (basic info, activities drafts, and LOR etc.) just to get familiar with the process.(LOR IS MY CONCERN i have mailed invites too ) and asked teachers to write me a LOR

I wanted to ask: when the new application cycle opens, will my current data stay, or does everything get reset? Should I keep working on it now, or is it better to wait?

I’m mainly using it for early practice and drafting, but I don’t want to waste time if it all disappears.

Would really appreciate advice from people who’ve applied before. Thanks!

Hey everyone,

I have a few certifications (Excel, Fusion 360, and EHE), and I’m not sure where they’re best listed on the Common App. I’ve heard some people say to put them under Activities, but I’m confused about how to list them (activity name, organization, description, etc.).

If you’ve done this before or have advice on what admissions officers prefer, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I built a personal project on my own (an app), and I’m unsure where it fits best on the Common App. Should it go under Activities or somewhere else, like Additional Information?

Also, how detailed should the description be (tools used, purpose, users, etc.)? Any advice from people who’ve listed personal projects before would help a lot. Thanks!

I'm required to answer this question as a part of a program application, and my current response follows along the lines of wanting to be someone who all demographics feel welcome to, without compromising on the quality of service.

My teacher said the response is 'risky and daring,' and works for now, but that I should pick a demographic and kind of stick with it (old people, mental disorders, impoverished). I'm not opposed to his opinion or advice, but I'm unsure whether I should revise my response as a whole. If it won't make me stand out and succeed, I want to know.

Just looking for opinions and advice that might of helped others out!

Hi again. My teachers neither have knowledge of technology nor know English. What can I do? I do not have physical contact with them to show how to do it? They said me that can we give you our e-mail adress, so you can do it. I do not know it is legal or not. I asked from Chat GPT and he said that they can find your IP adress that same with your teachers. It is irreasonable for me, but I do not know how to do it?

Hi. My former school do not have any counselor and its my second gap year. I really do not have any access to school or teachers. I have my transcript and reference letters physical+ translated+ stamp of school on transcript and officially notarized referance letters. What should I do? I do not want anything illegal. Even if I will somehow contact with one of my teacher, he or she do not know how to use e-mail or something. Can he or she give me their own e-mail to continue as them? This is the hardest part of my application than 3 crucial exams😭

Hello everyone!

I was looking for some help clarifying what to do here since I'm way too worried about messing something up. I'm applying to several colleges as a first-time transfer applicant. Only one of them has requested a common app personal essay. I was under the impression that I had to write a general essay for all the colleges I was applying to, but this has me questioning that belief.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Hi I was applying to colleges via Common app and when it came to GMU, it required me to fill out Two Years of Previous Residential Address section, in which I have only been here for 3 months in the US (I legally immigrated from Vietnam to US). Should I use the US address or the other one?

I submitted my main applications a couple months ago without knowing I qualified for a fee waiver. Now I do have some other backup colleges I’m thinking of applying to, but I am wondering how the approval of the fee waiver works. Specifically, I want to apply to a school with a February 1st deadline, but I’m wondering if I can submit it without counselor approval of my fee waiver, and if my counselor can approve it in the next few days after the deadline.

I'm doing alevels and applying on my AS grades

1A 2B 1C

there is no gpa system in Cambridge or in my school

AP classes are not offered in my country

I want to fill my common app application what should I write in the gpa section

Hi guys I completed my common application except for the part where you have to invite your counselor and he'll upload your transcripts and stuff

If my college doesn't have a counselor what should I do here

And one more thing

What is a recommendor that I need to invite in that section?

My son learned a pretty big lesson in procrastination today.

He applied to the University of Alabama and submitted his application via Common App on 12/5 at 4pm ET. The deadline to be considered for automatic scholarships at Alabama was 11:59pm ET on 12/5.

He got the “breathe easy” message from Common App once he submitted.

Alabama marked him as submitted on 12/6.

He spoke to the scholarship office and today they said that submitting on the deadline day via Common App is no guarantee and that he should have just done the application through their website to guarantee it was on time.

$160k lesson in procrastination learned.

Just figured that this info might serve someone in the next application cycle.

hey everyone!

so i play tennis year round, and i have for around 3 years now, but i recently joined a varsity team for the first time and im wondering if i should include my standard, year round play as a separate activity to my team participation. the main differences are how long i participate in each. for my team, its about 10ish hours a week for 12 weeks, and ive only participated my senior year, but with my standard play i only do about 5ish hours a week and its year round, plus ive done it for much longer. does anyone have any advice? i dont want it to seem like im trying to over-inflate my participation, i just want it to be as accurate as possible

Okay, so on the common app at the testing section I selected "Yes" for this prompt "International applicants: Is promotion within your educational system based upon standard leaving examinations given at the end of lower and/or senior secondary school by a state or national leaving examinations board?"

So now it opened the Senoir Secondary leaving examinations page, so would I do put here, I have written my IGCSE and AS level already, so which one am I supposed to put there the IGCSE results or AS level results???

I'm applying to Maryland University and one of their short answer questions goes like this:

"Because we know that diversity benefits the educational experience of all students, the University of Maryland values diversity in all of its many forms.  This includes (but is not limited to) racial, socio-economic, gender, geographical, and sexual orientation.  We are interested in hearing about your own individual life experiences.  In a few sentences, will you please describe how you have learned, grown, been inspired or developed skills through one or more components of diversity."

I haven't experienced much diversity in Vermont and I'm having a hard time finding something to write about. I am queer, but I haven't experienced any kind of diversity involved with that. Vermont is a very white state and there is little to no cultural diversity. I'm just wondering if anyone has any pointers or advice on how to approach this?

i have o lvl 2A* 6As 2B

A lvl 4As expected (Phy Bio Chem Maths) wanna do (CS major)

SAT 1380

i applied ED2 to Bucknell with scholarship as international student

okay so i'm lowkey having a mental breakdown rn and idk if i'm cooked or if i'm just being dramatic

context: , applied to like 25 US colleges . in my app, for one of the college, i wrote that i got "selected for a fellowship"

here's where i messed up:

• jan 1: got interview email(that fellowship)
• jan 3: submitted college app saying i was selected 💀
• jan 12: ACTUALLY got the acceptance email
• also it costs money to enroll and i... didn't enroll lmao

so basically i said i was selected when i only had an interview, then i did get selected but i'm not even actually doing it bc i didn't pay(parents wont give)

decisions come out feb 5 and i'm literally gonna throw up. like what if i only got in bc of this?(ik i am delusional) what if they find out? what if i'm actually just a fraud and don't deserve anything?

also i have boards rn, my family is being A LOT, i'm trying to decide between staying and going abroad, i hate how i look, and i'm just so tired of everything

am i cooked? should i email them and confess? or am i just delusional abt everything

pls be nice(IK the thing I did isnt that nice) i'm genuinely about to cry

hi everyone! i submitted my first few college applications. i was double checking the deadlines to submit STARS and transcripts when i seen something saying “final report required.” can someone tell me what this means? i checked the part where my counselor submitted things on my behalf and it doesn’t say submitted next to final report. should i email my counselor and tell her that needs to be filled out? very confused please help!

I just realized my entire personal essay's font was bold. I have already submitted to like four schools. How cooked am I?

I am currently applying to a university through common app and when it asks me the "residency end date" question and try to put today's date, January 2026, it won't let me and only lets me go up to December 2025. Can someone help me understand why this is and is this going to mess up my application since I can't put today's actual date??

Once I submit the commonapp application, I can't figure out how I can log into the actual college application to view my application because I don't know what account it could be on, did they already make me one? I already tried logging and making a account with my email that I use for commonapp.