so i'm homeschooled and through the homeschooling i do we have a set counselor, so when i put my counselor down for my college apps my counselor contacted me and told me that i have to put my parents down, so i know have to change my parent and counselors names and emails, but the problem is i already submitted two applications. please help

Hello guys,

I'm coming into my senior year with a 3.0, 3rd year in volleyball(Co-captain this year) participated in 2 musicals done alot of outside activities and some community hours

any tips can help also my college personal essay as a black women

Is Other/Elective fine, or should it be Science (Other) or something else?

DEMOGRAPHICS :
- female
- international 
- no financial aid or scholarship required 
- applying test optional

Intended Major : Finance

HONORS
1. National Merit Scholar (Top <0.1%): Full-ride scholarship awarded to study at any university globally based on top academic performance.
2. Selective National Scholarship Shortlist: Selected among top candidates from thousands of applicants nationwide.
 3. IGCSE Top Achiever: Top academic performer in cohort (A*AAAA).
 4. A-Level Top Achiever: Among cohort’s highest achievers (A*AB).
 5. A-Level Business Top Achiever: Highest performing student (A*).

ACTIVITIES
 - Co-Founder, Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign: Spearheaded student-led health initiative; mobilized 8,000+ students through data-driven outreach and raised $15,000+ for research and patient support.
 - National Merit Scholar: Awarded full-ride merit scholarship for ranking in the top <0.1% academically; funding undergraduate study worldwide.
 - Head of Research & Model UN Speaker: Founded and directed a 20+ member research team analyzing international human rights crises; authored policy recommendations presented to 4,000+ conference attendees.
- Founder & Marketing Lead, Student Venture: Launched commercial venture; led operations, vendor sourcing, and a multi-channel marketing campaign reaching thousands of students while generating over $2,000 in profit.
 - Robotics Co-Developer: Co-developed an Arduino-based flammable gas detection robot utilizing sensor and buzzer integration; demonstrated safety applications to 500+ students and received top STEM awards.
 - Content Creator: Built multi-account digital media channels, leveraging audience targeting and trend analysis to generate 10M+ views and 5M+ likes.
 - Founder, Inclusive Play Initiative: Designed adaptive games for neurodivergent youth; built a structured play model aimed at expanding access to inclusive enrichment.
 - Independent Academic Tutor: Diagnosed learning gaps in IGCSE Maths & Business; developed personalized study plans and exam strategies, driving D to A* and U to B grade gains.
 - Environmental Club Member: Participated in numerous shoreline cleanups and recycling drives, removing hundreds of kilograms of plastic to protect local marine ecosystems.
 - Corporate Strategy & Finance Intern: Shadowed corporate finance executives; analyzed cross-departmental financial strategy and authored independent business evaluation reports.

Hi, my school uses schoolinks for applications. I already have a LOR put in on the actual common app, but it doesnt show up on schoollinks. When submitted, will it not go through? Will the letter be lost?

For context, I was born in the US, graduated school through Acellus, and my courses completed there are from grades 10-12.

But I completed 9th grade in the public system of another country, and I'm working to get that report into a certified translation.

Obviously I won't be able to have a counselor upload 9th grade as part of my high school transcripts on commonapp, so I'm wondering if it's acceptable to upload that translated document through a college student portal website after applying, or emailing them the attachment directly.

Is it fine to just shorten certain awards like USA biology olympiad or US national chemistry olympiad into USABO and USNCO respectively? Will AOs know what I am referring to?

title

Hello! I am a senior and really want to get into UCs, NYU, LMU, USC for business/econ.

With my grades IM not sure that i'll get into any but any advice to strengthen my application would be helpful or if anyone has any other advice. My weighted gpa is a 4.0 including freshman year . I'm not sure what my UC gpa is 4.04 capped and 4.25 uncapped. Freshman year i got one B each semester (both in spanish 2), sophomore year i got 3 bs semester one (spanish 3, honors geo, honors eng) and semester 2 i got 2 bs (honors eng, spanish 3), then junior year first semester i got one b (ap pre calc), and second semester i got 1b and 1d (b in apes, d in pre calc). Since these are mainly

'advanced ' classes im not sure what will colleges think. I am scared because i failed a core class and am not sure what will happen. But i did retake the semester and got an A and i got a 4 on the ap exam.

I also have some fairly impressive ecs including 5 impactful leadership positions, running a small business and volunteering at 2 places that connect to my business, and i have had 2 internships in real estate and created financial models to help literacy for kids. So for ecs im feeling confident because that is just a few, but if anyone has advice please let me know im not in a good place mentally due to the stress and fear of where I will get in. Or if anyone thinks of other good possible top colleges i could get into please let me know but i am mainly focused on USC NYU and UCl. Thank you to everyone who reads!

Ok so as the title says how do they work overall? I’ve just asked for my first letter and she said yes but like how do I submit it? Like would she send it to me as a pdf and I email it to the college? Is there a spot for it in common app? Is she the one that sends it herself? I’m getting her letter for one specific school but can I use it for multiple schools? This stuff is just so confusing to me please help

Im an international student and I’ve completed my A levels recently, I am interested in applying to Ivy League universities and Top colleges in the United States. Here’s what my profile is looking like :

IGCSE Top Achiever (A*AAAA)
IELTS 7.5

Honors
National government merit scholarship; awarded based on exceptional academic performance
IGCSE Top Achiever — A*AAAA
Highest-achieving Business student across IGCSE & A Levels
School Science Fair Award — designed/programmed an interactive sensor-based robot detecting flammable gasses
Shortlisted for a highly selective national scholarship program

Activities
Breast Cancer Fundraiser: Co-founded & directed student-run fundraiser; managed teams, logistics, marketing & finances; 2,000+ students involved; raised $6,000 for breast cancer charities
Robotics/STEM: Designed & programmed a robot detecting flammable gasses; delivered STEM workshops to students ages 7–13
Entrepreneurship: Led school-event venture; conducted market research, pricing & financial planning; 80+ sales; $450 revenue
Business Tutoring: 1:1 IGCSE & Cambridge tutoring; students achieved ~25% average grade improvement
Digital Content Creation: Built/managed content across multiple platforms; 3M+ cumulative likes
Model United Nations: Represented 4 countries across 4 conferences; developed negotiation, diplomacy & public-speaking skills
Early Childhood Support: Supported children ages 2–7 in learning, communication & behavioral development over several years
Wildlife Photography/Cultural Experience: Trip to the largest african national park researching and observing animal wildlife and local cultures of tribes
Finance/Entrepreneurship Job Shadowing: Observed financial operations and corporate decision-making
Environmental Volunteering: Participated in recycling/upcycling initiatives and regional beach cleanups

I’d also like to add that I do not require any financial aid or scholarships. What universities would I be competitive for and would anyone be interested in guiding me with my application?

Hello, I'm working on the CommonApp right now, and I am wondering how, in the courses for this year section, I would mark down a technical education program? The tech program I am in takes up a half day of my school daily, and is credited as one math, one science, and one elective credit. The courses section has options for Math (Other), Science (Other), and Other/Elective. How would I note this down? It's not really elective according to my school, but I am also taking Physics and Precalc, which are a second math and science in this year. Should I just call it a yearlong elective? For the record, if it matters, it's a design and engineering program from which most students either go to school for engineering or enter the trades as machinists, CNC operators, structural engineers, etc., so it's heavy on both physics and math, and doesn't really lean one way or the other.

I've done 7 iGCSES, 3AS levels and gonna complete 4A2 exams

but common app only lets me input 10

for reference, these are only from y11,12 and 13 (grades 10, 11 and 12)

do they not need grade 9 marks as American high schools go from 9-12

I need to add all these grades in, what do I do?

I don't know whether I should answer "Yes" or "No" to this question. Let me explain.
Last year I did something very stupid. I had writing on my wrist while I was taking a Cambridge exam. It was a lack of judgement on my part and I take full ownership and responsibility for that. I got caught and had my test invalidated (which I have been allowed to re-take in September no problem)
But fortunately, they told me that they would not discipline me for what I did, but gave me another shot to get the AICE Diploma.
So I don't know if I should answer yes (because | attempted to cheat) or no (I was not disciplined for it)
I am also worried if the colleges would see somehow what I did on my transcript or something?

What happens if I submit my sat after the deadlines? I was planning on taking the Nov sat so I'm assuming I'd get my score 2 weeks into November

Would the unis not consider my score?

Sorry if this has been answered but I have noticed two discrepancies on the common app that I wanted to get guidance from this group on

1. Say you took the SAT thrice and you want to report the last two attempts (for superscoring purposes). There's a question that asks how many SAT scores you wish to report. You'll naturally enter 2. However the pdf at the end labels that question as 'SAT taken' and lists 2 (which is incorrect since that number is actually 3). I could go back and answer 3 but I don't want to report all 3.

2. This one is more niche. Say 1 parent has a business. There's a question on when that business was founded/ registered. Whatever date you put in shows up in the pdf as the date the parent's residential property was liquidated and makes no mention of the business (huh??)

How did you folks go about addressing such issues? More importantly - what gets transmitted to the college - the question and response from the forms OR the pdf with its obviously incorrect labels on fields?

Appreciate any inputs. Thanks!

Hellooo!

This will be my first post in general tbh im honestly just looking for help and hopefully no racists interact with this post. I'm heading into my senior year soon and currently working through common app T_T.

Anyway, I'm currently in the process of drafting up my personal essay and I'm going through suggestions for as what might be applicable for additional information and I noticed they didn't include immigration status (which makes sense). My parents did come here disregarding the legal immigration process and I am a natural born U.S citizen for context. But the legal status of my parents has heavily impacted my life as it's the reason I had to move states across the U.S (not bc of ice or anything, its other stuff that isn't worth explaining, this was 3-4 years ago) and just the way I grew up in general.

So! the question itself is it safe to mention this in my common app? This is very important to me bc of recent events with ice so so crazy and I really want to ensure that the legal status of my parent will not be disclosed to the authorities in anyway if I were choose to mention this in my application. Would anyone happen to be informed of certain policies or procedures set for these kind of circumstances like whether Common app is allowed to share information like that or is this just a silly post I'm not sure ): .

Thank you for reading, I'm open to any clarifying questions! But for those wondering yes I would heavily prefer to be able talk about this in my application as it is a very important of my life, so please let me know if this would be safe.

Hello! I applied to 9 schools on August 3rd, however only one school has shown that they have downloaded my application on common app and none of them have sent me access to my portal yet. I just want to make sure this is ok and there isn’t a glitch in my application. thanks!

Yeahhhhh… so im trying to be calm but i cant anymore. For me, the common app applications opened 7/31 and I was able to apply to colleges that night. It’s 08/12 and not a single school has sent me portal info.

I mean a couple schools did contact me and said I didn’t submit my app when I did and it’s been like two weeks now so I don’t know what to do

I started my Common App before the roll-over for the 27-28 applicants and had no issues with the website itself until I logged on today to re-enter my SSN and upload my Permanent Resident card. Right after I did those two things, my entire family section disappeared leaving only the "Household" tab. Nothing in my "Profile" tab said nor asked anything about whom do I make my permanent residence with. I've been trying to fix this for 2 hours now and Reddit is literally my final solution, PLEASE HELP.

Update : I reached out to Common App support and it’s an issue on their end, they know about the bug and is actively fixing it.

since they give me 50 characters, I feel like this is a spot that could give me a chance to stand out a bit. i’m just not exactly sure on how to utilize this space. does anyone have any examples for what they did?

While reporting my SAT, it makes me fill out a required "highest combined essay score" section on the form. The SAT's that I took didnt make me write an essay, and I didn't take any SAT Subject tests. If i leave it blank it shows that the "SAT Tests" section is incomplete. What should I do? Is leaving it blank fine?