Common App Helps

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I got an email from Common App (CA) with some interesting links.

 

This is the powerpoint for the workshop they gave an a recent national meeting for counselors.  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7d2t7YGwgTTNl84d2EzMl9tNGVrcUVfUi1iZWMtMXA5NnF3/view

 

Things I found interesting:  

0.9% of applicants identified themselves as homeschooled.  That follows my hunch that while 2-3% of US students are estimated to be homeschooled, the percentage drops considerably in high school grades.  It's also a really small percentage of applicants, so we may have to just be patient with explaining what homeschooling requirements are in various states and what each homeschool situation looks like.  [For context 1% is the percentage for Native American/Alaska Native.]

 

There is a "My College Requirements" button on the student login dashboard.  This seems to give the student an overview of each application requirement in a grid format, with deadlines and checkmarks when the requirement has been met within CA.  It does not seem to show additional requirements like portfolios, auditions or homeschool specific requirements.

 

There is a new Courses and Grades option that is being used by some schools.  This allows students to self report courses and grades (much like the University of California application).

 

Counselors can now see completion info for student applications on a more granular level.  Ex. as a counselor you would be able to see if they have completed the section on education or activities rather than just if they have completed the whole application.  This can be a helpful oversight function.

 

There is a new Adviser option.  Students can share their app with an Adviser.  This allows the Adviser to see the information the student is providing and give them feedback.  Could be useful if you want to have another experienced parent help, or if you are using a charter school or other entity as the counselor, but still want to have insight into what the student's app is looking like.

 

There is a Common App mobile App.  My son used this last year and found it was pretty useful for being able to immediately answer questions about how far along he was with various applications or when deadlines were for different schools.

 

The Q&A section has lots of links to helpful sections of the CA training library.

 

Several of these features remind me of things that the Coalition App was touting (like being able to get feedback from an adviser).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[daijobu]

I've been spending the summer and now this fall off and on exploring the Common App in preparation for next year.  I must admit I have been impressed.  Most important to me is that everything is reversible.  If you upload something and don't like the looks of it, delete it and upload something else.  If you answer Yes to some question then change your mind, go back and change it to No.  Even submitting your application requires multiple steps and can be reversed before hitting the final, final submit button.  

 

I also really like those youtube videos, not only the one you mentioned, but there is a whole channel of them about all aspects of the CA.  For example, I learned that you are only allowed 3 different versions of the CA essay to submit.  You can submit each of them as many times as you like, but you can only make three uploads.  (I think that's right.)  This is only important for those who plan to submit different CA essay to different colleges.  

 

I did encounter something today I need to work on.  If you go to the "College Search" tab and click on the "Application Requirements" button, you get that very nice table of all the colleges on your list with deadlines, testing requirements and fees all in one table.  But I can't seem to be able to generate a printable table of just my colleges...only the entire database of all colleges (15 pages of data).  I issued a ticket to their help desk, and they told me I should be able to.  Now I need to check to see if it's an issue with Chromebook, and test it on our PC...but that requires me getting off the couch this evening, so I'll leave it for another time.  

 

But if you or anyone else has a chance to see if they can generate that PDF table for only their colleges of interest, I would appreciate it!  

[bookfiend]

 Even submitting your application requires multiple steps and can be reversed before hitting the final, final submit button.  

 

I've been wondering about this.  When the Common App is finally submitted to a college with an Oct 15th deadline, am I still able to update information for a school with a Jan 1 deadline?  Can I switch out an updated transcript with final semester grades?

 

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Even submitting your application requires multiple steps and can be reversed before hitting the final, final submit button.

I've been wondering about this. When the Common App is finally submitted to a college with an Oct 15th deadline, am I still able to update information for a school with a Jan 1 deadline? Can I switch out an updated transcript with final semester grades?

There is a Midyear report and a Final report. You send out the Midyear after 1st semester grades. It goes to all schools applied to. The final is sent after 2nd semester grades and only goes to the school the student will be attending.

 

There is also an Optional report. I think this mostly used for corrections.

[daijobu]

I just heard back from the Common App help desk.  (On a Saturday!)  You can't generate a pdf for just My Colleges.  Not a big deal, but hoping they add this next year.  I'm wondering who in their right mind would want a table of every college in the country, in 15 pages?  Maybe next year.  

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I just heard back from the Common App help desk. (On a Saturday!) You can't generate a pdf for just My Colleges. Not a big deal, but hoping they add this next year. I'm wondering who in their right mind would want a table of every college in the country, in 15 pages? Maybe next year.

I guess a counselor with lots of students might. But I agree most students would rather just see what they need.

[rbk mama]

I've been spending the summer and now this fall off and on exploring the Common App in preparation for next year.  I must admit I have been impressed.  Most important to me is that everything is reversible.  If you upload something and don't like the looks of it, delete it and upload something else.  If you answer Yes to some question then change your mind, go back and change it to No.  Even submitting your application requires multiple steps and can be reversed before hitting the final, final submit button.  

 

 

Yes!  I love this, and this is just ONE reason why the Common Ap is so much better than the Coalition Ap - at least this year any way.