Understanding the Common App: Tips and Tricks

Webinar Transcription

2024-10-16 – Understanding the Common App: Tips and Tricks

Lydia: Hello. Hello. Hello, everyone. Welcome to our webinar, “Understanding the Common App: Tips and Tricks.” My name is Lydia Hollon and I will be your moderator tonight. I am a senior advisor here at CollegeAdvisor where I’ve been for about 3 years and interview. I am a proud co-captain of the essay review team as is Anna. I’m also a graduate of New York University and currently work as an education consultant and I’m also a former high school English teacher.

So to orient everyone with the webinar timing for tonight, we are going to start off with the presentation, then answer your questions in a live Q and a on the sidebar. You can download our sides and start submitting questions in the Q and a tab. We’ll also be recording this session so that you can review the webinar again later.

Now, Let’s meet our presenter.

Anna: Hello, everyone. My name is Anna Vande Velde. Thrilled to be here tonight to talk about the Common App. I’m a senior advisor, CollegeAdvisor, been here over three years now. I studied psychology at Carnegie Mellon. Really thought I was going to be a clinical psychologist, but so Life’s full of twists and turns.

I ended up at Harvard Law School where I graduated a few years back. So in addition to my work with CollegeAdvisor, which includes serving on our essay review team with Lydia, um, I am a non profit defense attorney and I live in Ottawa, Ontario. Really excited to be here tonight and to dive into the Common App.

Lydia: Great, thanks Anna. So now we’re gonna take a Just to do a quick poll and figure out what our demographics are. So I’m going to go ahead and open the poll. Um, feel free to just respond with what grade you’re in. And if you’re a parent, you can respond either with. The grade of the student that you’re here for or just respond to others should we know that you’re an adult Um, so while I give our audience a chance to answer this Anna, what was it like for you when you were applying to college?

Were you ever confused about the process or how to navigate common app? Um, or the admissions portal for the specific school that you were applying to or did you feel like it was pretty straightforward?

Anna: I was overwhelmed Um It wasn’t something my parents were familiar with. Um, I felt pretty on my own to figure it out.

I wish I had started earlier. So I recommend to all students, uh, make a Common App account as soon as you can just go in check it out click through the the different sections and the options So that you know what to expect when it’s time to time to actually send in your applications

Lydia: Definitely. Yeah. Um, I have definitely heard of students who don’t get familiar with, with the Common App until a day or two before they have to submit their applications and that’s not ideal.

It definitely makes things a bit more challenging because that’s not the time that you want to be having to figure things out is when you’re under the pressure of those deadlines. So the more comfortable you can get with it, the better. I think I also went through a similar situation. Um, you know, when my parents were applying for college, it was.

By paper, you mailed it physically. So, um, it was definitely like a difference for them. Like the fact that you could do all of it online and things like that. Um, and they similarly did not have much, um, guidance for me on the process. And I figured out a lot of it. On my own. So hopefully this session is helpful for those of you listening in tonight, um, because I know sometimes the common app can be a little bit tricky and it’s helpful to know exactly how to navigate the platform and also know some tricks and tips.

to make your application stand out as much as possible when using the Common App. And looking at our audience demographic, 60 percent of the people attending tonight are in the 12th grade, which I think is, makes complete sense. You all are in the throes of applying to colleges right now, and Probably could use a little bit of extra guidance to figure out how to make sure that your applications are perfectly formatted and ready to go.

So without further ado, I’m going to pass it over to you, Anna, to lead us into the presentation.

Anna: Awesome. Thanks, Lydia. So first we thought we’d start with high level. What is the common app You’re unfamiliar. So as Lydia referenced, it used to be the case that when you were applying to college, you usually had to go to their campus or find someone who had been to their campus maybe at your school or request it via mail, a paper application.

You would take that, you would fill it out, you’d mail it back into the college, for every college you’re applying to. So as you can imagine, that was a lot of work, a lot of writing, and a lot of writing the same things over and over again. Because there’s a lot of information that all of the schools want, like where you go to high school, how big is your family, where do you live, all of those things.

Every school’s gonna want. So, the internet afforded us this great luxury called the Common App. It’s used by over 900 colleges and universities. They’re mostly in the U. S., in Canada, some in China, Japan, and some European countries. The Common App is a place for you to input data. all of your application materials and send them a whole list of colleges.

So you don’t need to, like, um, previous generations, filling out multiple forms with the same information. You don’t have to type your info into eight different college websites to submit your application. You put it all in the common app, and And that information goes to everywhere you’re applying. It’s also really helpful for tracking the schools on your list, their deadlines, what essays are required and also what recommendations they will allow you to submit.

Uh, it’s most likely what you’ll use for most, if not all of your applications depends on where you’re applying, but it really simplifies.

So the Common App is broken down into sections. Um, the profile section with your contact info and demographics, family background, education, so where you go to school, uh, testing, if you are submitting SAT or ACT scores, An activity section where you can include up to 10 extracurricular activities, and then the writing section, which includes your personal statement and any supplementals the school might require.

If you’re not familiar with these terms, a personal statement on the common app is an essay. You will write up to 650 words. You can choose from a list of. I believe it’s seven prompts. They’re all pretty open ended, and it’s really a great chance for you to shine and tell a story that’s hard to capture in lists and transcripts.

Um, that essay, your personal statement will go to all of the colleges that you are applying to. Some colleges may require or make optional supplemental essays, so essays in addition to the personal statement. Those essays will go only to the school that is requiring them, so they’re college specific.

Another reason I think it’s really important to get set up on the Common App early, and also enter all of the schools on your list and the majors you want to apply to, is that that’s a really good way to make sure you know what supplementals you’re going to have to write. So, You might Google, for example, at this university, is there a supplemental essay?

It might be no for the university, but some colleges, for certain majors, require supplemental essays. The Common App will tell you all of that. It makes your research a lot easier. But you need to have your college list and programs set up. input into the Common App early enough to go in and look and see what supplemental essays you’re going to have to write to give you the time you need to do those well.

The last section on the Common App is your coursework and grades that you can input, and then you will also submit, uh, your school will most likely submit an official transcript at some point. Okay, so digging into using the Common App, when you’re looking for schools to add, maybe you know, maybe you know what school you want to go to.

You click on College Search up at the top there, you type it in, it’ll pop up. You can see those blue oval shapes with a plus sign that says Add. Click that. And it will add it to your list. But maybe you’re not sure if everywhere you want to apply or you’re looking for other options. That oval under the search bar that says more filters is a really good place to start.

looking for other colleges that might interest you. The filters allow you to look for colleges in certain states, countries, you can look a certain distance from a zip code. So I want something that’s within 50 miles of Ottawa, for example. You can search by application deadline, uh, which can be very helpful.

Application fee, which we’ll get into Writing requirements. So do they require a personal statement? Supplementals? What’s their standardized test policy? You probably know by now that during the onset of the COVID pandemic, colleges changed their standardized test policy. Some are now requiring them again.

So you can search for schools that do and don’t require standardized test scores, and you can search by rec letter requirements as well. So it’s a really good way to start looking for more schools that might be a good fit for you. Once you click that add button, that blue oval, the college will show up on your dashboard.

You can click the drop down under that to see all the requirements for the application. You can add up to 20 colleges on your list, and that’s, that’s the max. So, let’s say you add a college, but you decide you don’t want to apply there. You can take it off your list, that’s fine. But once you’ve submitted an application, You can’t remove that school from your college list, so you can only apply to 20 colleges through the Common App.

Okay, I started to get into this a bit, but in a little more detail, the different essays you submit, the personal statement, that’s that longer 650 word essay I mentioned. That’s the one that goes to all of the colleges. So a really important tidbit is you wouldn’t want to say in your personal statement, I really want to go to Harvard.

Because when Cornell reads that essay, I might be a little offended and you might be moved to the reject pile. So don’t get specific with colleges. They won’t be offended that you don’t mention them. They know this is how the game works. Um, that’s, that’s where you can really tell. A story about who you are, or what drives you, or what impact you want to have on the world.

Um, that’s, that’s the big piece of writing. It’s typically where we suggest students start writing. When they start writing their essays, start with a personal statement. Um, to sort of ground and guide the rest of the essays you’re going to write. Supplemental essays, like I said, some colleges require them so you cannot apply without writing their supplemental essays.

Sometimes they’re optional. If they’re optional, I pretty seriously recommend writing them if you have the capacity. Um, especially if they’re specific prompts. If they have an optional essay that’s something like, Is there anything else you want us to know about you, and really truly feel like you conveyed everything, then, okay, don’t do it.

But, Usually, optional supplementals aren’t that, and there’s something more specific, like why do you want to go here, why do you want to study what you want to study, tell us about an extracurricular that’s meaningful to you. Writing an optional supplemental essay is a good way to signal to the college, hey, I’m serious, I want to go here, if you admit me, I will seriously consider it, and I’m demonstrating my interest.

Thank you very much. By taking the time to write this optional essay, so definitely recommend writing the optional ones. These are specific to the college, so it’s okay to name the college in those essays. They’re only going to go to the one that requires it. Um, and to see the supplemental essays required in the Common App, click on the college from your dashboard, click review and submit, and then there will be a list of requirements.

Lydia: And something I would just add when it comes to essays on the Common App is, um, one concern that I’ve noticed for some students who maybe aren’t applying for the same major for every school is you want to be cautious of that fact in your personal statement. So let’s say that for one school you’re saying that you want to study biology because there’s a really great biology program.

And then for another school, maybe you want to pursue Something that’s not really closely related to that, like maybe computer science or something, because that school has a strong computer science program, just be cognizant of that as you write your personal statement, because if you talk about how much you love biology and have a passion for biology in your personal statement, But some of the schools you’re applying to, you’re not applying as a biology major.

There might be some inconsistencies there. And it’s not that it’s a bad thing to talk about the passion for your intended major in your personal statement. It’s actually incredibly common. But you do need to be cognizant of that if you’re in a position where you’re not applying for the same general major for all of your schools.

Um, and then also for supplemental essays, especially optional ones, um, just be mindful that sometimes the optional, um, supplemental essays aren’t going to be immediately displayed, especially if they’re only for, um, certain programs, or if you want to be considered for scholarships. So just make sure that you’re paying really close attention to to not just the essays, but also the questions on the application of the Common App, because sometimes there might be essays that you have to write if you want to be considered for a scholarship or something like that, and you may not realize that there are essays that you have to write until you actually fill out the questions and say what program you’re applying for or say what you want to be considered for when it comes to scholarships.

So that’s why it’s always better to create your Common App. Profile sooner rather than later and fill out those questions because sometimes the prompts for the essays may not populate Until you actually state you know, how you are choosing to apply, um, because the questions vary depending on the program that you’re applying for and things like that.

So just make sure that you start sooner rather than later so you can know exactly what essays you need to write or should write.

Anna: Absolutely.

Lydia: Okay, so another poll for us and that’s where are you in the college application process? So I know we saw a lot of 12th graders here in the audience, um, and I’m assuming if you’re here trying to learn about the Common App, you probably have some of your materials together and are thinking about how to actually get them sent to the schools, but I’m curious to see, um, where everyone is.

Um, so, Anna, I’m curious, um, what has been the oddest or like most difficult thing that you’ve seen a student deal with when it comes to filling out the Common App? Like, is there a certain part of the application that you find a lot of students tend to get confused about?

Anna: I think that’s a good question.

Um, One that comes to mind is in the activity section of a common app, you can insert up to 10 activities. So you’ll put like the title, whatever you’re calling the activity, your role in it. And there’s a drop down where you need to select what type of activity it is. And it’s a really long list. And I think students find it overwhelming.

And I encourage them to find it interesting. empowering because it’s intentionally long and intentionally broad because colleges want to hear everything you’re doing. They don’t want you to feel restricted to clubs at your school, which I think is how a lot of students think about the activities list.

But it includes things like religious activity, volunteer work, family responsibilities, um, and a whole Like, it’s so long, I can’t even, I can’t even go over it all. Um, so, I encourage you to take a look at that now, if you haven’t already. And, if your initial reaction is, Ah, that’s overwhelming, try and implement my reframing, which is This is empowering.

I can share lots of things that that I have spent my time on.

Lydia: How about you,

Anna: Lydia?

Lydia: Yeah, I, I, I agree that the activities list, I think, is something that a lot of students find more intimidating than expected because I think On the surface, it seems like, okay, I’m just writing down the stuff that I do outside of school.

That’s not too bad. Um, but it ends up actually taking a bit more time and consideration than I think some people realize. For example, like, a lot of students that I’ve worked with in the past didn’t know that there was, um, a, there should be a rhyme or reason to how you order your activities. For example, like, the way that you order your activities on the activity list in the.

Common app actually means something. So you don’t want to just have a random order for the extracurriculars that you put on there. It should actually be ranked in terms of significance to you. Um, so the, even things like that, where you have to sit down and really think about what matters most to you, or what you think is most important to your application.

Those are little details that can sometimes be easy to, uh, Overlook if you haven’t had experience with a common app and especially if you’re doing it, you know in a rush You’re not looking super closely Those little instructions can be really easy to gloss over and not notice because you’re just focused on trying to get everything filled out

Anna: Yeah, I’d love to add to that to Lydia because there’s thinking about it more.

I I See my students spending so much time and energy on their essays, which is fabulous and advisable And leaving that activities list for the day before, thinking, like, it’s this easy, simple thing to fill out. You for sure can go through and fill it out faster than you could write an essay. However, I would recommend ahead of time, drafting your list with particular attention to the description.

So for each activity, you get, I think it’s 150 characters, which is not a lot of space, um, to describe what you’ve done. And I think, especially if students are doing that at the last minute and are asking for feedback on what they’ve written, they can fall into some Common mistakes. So common app, tip, trick, whatever you want to call it, in that activities description, 150 characters, please use that space to describe very specifically what you have done and do not use that space.

to describe what the club is. So you do not need to define what glee club, chess club. If it’s a club I can see on TV pretty commonly, you don’t need to define it. There are some out there that are from the name, maybe a little more ambiguous. So if you think you need briefly to describe what the club is, okay, but most of that space should be dedicated to what you have done.

So I co hosted four fundraising events raising 1,000 for X. That’s really specific and it’s focused on you and what you did. Not what the club is.

Lydia: That’s so important. And, um, I know something, a common pitfall that I’ve noticed for a lot of students is they’ll spend half of their description writing things that are a different part of the activity list.

So, for example, saying. Meet weekly or, um, like week, uh, monthly meetings during the school year, which is, that’s a separate question for each activity, which is how many weeks per year do you dedicate to it? How many hours per week do you spend on it? So, Based on those answers, an admissions officer can already determine if this is a weekly thing that you do or if it’s something that you just do during the school year.

So, like you said, Anna, it’s so important to really focus on the things that you specifically do or accomplishments within that, um, activity rather than, um, The logistics of it, or how the club operates, um, it also making it skimmable is also incredibly important because I know admissions officers don’t spend a ton of time reading it super duper closely.

So if there’s something that you want to highlight. You know, quantifying things as much as you can can be really helpful. If you raised money, like writing the dollar signs and stuff like that, um, can just make, help make sure that the admissions officer is catching what it is that you want them to really notice in your application.

But going back to the poll, where you are in the application process, it seems like we have a pretty even distribution. 14 percent have not started, 21 percent are researching schools, 29 percent are working on essays, 21 percent are getting application materials together, And 14 percent are almost done.

So, seems like we got a nice mix here, but I think that everyone, regardless of what boat you’re in, has something that you can take away from this conversation, for sure.

Anna: Awesome. Thank you, Lydia. All right, so, most of the Common App application is going to be information you input. However, you do need to request materials from other people, specifically for your letters of recommendation.

The number of letters you need will vary by college. Some, I think there are some that don’t require any, some require one. Give you option, the option to submit one or two more. It really varies. This is another reason that you want to be curating your college list and looking at all the requirements early so that you have time because maybe you fully believe in your ability to write the personal statement the night before.

Again, we don’t advise that, but maybe you know, you feel you can do it. You can’t expect someone else. to do that for you, to write a letter for you the day before. So you want to be asking your recommend, recommendation writers well in advance of your application deadlines. So that looks like a conversation, an email, uh, definitely advise asking educators who have seen you maybe in more than one setting or have seen you in a relevant academic area.

So if you’re applying to a STEM major, a STEM teacher, um, and someone who most importantly knows you at least to a certain extent. as a person, not just a student, so they can really genuinely speak to who you are and the great things I think you would add to a college campus. So to Once you’ve confirmed with your letter writers that they will write you a letter, um, for most people you will then go to your colleges tab, click down to the recommenders and FERPA section.

FERPA is legal jargon that refers, it’s a privacy release, um, we’re not here to talk about that, but you need to complete that and then you can invite recommenders using the invite button. You’re going to need their name and email address. So when recommenders tell you yes, make sure you get their email.

And then you can assign them to which colleges you’re going to have those letters go to. The recommenders will write the letters, they’ll get an email from the Common App when you add them, with instructions for how to upload it. So you can see when they’ve submitted, but they need to be the ones who submit the letters.

If your school uses Naviance or something else like that, then you don’t need to invite your recommenders on the Common App. You would invite them on Naviance or whatever program your school uses. Please follow the instructions from your guidance counselor, and if you’re not sure, ask them how you should be collecting your recommendation letters.

To keep track of your different applications, uh, this is just a screen grab. You can click on dashboard. Um, this one has Harvard. If you click that show more details arrow, it shows you, uh, what your progress is and what requirements they are. So they have, they require the personal, uh, the personal statement and then they have five additional.

Essays that they require. I forgot to mention this on the slide about essays, but supplemental essays typically are shorter than the personal statement essay. So if you were feeling overwhelmed, like, oh my goodness, I’m going to need to write six essays for Harvard. Yes, but the supplementals are much shorter than the personal statement.

Financial aid is also addressed on the Common App. There’s a question about if you plan on applying for financial aid, and if you do, then you need to submit your CSS profile and your FAFSA. Those are done on separate websites. We have whole webinars on financial aid, so I will leave all the details of that to the experts in those webinars, but you can check those out if you have.

More questions about submitting the CSS profile or the FAFSA. Okay. Where in the Common App do students have a chance to shine? Everywhere! Um, as we’ve talked about, the essays are a really great place to tell your stories. help admissions readers get to know you a bit better. Lydia made really great points about how you can tell a story in your activities list, including how you order things on there and in the letters from your recommenders.

Until you hit submit, You have control and you can and should think about all the opportunities to shape your whole overall narrative.

When you are ready to submit, it’s a three step process. First, you will review the application. Then pay the application fee if the school has one. Uh, you can pay, I think, right through the Common App with a credit card. Then you can hit submit. You can request a fee waiver if you, uh, can’t afford the application fees.

So you can apply through the Common App. They have some eligibility criteria if you already receive, uh, certain public assistance or in federal programs. Uh, you might qualify through that. Take a look at their website for more details. Some colleges also offer fee waivers. Uh, not through the Common App, so you’d want to reach out to someone in the admissions department at that college, say like, I’m really interested in coming here, given the financial situation, my family can’t afford the application fee, do you have fee waivers?

If they do, then they can, I think they can somehow input it to the Common App so that you can still submit there without having to pay that fee. Application fee.

In terms of last advice, I started with this and I’m happy to end with it too because I think it’s so important. Start early. Even if you’re still figuring out your college list, you’re not entirely sure where you’re going to apply or like you have schools in mind, but you don’t know if they’re all going to make your final list.

Put them into the Common App. Insert the major or the program you plan on applying to, as we mentioned earlier. Learn more at www. aclu. org Get a sense of what will be required, what the deadlines are, just click around, familiarize yourself with the Common App portal, uh, so that when it’s time to submit, you’re super confident with it.

And I cannot stress this one enough, please do not write your essays, do not write your essays. extracurricular, uh, activities description for the first and only time directly in the Common App. Things happen. Don’t trust the Common App to save all of your essays and all of your writing without backing it up somewhere else.

So, for my students, I make them write their essays in a Google Doc. Um, it’s, it’s, um, Backed up, and we can go back and forth with our edits, we can make revisions, we, there’s, it saves the history. Um, you do not want to do all of the work to write all of the essays, all of the descriptions, and then come back and find something happened, and it’s gone.

Didn’t save on the common app and you have to start all over. That would be terrible. So please start early and prepare all of your materials somewhere where they’re safe and backed up so that when it’s time to submit you can copy and paste and if the common app doesn’t save for whatever reason It’s fine.

You have a copy of it. You can You can input it quite easily. That, I believe, is the end of the presentation, so I’ll turn it over to Lydia for our instructions for the next part.

Lydia: Yes, thank you, Anna. Um, so, like you said, that’s the end of our presentation portion of the webinar. I hope that everyone in the audience enjoyed it.

found this information helpful. And remember, you can download the slides from tonight’s presentation in the handouts tab. Now we’re going to move into the live Q& A, where I’m going to read the questions that you all submit and paste them into the public chat so you can see them and then read them out loud.

For Anna to answer. And as a heads up, if your Q& A tab isn’t working, just double check that you’ve joined the webinar through the custom link in your email and not from the webinar landing page. You can also try logging out and logging back in through the link in your email. And if that doesn’t work, you can try logging in through the website launching page, though you will not be able to ask questions.

Um, and just so you know, The webinar is being recorded so that you can view our responses at a later time. If you have to go get a drink of water or go to the bathroom. All right, so now we’re going to go ahead and dive into the questions. So the first question that we have is, what do you think is the ideal number of schools to apply to?

I know you said that 20 is the max on Common App, but do you have an ideal number that you would recommend?

Anna: Yeah, uh, I advise my students apply to 12 to 14. I think maybe as important or similarly important to the number is the balance of your list. Um, so if you, for example, want to apply to all the Ivy’s, There’s a lot of them, and those are considered a REACH school for everyone, for valedictorians, perfect SAT scores, because the admissions rate are low, and they get a lot of applicants.

So if you have a lot of schools on your list that are considered REACH schools, given your grades and your profile, then you want to balance those out with what we would call And target schools. So 12 to 14, I think is the average, um, suggestion, but you want to make sure that within that 12 to 14, you have, you know, three to four safety schools where your numbers are within, or maybe even above.

Their average range target schools where maybe you’re right in the middle and then some reach schools, uh, where maybe you’re on the lower end or a bit below, um, but you want to give it a shot. Uh, that’s that’s what I tell my students. Is that similar to what you tell yours, Lydia?

Lydia: Yeah, I would say so. I think 12 to 14 is roughly the sweet spot, I think, for most students.

Um, I have had students that do more than that, but generally, um, students that I know that do a longer list, it’s very strategic in terms of planning out supplementals. So maybe, um, they’re applying to 20 schools, but 12 of those schools are schools that all you have to do is Click submit the common app.

There’s no supplemental essay. There’s nothing else that you have to do The only additional effort is paying for the application fee if there is one that they have to pay for if they don’t have a waiver Um, so that’s also something to factor in if you want to apply to more schools. I do not recommend Creating a list that is really heavy on schools that have supplemental essays or multiple supplemental essays so for example You know, if you have, uh, University of Chicago has a lot of supplementals.

The Ivies have a lot of supplementals. Um, If you’re applying to UC’s, those are not on the Common App, so you have separate essays that you have to write. Georgetown has a separate application, although some of the questions are kind of similar to Common App prompts. So, if you’re, if you have a lot of schoolwork, Schools like that where you have to do a completely separate set of essays, um, that might influence your need to maybe have a slightly shorter list just so that it’s realistic for you and you’re not having to write a ton of essays.

But it also depends on, you know, your financial situation, can you afford to apply to as many schools as you want, and time and discipline. Um, there are some students that can handle, you know, applying to more than 15 schools. They have the discipline. They’re starting early enough to realistically do it.

Um, but I think for the average student, you know, 12 to 14 is just fine. Um, especially if it’s a list that, like you said, Anna, has a good balance. It’s really intentional. You know, sometimes you hear about students on the news who get accepted into a hundred colleges or something like that. And that’s cool and all, but very few students genuinely want to go to a hundred schools.

So if you find yourself with, you know, a list of 25 schools, really ask yourself if you would genuinely be happy going to all of them. Usually the case is some of them you don’t really feel that strongly about.

So, um, another question we’ve got is about the personal statement. So, if a student has written multiple versions of their Common App, how do they choose which one is best? So maybe, I know like a lot of students write a version of their personal statement for their English class their junior year, and then maybe they write another one over the summer their senior year.

How do they choose which topic is best?

Anna: Yeah, uh, well, you know, I have lots of thoughts on essays because we work on essays together all the time. Um, the first thing I would say is for your overall application, I suggest taking a step back and thinking about what your goals are. Profile what your brand is because admissions readers have a lot of applications to read They don’t have a whole bunch of time to get into the weeds of everything you’re sharing um And the way human memory works, right, when they’re walking to the car at the end of the day, they’re not going to remember how many hours per week you spent at chess club.

They’re just not. That’s not how our brains work. What they’re going to remember is, hopefully, you high level things about you that you have conveyed through your overall application, the stories in your essay, your activities list, things like they are Justice oriented, they’re an advocate, and they’re creative.

I’m making those up, but that’s the level of detail that I mean when I say high level. So, do the work of introspecting. It’s hard, but ask yourself, Who am I? And, Importantly, how do I want to present myself on my applications? Once you have a sense of that, like the traits about yourself that you want to highlight, look at the two versions of the essays and see, okay, well, first glance, Does one of them do a better job of speaking to at least one, maybe two of those traits?

Um, so I would start there. And I think it’s really important to share your writing with others and to get feedback. I think it’s totally appropriate to ask your English teacher, your CollegeAdvisor, a trusted adult in your family, um, someone to read them both and to tell you. Which one they think captures the essence of you better and portrays you in a light that the colleges are going to appreciate, um, And, at the end of the day, it’s your application, it’s your name that’s on it, so if you have this strong gut feeling that is saying, go with SAA, honor that, and do the work of revising and adding and, you know, taking out where necessary from the essay to perfect it.

I say this all the time, good writing is rewriting. The most famous authors have Oodles of editors who are sending them feedback, and they’re making changes all the time. Um, so, that’s my very long winded Response to that question. I think you hit the nail

Lydia: on the head. Yeah, I think asking people who know you, um, and keeping in mind the persona that you’re trying to convey are really important things to definitely consider because you want your.

application to have a coherent story that it’s telling. And so your personal statement is a really part, a really big part of framing that story. So you want to make sure that it fits in with the rest of the information that you’re sharing. Um, and speaking of essays and things like that, we know that there’s also an additional information type essay that you can do on the common app.

How should a student know if it’s worth it for them to fill out that section and what kind of information normally goes in that part of the application?

Anna: Yeah, um, well I wouldn’t fill it out just to fill it out, just to like fill in all of the space. I would fill it out if you genuinely think there’s something else they need to know.

So, maybe it hasn’t been mentioned in your personal statement, your supplementals, you’re not sure it’s going to be in your recommendation letters, that your sophomore year of high school, your grades dropped, um, and they dropped. for a reason that you think the college should know. That might be a reason to fill that out.

Um, if you think there’s something, this is my lawyer coming out, on your, in your, on your background, on social media, if you’ve been in the news, something that you think they might know about, you want to address, you could put it there. Um, My, I don’t have very many students who fill that out. Uh, do you, Lydia?

Lydia: I would say, you know, the reasons that you gave were the main reasons that a student would fill it out. Um, you know, extenuating circumstances, some sort of hardship that maybe impacted your grades. Um, I’ve also had students fill it out and to explain maybe why they’re not as involved in extracurriculars, you know, emphasizing, I Maybe like I had a student whose parent had cancer, and so they explain that, you know, once their mom got diagnosed with cancer, they had to give up a lot of the extracurriculars that they were involved in in order to be there for her during their junior year of high school.

So, like, things like that can definitely, um, be important to include in that part of the application. Um, I think also just talking about. I’ve had students who use that as a way to explain maybe why their extracurriculars aren’t always completely in alignment with the major that they’re choosing. So sometimes maybe a student had done a bunch of STEM stuff and then they decide their senior year that they’re going to actually apply and do something more related to the humanities.

So explaining those discrepancies, I think really the additional information section, think of it as a Opportunity for you to get ahead of any potential concerns that an admissions officer may have. And if you don’t feel like there’s something that an admissions officer could be concerned about that, you need to address in some way.

Um, and that you have don’t. And that you don’t have a reason to explain or anything like that. Then I say don’t really do it. Um, like, for example, if you have just been consistently a student that averages B’s and C’s, and that’s just because you’re a student that averages B’s and C’s. There’s not some sort of hardship that I don’t think you really need to fill out the additional information, but if it’s an anomaly in your application, and there’s a genuine reason, then definitely do it.

Um, and like Anna said, you know, if there’s a disciplinary situation, maybe like you got suspended or something like that. It’s also a great opportunity for you to address those things and touch briefly, maybe on how you learn from that. Um, and I think. That is also a great thing to think about because something that Anna and I talk about all the time when we do webinars about essay writing is it can be kind of tricky if you have your personal statement be about something not so positive about yourself like getting suspended or doing something that maybe isn’t legal or doing something that like cheating and like academic dishonesty like that’s not necessarily that something that you Usually would want to highlight in a personal statement, but the additional information section can be a great way to address it without making that the focal point of your application, because it’s still something that you want to be able to address and show, you know, maturity and growth without.

Making it the main thing that someone walks away knowing about you. Okay, um, another question that we’ve got is, Could you go over filling out the honors section of the Common App?

Anna: Lydia, are you familiar? I thought that typically students would include any awards or honors in the activity description, in the activities list. I’m on the Common App account.

Lydia: Yeah, so I know that on the Common App, there’s, um, I think five, um, honors and awards slots, um, on the Common App. And so, um, something that I usually tell students, um, because I think there’s sometimes like a lot of pressure that students feel, whether it’s the activities list or the honors section, where you feel like, um, Everything has to get filled out, right?

Like, if I have 10 slots, I need to fill out the 10 slots for the activities. If I have 5 slots for awards, I need to have 5 awards that go in there. And that’s not necessarily true, like there are plenty of students that maybe have 7 activities or 3 out of 5 awards. Um, definitely don’t make things up to try and make it stretch.

Um, I would say, for the honors and awards, if you’re struggling to think of anything, um, sometimes it can be, like, it doesn’t have to be a formal, super formal award or honor all the time. Like, I’ve had students that have put, you know, getting employee of the month at their job, or, um, like, it could even be something as simple as, like, they’ve listed, um, some sort of recognition that they got from their teacher at the end of the year.

Like sometimes teachers have some sort of award for like most improved student in their math class or something like that. So it doesn’t have to be a huge award if that’s not like, if you genuinely don’t have anything else to put there. Um, but I would say just be as thoughtful as you can. Um, and also, uh, if you’re in a situation where maybe you have more awards than the amount of slots, um, I would say usually the awards that I tell students to cut are the ones that are kind of synonymous with other things that you could find in your application.

So, for example, let’s say that you have a GPA of a 3.9 or something like that, or you’re a 4.0 student. Putting dean’s list in the honors and awards section. That’s not really adding new information, right? If you have a 4.0 GPA, 3.9 GPA, I can assume as an admissions officer, you’re probably on the dean’s list, you know, each semester.

So, you’re in a situation where you have more awards than necessary, you know, ones that we can kind of assume you would have gotten anyway. weren’t super necessary. Um, but definitely prioritizing, um, ones based on, uh, like ranking. So if it’s like a national or international award, those are the ones that I would prioritize.

Awards or honors that are really selective. Um, Sometimes it could be like a title that you’ve been selected for so it may not necessarily be like a trophy or a certificate that you get, but, um, being selected to be a representative. Like, I think I’ve had students that maybe get selected to be like, um, a spokesperson or like a member of a board to speak on behalf of their school or their class or something like that.

That in itself is an honor. So, um, yeah, That’s kind of the guidance that I have. But besides that, I think a lot of this guidance is very similar to the activities list. The only difference is that for the honors and awards, I think it’s 100 characters rather than 150. Um, But very similar in terms of writing the descriptions, you know, highlighting why it matters, why it was so prestigious, and what it means for you is, um, definitely important.

Anna: And sorry, I, I have a Common App account, so I can help students with questions like this. So I pulled it up while you were talking, Lydia, and the honors are in the education section. And you enter the title, the grade level, and then the level of recognition. So school. State or regional, national, or international.

Uh, so there’s not even like a description for you to fill in. Um, so the hundred characters is probably for the title, I’m guessing. So be as descriptive there as you can. And then yeah, everything Lydia said, be thoughtful about the order you put them in. And don’t stress out if you don’t have five. It’s okay.

Lydia: Definitely. Um, And another question that we have is about the activities list. So it says, if my application is med based because I want to apply to a medical major, and I have seven activities related to medical, can I include two more activities that are not related to medicine, um, such as a law conference or a summer program?

Anna: Yes, for sure. Um, anything you have done. that is making you a better person, you can include. You do not, no one is expecting a 14 year old in 9th grade, and honestly, no one’s expecting an 18 year old in 12th grade to know exactly what they want to do. So no one’s gonna hold it against you if on your application you say you want to Be a doctor, and you’ve done activities that aren’t related to STEM.

In fact, showing that you’ve done other things, like creative work, athletic work, could be a plus, right? Doctors don’t just doctor all the time. They have other interests, they are whole people, and that’s a good thing. There are skills you can bring from theater and athletics and anything you may have done to your practice.

as a physician. So, totally. I think it sounds like the student is thinking of maybe leading with their medical related activities. I think that makes a lot of sense, especially if that’s where they’ve spent the most time and those are the activities that mean the most to them. But please include those creative things too.

Colleges want, really what they’re looking for is, what is the student going to bring to our campus? Are they someone who I will be happy to walk out of my office and see in the hallway every day, right? So they want to know you’re humans. Feel free to share all of those sides of you and don’t be restricted just to your intended nature.

Lydia: I think that that hits the nail on the head. Um, I think it’s a common misconception that you’re, if you’re applying to be pre med or you’re applying to be pre law or engineering or whatever, that everything about your application has to be pre med. Exactly related to that one thing, but like Anna said, no one person is just one thing.

You’re a dynamic person, you have different interests, and that’s what makes you interesting and that’s what helps to make you stand out. Because everyone is coming to their intended major, or to their The college with a different perspective and different set of interests and skills. So you want to be able to show that diversity and who you are.

You’re not a robot that is just good at one thing. So don’t be afraid of highlighting the other things that you’re good at. So before we do our last question, I do just want to remind you all that CollegeAdvisors team of over 300 former admissions officers and admissions experts is ready to help you and your family navigate the college admissions process and one on one advising sessions.

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Okay, so, we’ll do one more question. So, can I update my Common App after I’ve already submitted it to some school?

Anna: Once you have submitted to College A, you cannot update the materials that College A sees. You can update the materials that go to College B if you haven’t yet submitted there. Um, so, occasionally I hear students wanting to change their personal statement for each college they apply to.

I don’t think that’s advisable. I don’t think the payoff is there at all. And I think it’s really risky, because you can make a mistake and tell, you know, Columbia that you really want to go to Harvard or whatever. Um, so yes, once, once they’re submitted, you cannot change it, but if you’ve only submitted to a few colleges, you can change whatever you have in there for the next colleges you apply to.

Lydia: Yeah, so that’s, Another reason to just make sure that you look over everything super duper close before you press submit, um, because while you can edit the materials in the sense that you can change things for the future colleges that you apply to, you cannot undo anything that you’ve already pressed submit on.

So just make sure that you feel really good about everything. And I think Anna said this earlier. Uh, definitely when it comes to activity list descriptions, um, like the honors, really anything where you’re having to type in information, I always recommend write it in a Word document separate. from the Common App because it’s so much easier to do spell check, run it through Grammarly, all those kinds of things before you put it in there.

And the worst thing you could do is if you’re typing the essay directly into the Common App and your finger slips or something like that, and there’s a typo, and it doesn’t detect it, um, if you press submit, it There’s nothing that you can do about it. So I always say, you know, write it in a separate document that you can spell check and run through all the things, and then just simply copy and paste what is applicable directly into the common app so that you know that everything is flawless and you don’t end up in a situation where you’ve submitted something that You didn’t realize wasn’t actually ready to submit.

Okay. All right. Well, thank you so much, Anna, for an amazing session. I hope that everyone tonight learned some helpful tips and strategies for applying through the Common App. And I hope that you will join us for future webinars this month. And again, Thank you, Anna, um, for everything that you shared tonight.

I mean, I’ve been doing this for a while, but I feel like I always learn something new from you. Um, and I hope that everyone in the audience has a great night. Thanks for joining us. Thanks so much, Lydia. Thanks, everyone.