How to Fill Out the Common App: Section-by-Section Guide

You opened the Common App last week, picked a username, got two screens in, and realized you have no idea what most of these fields want. That is normal. The Common App is dense, the language is bureaucratic, and a lot of the fields do not explain themselves.

This guide walks through every section in the order you will fill them out, and tells you what each field is asking for in plain language. Most of the work is paperwork. Four places trip students up every year, and we will flag those as we hit them.

If you also need the broader application timeline (when to take which test, when to draft essays, what to do in junior summer), our how-to-apply-to-college guide covers that. This article zooms into the platform itself.

The Sections at a Glance

Before you start typing, here is the map of what the Common App contains. Six sections are required for every applicant. Two are conditional. The rest depends on the schools you add to your list.

Section	Required?	Approximate time
Profile	Yes	20-30 min
Family	Yes	15-20 min
Education	Yes	30-45 min
Testing	Yes	10-15 min
Activities	Yes	1-2 hours
Writing	Yes	Several drafts over weeks
Courses & Grades	Some schools	30-60 min
Recommenders & FERPA	Yes	15 min + waiting on letters
My Colleges (per school)	Yes	Varies by school

Plan to spend a full afternoon on the first pass and several follow-up sessions on Activities and Writing. The form is not designed to be done in one sitting.

Setting Up Your Account

Create your account in the summer before senior year, ideally July or August. The Common App opens August 1 each cycle for the upcoming year. Starting early gives you breathing room and lets you complete the static fields (Profile, Family, Education) before school gets busy.

Use a personal email address you will check for the next year. Not a school email (you lose access after graduation), not a parent's email.
Pick a password you can remember and write it down somewhere physical. Account lockouts are the most common stress moment in October.
The platform got a new look this cycle. Navigation lives in a left panel now, and the section formerly called 'Common App' is called 'My Common Application'.

After name and email, the platform asks a few profile questions to set up your account. You then land on a dashboard that shows your sections and their completion status. You can save and exit anytime; the form keeps your progress.

The Profile Section

Profile is mostly basic biographical information: name, address, contact, demographics, language. Two fields trip students up.

Citizenship: 'U.S. permanent resident' is the green card option. If you're a refugee, an asylee, a DACA or TPS holder, undocumented, or your status is still pending, your option is 'U.S. resident with other status'. The question has a tooltip that explains each choice, so use it.

If your status is anything other than 'U.S. Citizen,' read the dropdown carefully. Picking the wrong one can affect financial aid eligibility.

Languages spoken at home: Multilingual students sometimes underreport, listing only English because the form asks for 'first language.' If you grew up speaking Spanish, Korean, Arabic, Portuguese, or any other language at home, list it.

Multilingualism is an asset that admissions readers value, and it informs how counselors see your file.

Demographics: every field here is optional except U.S. military service status. The race / ethnicity question can be skipped if you prefer not to answer.

Address: list every place you have lived since age 14 if the form asks. Skip childhood addresses unless directly relevant.

The Family Section

Family asks about parents or guardians: their education, employment, occupation, and (if they attended college) which colleges they went to.

The hardest field for many students is parent education level. If your parent did not graduate from high school, the form has options for that.

Pick the highest level completed and move on. If your parent graduated from college, list the college name. The form has a dropdown for U.S. colleges and a free-text option for international ones.

If you are a first-generation college student (neither parent has a four-year college degree), the Common App captures that automatically based on your answers. Many schools have specific support programs for first-gen students, and admissions readers see this status.

If you have siblings, list them, and for any who went to college, the school they attended. The form takes up to 10 siblings now, up from 5.

Parent employment status: pick the one that fits. 'Unemployed' is fine if a parent is between jobs. 'Self-employed' works for someone running a small business. 'Deceased' is the option if a parent has passed away (no other context required).

The Education Section

This is where you enter your high school information, GPA, class rank (if your school ranks), and the courses you have taken or plan to take.

High school information. Enter your school name as it appears in the dropdown. The Common App has a database of every U.S. high school. If your school is not listed, you can add it manually, but check spelling and city carefully.

GPA. Enter exactly what your transcript says. If your school calculates both a weighted and an unweighted GPA, Common App wants the weighted one.

Do not round, do not convert, do not 'translate' your GPA into a 4.0 scale if your school uses a different one. The Common App has fields for percentage scales, 5.0 scales, and other systems.

Class rank. The form asks how your school reports rank, and the choices are Exact, Decile, Quintile, Quartile and None. If your school doesn't rank, pick None. That's normal, since plenty of high schools have stopped ranking. Not sure which one your school uses? Your counselor has a sheet with the answer.

Honors. You can list up to five academic honors from high school. There's no description box, so each honor gets three short fields:

Title (up to 100 characters)
Grade level when you received it
Level of recognition: school, state or regional, national, or international

Since nobody gets to explain an honor for you, write the title the way an outsider would understand it. And fewer than five is fine. An empty slot costs you nothing.

Current and past coursework. List senior-year courses including any AP, IB, dual enrollment, or honors classes. Match your transcript labels exactly. The Common App has standard course categories for the dropdown.

Should You Submit Test Scores?

The Common App test score reporting toggle

The Testing section is optional in the sense that you decide what to submit. In its most recent tally, FairTest counts more than 2,000 bachelor-degree granting institutions that do not require ACT or SAT scores, which is over 90% of ranked four-year colleges. Whether to submit comes down to one question: does your score help or hurt your application at this specific school?

Your situation	Submit?	Why
Score is at or above the school's mid-50%	Yes	Adds positive signal
Score is at the bottom of the mid-50%	Maybe	Lean yes if rest of application is strong
Score is below the mid-50%	Usually no	Could hurt at test-optional schools
Score is required (not test-optional)	Yes	No choice; check school's policy
December test booked, prep going well	Decide later	Wait for the new score

Where to find each school's mid-50%: the school's own admissions page or its Common Data Set Section C9 (a federal report most schools publish). Search 'CDS [school name]' to find it. Decision is per school, not blanket.

The Common App lets you choose for each college separately at submission. Self-reported scores get hidden for schools where you opt out.

ACT Science is optional now on national test dates, online or on paper, and your composite comes from English, math and reading only. So if you skipped Science, your score is complete. If your scores are still climbing, our SAT prep guide covers the test calendar and prep strategy.

The Activities Section

The Common App activities entry form with its character limit

Activities, now labeled Activities and experiences in the app, is where most students spend the most time. You have up to 10 slots. You do not need to fill all 10. Six well-described activities will read better than ten thin ones.

Each activity slot has four fields:

Position / Leadership (50 characters, now optional)
Organization name (100 characters)
Hours per week and weeks per year
Description (150 characters)

The 150-character description is the field students agonize over. Use action verbs, be specific, include numbers when you can, and do not waste characters repeating what is in the position field.

Weak description	Strong description
Helped run yearbook and worked on layouts	Editor: managed 12 staff, designed 200-page senior issue, doubled photo coverage of clubs
Played soccer	Center midfielder, varsity 3 years; team captain senior year, led team to 16-2 record
Tutored kids at local center	Math tutor, ages 9-13: weekly sessions, helped 8 students improve grades by full letter
Worked at restaurant	Server, 20 hrs/week: trained 4 new hires, covered closing shifts, paid for senior trip

Order matters. Put the activities most important to you first. Admissions readers look at your top 4-5 most carefully. The list is not chronological. The activity that says the most about you goes first.

Responsibilities and Circumstances. The Activities section also has a required set of checklist questions in two parts: household responsibilities and circumstances. You tick what applies to you. Common App's examples include caring for family members, working to support your household, translating for family members and having limited access to resources.

There's nothing to write here, just boxes. So be honest. More than half of applicants check at least one, and it shows a reader why your activity list looks the way it does without you spending your essay explaining it.

The Writing Section

Writing has two parts: the personal statement (650-word essay sent to every school) and Additional Information, which holds two separate, optional questions.

The personal statement is the main essay. Seven prompts. Same prompts as recent cycles. Pick one, write the essay, paste it in, save. Most students draft this in summer and revise through October. Our Common App essay guide covers prompt selection and revision strategy.

Additional Information is shorter than it used to be. The general Additional Information box takes 300 words, down from 650. If older guidance tells you that you have 650 words, it's out of date.

Challenges and Circumstances. The second box replaced the old COVID-era community disruption question. It's a 250-word space for challenges or circumstances that affected your schooling, and caregiving is one of the examples Common App's own wording names. Keep it factual. This is reporting, not narrative.

Use the Additional Information section only if you have something specific that does not fit elsewhere:

Explanation of a grade dip (illness, family circumstance)
Context for a disciplinary action on your record
A research project or significant work that needs more space than the activities description allows
Documented learning differences and how you have worked around them

Do not use Additional Information to repeat what is in your essay or activities, brag about achievements that fit in the regular section, or pad out your application. Most students do not need this section. Empty is better than padded.

Courses & Grades (Only If Required)

This section appears in your menu only if at least one school on your list requires it. Schools that commonly require self-reported transcripts: USC, NYU, Stanford, ASU, Penn State, Florida State, Clemson, University of Oregon, University of Wisconsin, University of Massachusetts, Loyola Marymount.

If Courses & Grades is in your menu, plan 30-60 minutes:

Enter every course you have taken in 9th, 10th, 11th grades plus your senior schedule
Enter the grade you received exactly as it appears on your transcript
Use the term system your school uses (semesters, trimesters, quarters)

The information you enter is used to compute a Common App GPA that requesting schools see alongside your official transcript.

Mismatches between what you self-report and what your transcript shows can flag the application for review or, in rare cases, lead to a rescinded admission. Re-read your transcript carefully and copy exactly.

Recommenders and the FERPA Waiver

The FERPA waiver screen in the Common App recommender section

The Recommenders section asks you to invite the people who will write your letters: your school counselor (always), one to three teachers (depending on school requirements), and optionally an 'other recommender' (an employer, coach, mentor, etc.).

FERPA waiver: always waive. When you waive your FERPA rights, you give up the right to read your recommendation letters after enrollment. Admissions readers trust waived letters more because they know teachers wrote without you looking over their shoulder.

Not waiving is a small red flag that suggests you do not trust your own recommenders. There is no upside to keeping the right.

Recommender type	How many	When to invite
School counselor	1 (required)	September of senior year
Teacher	1-3 (varies by school)	Spring of junior year, confirm in September
Other recommender	0-1 (optional)	Same as teachers, only if they add new context

Inviting a recommender: in My Colleges, find the school, click Recommenders and FERPA, and use the 'Invite Recommender' button. Enter their name and email. They receive a Common App email with submission instructions.

Track each recommender's status (Invited / Started / Submitted) on your dashboard. Best practice: ask teachers in person before sending the digital invite.

The asking is what decides the letter, not the invite button. Our guide to getting college recommendation letters covers when to ask and what to hand a teacher so they can write something specific.

Adding Schools and Submitting

The My Colleges section is where you build your school list, fill out school-specific supplements, and pay application fees. Search by name, click to add. Each school gets its own dashboard with its specific deadline, supplements (if any), and fee.

Deadlines vary more than most students expect, and they cluster by the kind of school. Our guide to application deadlines by school type lays out how the dates differ.

Supplements. Many schools have additional essays beyond the personal statement. Common questions include 'Why this college?', short-answer activities prompts, and 'Why this major?'

Read each supplement carefully before assuming you can copy-paste from another school. Most 'Why this college?' essays should be customized.

Application fees. Typical fees range from $50 to $90. If your family qualifies, you can request a fee waiver during the application.

Federal fee waiver eligibility includes free or reduced-price lunch, family income at or near the federal poverty line, and several other categories. Your counselor confirms eligibility.

Submitting. You submit applications one school at a time, in any order. There is no batch submit. Once you click submit and pay (or waive) the fee, the application is locked for that school.

You cannot edit the personal statement, activities, or any other section for that school after submission. You can update other schools' applications independently.

Pick your round (ED, EA, REA, ED2, RD) per school during submission. Our round selection guide covers when to use each, and our how to choose a college guide walks through narrowing your list before you start adding schools.

Mistakes to Catch Before You Click Submit

Run through this list before pressing submit on any application. Common App makes some of these easy to miss.

Mistake	What it costs	How to catch
GPA entered with rounding	Mismatch with official transcript	Re-read transcript line by line, copy exactly
Activities not ordered by importance	Top activities buried in lower slots	Read the list as if you were an admissions officer
Old school name in supplement essay	Looks careless	Search supplement essays for any other school's name
Forgot to invite teacher recommender	School marks application incomplete	Check the Recommenders status box for every school
FERPA waived for some schools, not others	Inconsistent signal	Confirm FERPA setting per school
Self-reported scores when applying test-optional	Scores get sent when you did not intend	Toggle the 'Yes, I do wish to self-report' choice carefully per school

Frequently Asked Questions

When should I create my Common App account?

Summer before senior year (July or August). The Common App opens August 1 for the upcoming admissions cycle. Starting early gives you time to complete the static sections before school gets busy.

Do I have to fill out all 10 activity slots?

No. Six strong, specific activities read better than ten thin ones. Quality over quantity. Use only as many slots as you have meaningful activities.

Should I submit test scores to test-optional schools?

Submit if your score is at or above the school's mid-50% range. Skip if your score is below the mid-50%. The decision is per school, not blanket. The Common App lets you choose at submission time for each application.

What if my parents did not graduate from high school?

Pick the highest level completed in the dropdown and move on. The Common App marks you as a first-generation college student automatically based on your answers. Many schools have specific support programs for first-gen students.

Can I edit my Common App after submitting?

You cannot edit the application that has been submitted to a specific school. You can continue updating other applications independently. Each school sees the version you submitted to that school.

Do I need to use the Additional Information section?

Only if you have specific context that does not fit elsewhere: a grade dip, a documented hardship, a research project that needs more room. Empty is fine. Padding the section makes the application weaker, not stronger.

Final Word

Common App is a form. Most of it is paperwork. Four places require thought (Activities, Personal Essay, Additional Information, FERPA / Recommenders), and the rest is data entry.

Take your time on the four, do not overthink the rest, and check your work before clicking submit.

If you also want the broader application timeline (when to take which test, when to draft essays, what to do in junior summer), our step-by-step application guide walks through the full picture round by round.