Working on Your College Applications

College applications bring together your academic record, experiences and reasons for continuing your education. Some parts come from you; others come from your school or recommenders. Knowing which pieces each college needs helps you focus on what to complete for your college application.

Identify the application pieces

Begin with the first-year admissions page for each college on your list. It tells you which application to use and what to submit. Common App lets you send shared information to multiple colleges, but each college sets its own requirements. Check whether you can use the Common App for each college you are interested in, as some use their own application.

Common application pieces include the following.

Personal and school information. Contact details, family background, your high school and current courses.
Academic records. Your transcript lists courses and grades. Some colleges ask you to enter those details yourself; others require an official transcript from your school during the application process.
Activities and honors. Describe your experiences, extracurriculars, and awards, including work and family responsibilities where relevant.
Writing. A personal statement, college-specific essays or short answers, when required.
Recommendations. Letters from teachers, a counselor or other people specified by the college.
Additional requirements. Test scores, an audition, a portfolio or a separate program application, if needed for your application.

The Common App first-year guide further explains its application. Essays & Recommendations covers the writing and letter requests in more detail.

Application fees vary, and some colleges charge none. A fee waiver removes the application fee for an eligible student. Read the waiver options before paying. Common App offers a need-based waiver that your counselor confirms; colleges may also offer their own waivers.

Choose an admission plan

An admission plan determines when you apply, when you hear back and whether an acceptance commits you to attend. Nonbinding plans let you compare offers before choosing.

Regular Decision (RD). Apply by a set deadline and receive a decision during the college’s stated notification period. It is nonbinding and gives you more time to finish your application than an early deadline.
Early Action (EA). Apply and receive a decision earlier, without committing to enroll. Ordinary EA generally allows other applications, but restrictions from another college’s early plan can still apply.
Early Decision (ED). Apply to a first-choice college under a binding agreement to enroll if admitted. You may have only one active ED application at a time. Some colleges offer ED I and a later ED II round; both are binding. Read the agreement with your family and counselor before signing.
Restrictive Early Action (REA) or Single-Choice Early Action (SCEA). These plans are nonbinding, but limit other early applications. The exceptions differ by college. For example, some colleges allow certain other early applications; those exceptions are not a rule for every REA college.

Many early deadlines are in senior-year autumn, while many RD deadlines are in winter. Check for each college’s actual dates and restrictions for your application year.

A student and an adviser discuss documents at a desk.

Think carefully about cost before applying Early Decision. ED is binding, so use the college’s net price calculator with your family before you apply and decide whether the estimated cost is realistic. If you want to compare financial-aid offers from several colleges before choosing, a nonbinding plan such as Early Action or Regular Decision is usually a better fit.

If you apply ED and are admitted, you are expected to enroll and withdraw your other applications. If the financial-aid offer does not make attendance possible, contact the college’s financial-aid and admissions offices right away to discuss the aid package and whether you can be released from the ED agreement. NACAC’s current guidance says colleges using ED should release students when the financial-aid award does not make attendance possible.

Beloit College provides a Wisconsin example. Beloit describes Early Decision as binding: admitted ED students must confirm enrollment and withdraw their other applications. Its Early Action plans are nonbinding, so admitted students may wait until May 1 to decide. Beloit also asks ED applicants seeking need-based aid to submit financial documents by the ED deadline so they can receive an estimate of their aid eligibility.

Organize deadlines and requests

Keep one calendar or spreadsheet for the colleges you plan to apply to. Record the application plan, deadline, required materials and whether each item is finished. Include scholarship and financial-aid deadlines alongside admission dates; an admission application does not replace an aid application.

Several people may contribute.

You complete and submit the application, writing and any self-reported information. You also request school records and recommendations.
Your school counselor or records office sends official transcripts and school forms when required. Your school may have an earlier deadline for requesting them.
Your recommenders submit their own letters through the requested system.
Your family can help confirm household information and discuss costs. A parent or guardian may also need to sign an ED agreement.

A student organizes a calendar and written notes.

Use an email address you will keep after high-school graduation, and use that same address for your Common App account and when communicating with colleges whenever possible. This helps keep application messages, deadline reminders, portal notices and admission or financial-aid updates in one place, even after you lose access to a school email account. A short weekly check of upcoming deadlines and unfinished items is usually enough to keep the work organized.

Submit and confirm completion

A laptop screen, notebook and a working hand at a library table.

Before submitting, read the application preview. Check courses and grades against your records, confirm that each essay answers the right prompt, and review names, dates and contact information. Submit each college’s application and any separate writing supplement, then save the confirmation.

Afterward, look for an email explaining how to access the college’s applicant portal, which is the website where you track your application. Its checklist shows whether materials have arrived. A submitted application may still be incomplete if a required transcript or letter is missing.

Allow the processing time the college lists on its website before following up on an item already sent. If it remains missing, check with the person responsible or your college counselor. Continue reading portal notices and email for requests such as midyear grades or a correction. Once decisions arrive, Compare Offers, Choose a College & Finish Senior Year helps you evaluate your options.