If applying to several colleges and universities, the Common Application, known as the Common App, is a useful and free source to shorten the application process.

It allows students to keep track of their contact information, coursework, extracurricular activities and other basic information along with statistics, and it serves as a place for essays and recommendations.

Instead of sending individual college applications to potential schools, many schools accept the Common App. It is currently used by approximately 700 colleges and universities around the country. However, some schools require supplementary information that require extra effort and different schools have different application fees deadlines.

The Common App essay prompts are released every year and give seven essay topics to choose from to allow the student to demonstrate their writing ability and personal reflection in at most 650 words.

The Common Application process requires the student to make an account, add potential colleges and universities to a list and gather information for the schools.

It is advised to begin your application early during the summer after your junior year in order to save time in the future by not needing to focus on entering basic information.