Using Common App & Coalition

College Bound Juniors

Agenda / Goals

• Introduction & Overview of Senior Year

• Layout & Features• Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success

• Common Application

• Tips & Best Practice

Where

When

How

Why

The Search – Finding the Right Fit

• Type (Van, Convertible, Electric)

• Options

• Budget

• Consider other cars in same class

• True Cost to Own

• Test Drive

• Narrow your choices

• Type and Size of School

• Academics (Majors / Minors)

• Budget

• Requirements (GPA, Test Scores)

• True Cost (Books, Travel, Fees)

• Campus Visit (two types)

• Narrow your choices

Where

Deadline Types

• Rolling – applications are considered as they are received.

• Early Action / Priority – opportunity for students to apply early and receive early notification of decision. Best consideration for admissions and scholarships. Most of these deadlines are in the fall – plan ahead!

• Early Decision – Must attend the college if accepted.

• Regular Decision – Standard admission deadline.

When

Applying

College Web Site

Coalition

Common Application

How

One Application Used to Apply to Multiple Schools

• Common Application

• Began as a paper application in 1975

• Web based application in 1998

• Over 800 common app members in 49 states and DC

• Typically, almost 1 million students submit about 4 million applications each year

• Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success• Web application began July 2016

• 113 schools accept the Coalition

• 132 schools planning to accept the Coalition for 2018/2019

• Holistic approach includes “lockers” where students can create a portfolio

• Opportunity for collaboration

Coalition

LOCKER COLLABORATION

SPACE

APPLICATION

PORTAL

Coalition Locker

• Your personal online storage space

• No cost and has unlimited space

• Use it throughout high school

• The locker is NOT visible to universities and colleges, although a student may elect to upload an item from the locker to a college / university as part of their application

Getting Started

Searching and Adding

The Common Application

Welcome to the Common App

Navigating the Common App

Each page contains several sections but displays ONLY ONE at a time

Help Center displays articles relevant to the task at hand

How you respond prompts new questions

Testing page is driven by what you wish to report

Change / Edit

• Student can return to the testing page and change testing response to “No, I do not wish to self-report”

OR

• Keep the response as “Yes” but elect to report a different set of tests

Change / Edit

• Answering “No” or electing to report a different set of tests will hide – but not erase – any tests a student may have entered previously

• Any tests / scores entered into a previously submitted application can be retrieved by changing the testing response back to “Yes”

• Once an application is submitted, a student can return and edit it for future submissions to other colleges

College Essay

Coalition Application Essay Prompts

Common Application Essay Prompts

WritingEssay Prompt

Background Accomplishment Failures Problem Solved Challenged belief

First Edit

• What does this show about me?

Second Edit

• Quality of thesis, flow and structure?

• Fix wordiness and/or find another example

Third Edit

• Apply a point system and have people "score" your essay (include a grammar expert)

Tips for College Essay Writing

• Use the active voice, not the passive voice.

• Hook the reader with the opening.

• Focus on a small subject or a moment, even if you want to convey a big idea.

• Prune unneeded adjectives and adverbs, which means most of them!

• Show, don’t tell.

• Have an ending that leaves the reader wanting more.

• Read every essay aloud to make sure it sounds right, even if your family thinks you sounds crazy.

taken from Accepted by David L. Marcus

Tips, Tricks and Information

Putting it all together

Organization and Delegation

• Be aware of “other” deadlines• 10 School Days

• Consider a family “college” calendar

• Divide and conquer

Recommenders

1. Make it personal

2. Provide teacher with Resume and Student Self-Assessment

3. Enter teacher information (name, title, email, etc.)

4. Follow up

Authorize

Assign

The Helping School Counselor

• Resources – your school counselor can help. Perhaps with senior handbooks, websites to review, process or paperwork to complete.

• Senior meetings – meeting individually with student and parent, the school counselor can address specific questions you may have

• Please remember each counselor typically can have 75-100 seniors. That’s a lot of meetings, applications and paperwork to process. Please give us time to process and help you.

Final Thoughts

• Always use your full legal name during account creation

• Highly recommended that you work offline and then cut / paste your essay into the text box when you are finished.

• Think before you click• Check for spelling

• Check for meaning

• Check that everything is complete

Final Thoughts

• Consider keeping a password file for all of the unique requirements

• Know the information you may need:

• Copy of high school transcript

• List of senior year courses

• List of activities, sports, clubs

• Standardized test scores and dates

• Parent / guardian education, occupation, etc.

• School counselor name and contact information

FAQ

• Type of GPA

• Scale

• To Waive or not to wave

• School Code

• Century - 211004

• Liberty – 210501

• South Carroll - 211005

Questions