Create Your Common App Account

This section should take approximately 10 minutes.

Items in Common App marked with a red asterisk * are required. Students are not required to complete items that do not have the red asterisk.

Introduction

In this section, you will:

• Create your Common App account
• Learn about each of the five main tabs of Common App: Dashboard, My Colleges, Common App, College Search, and Financial Aid Resources

Later sections of the AXS Companion to Common App provide guidance for each section of Common App.

In this video, Karen Richardson, Dean of Admission at Princeton University, welcomes students to the college search and provides advice regarding preparing an authentic application. This video takes approximately 3 minutes.

Preview

This is an example of the starting page in Common App.

Before You Begin

To create a Common App account, you will need:

• Your phone number, email address, and home address
• Access to a computer or cell phone

You can open the AXS Companion to Common App and Common App side by side on your computer screen.

Common App Rollover

Every year, Common App closes at the end of July to update its website and reopens on August 1. If you are in Common App after August 1,  you are seeing an updated version.

Students who have created a Common App account can still access their application.

What Rolls Over or Is Saved After the Common App Reopens?

• Common App Login information: username login and password remain the same
• Student’s college list
• Answers to questions on the Common App tab
  • Profile
  • Family
  • Education
  • Testing
  • Activities
  • Writing
  • Courses & Grades

How to roll over your Common App account.

Tips & Reminders

• When you create a Common App account, be certain to enter information correctly. The information entered here will populate other parts of the application, so make sure that your name, address, phone number, and email address are correct, and that names and other proper nouns, such as names of people or cities, are capitalized.
• Email addresses should be appropriate to share with an admissions office.
• When creating your account, enter your given name to be consistent with high school transcripts and other official documents such as your birth certificate or driver’s license. Follow the directions.
• If you have additional questions, Common App Solutions Center has information for applicants, counselors, and recommenders.