1. commonapp.org
#commonappready
© 2015 The Common Application

2. SEARCHING FOR & ADDING COLLEGES commonapp.org #commonappready
© 2015 The Common Application

3. Presenter notes 3
© 2015 The Common Application

4. What is Common App Ready?
A comprehensive training resource
Ready-to-present slide decks
Introduction to the Common Application
Getting Started
Searching and Adding Colleges
Explanations of the following sections: Profile, Family, Education, Testing, Activities, Writing
Payment and Submission 4
© 2015 The Common Application

5. How to use Common App Ready
Schedule a workshop for your students, parents, colleagues, or anyone else who would benefit from learning about the Common Application
Organize your workshop(s) around your needs by presenting the slides all at once or in multiple sessions
Use the accompanying guide (also recorded in the footer notes of each slide) as your script
Direct participants to our training videos for more information: appsupport.commonapp.org 5
© 2015 The Common Application

6. Please begin your presentation with the next slide.
Now YOU are Common App Ready
Please begin your presentation with the next slide. 6
© 2015 The Common Application

7. SEARCHING FOR & ADDING COLLEGES commonapp.org #commonappready
© 2015 The Common Application

8. Sign in to your account Pro-tip: Bookmark apply.commonapp.org
Welcome to Common App Ready.
Students should navigate to commonapp.org, click on Apply Now to create a new account or to Sign In to an existing account.
Pro-tip: Bookmark
apply.commonapp.org
© 2015 The Common Application

9. Navigate to the College Search tab
Applicants can navigate to the College Search tab
Encourage students to look beyond the schools they know.
Nationally, more than half of students attend college less than 100 miles from home and 75% are within 250 miles of home for college.
You know your students and you have a feel for the trends in your student body. Encourage students to look outside their hometown, home state, or home region. Broaden their perspective on colleges.
Familiarize students with the different range of colleges and universities that are out there...NCAA Division I, II and III, large publics, small privates and everything in between.
© 2015 The Common Application

10. Select criteria to search
Click Search to begin the process
Use one or more criteria to search
You can see here that you have many options when searching for Common App colleges and universities, and I’ll briefly review each.
If you already know the name of a college that you’d like to add to your My Colleges list, you can type that name directly into the first field you see here. When entering a college name, for best results, use part of the college name.
Similarly, if you’d like to enter a particular city, use the same field. If you’d like to broaden your search to search a particular state or country, you can use these two fields.
Let’s say a student wants to search for schools within or away from a certain zip code. An applicant can easily type a zip code into the zip code field, then indicate how close to or far away from that zip code they’d like to search.
An applicant also has the option to search by application terms, the type of applicant that they are, or by specific deadlines.
At any time during a search, you can clear any criteria that you have entered by using this ‘clear’ link. And when ready to perform the search, just click on “Search.”
© 2015 The Common Application

11. Check box to add a college to your list
Review Result List…
Check box to add a college to your list
Now that a search has been run, you can view the results.
The first 10 schools are displayed on the first page, but you’ll see that there is a “2” at the bottom of the page to let the applicant know that I there are more results on the next page. Click on the “2” to go to the next page of results.
There are a couple of icons at the top of the search results page that can be helpful to you. These icons indicate that you can request more information and also visit school-specific websites to learn more about that particular school.
There are four column headers that are always displayed on your search results page. The first will display the School Name, then the location of that school, along with the country and finally the school type. All of these categories can be sorted alphabetically by clicking on the arrows.
© 2015 The Common Application

12. …then click Add…
Check the box beside the college name, then click the "add” button located at the bottom right of the page. To select all colleges from your result list, click the box beside the college name in the top left area of the grey menu bar.
© 2015 The Common Application

13. …and success!
When you’ve successfully added a school or multiple schools to your list, you’ll receive the confirmation message that you see here. And from here an applicant can either return to my results list to research more schools, or can go straight to the Dashboard.
© 2015 The Common Application

14. Return to Dashboard Click on Dashboard to view My Colleges list
Remember that adding a college or university to your list of schools also allows that institution to reach out to you via if you opted in to receive those s when registering for a Common App account.
Pro-tip: Click on Result List to add additional colleges from search.
© 2015 The Common Application

15. Navigate to My Colleges
Pro-tip: Each college has a page that presents deadlines, requirements, and college-specific questions.
On the My Colleges tab, applicants can view specific information about each college and university.
© 2015 The Common Application

16. Application Requirements
Pro-tip: Looking for a complete list of colleges and requirements? Click here.
If an applicant is looking for a complete list of colleges and their requirements, a list can be found on the college search tab.
© 2015 The Common Application

17. Pro-tip: Download a PDF of the Application Requirements Grid
Common App Member List
Click here for PDF
Pro-tip: Download a PDF of the Application Requirements Grid
A list of all Common Application colleges and universities will open in a new window. Applicants can also download a PDF of the Application Requirements grid for their reference.
© 2015 The Common Application

18. Help when you need it, where you need it
Applicant Solutions Center
Help when you need it, where you need it
24/7
Every day of the year
FAQs
Videos
Chat
Information about the Applicant Solutions Center
Remember, we’re always ready to help you. If you experience a problem or have a question, let us know by going to the Applicant Help
Center and searching the FAQs or clicking the Ask a Question tab. It’s probably a good idea to add to your address book or contact list. We know you’ll have questions, and we are here to answer them. Help us make
sure our responses don’t end up in your Spam or Junk folder by adding our support address to your contact list.
appsupport.commonapp.org
© 2015 The Common Application

19. commonapp.org
#commonappready
© 2015 The Common Application