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Common App FAQs

The 2025-2026 Common App is officially OPEN!

The Common Application is now accepted by over 1000 colleges and was designed to streamline the college admissions process. However, not all colleges accept the Common Application (particularly some public universities) and many of those that do accept it also have application supplements that may contain additional essay requirements (a typical prompt being “Why are you interested in attending our college?”).

We find the Common Application more straightforward than the Coalition for College application, another application platform accepted by 150+ colleges, so we recommend using it whenever possible.

We have compiled information addressing some of the most common questions our students have asked when filling out their Common Applications; should this hand-out not address your questions, start with the Instructions and Help box to the right on your application or go to the Student Solution Center. The help tips will change with each page and contain valuable information for the questions on that page. From October through January, there will also be an Applicant Chat feature.

If the solutions you find do not answer your question, you can submit it online here. Common App will generally respond within 24 hours; don’t forget to check your spam filter if you are awaiting a response from them and you should add this address to your contacts to prevent their response becoming trapped in a spam filter. There is no telephone support desk for the Common Application.

Here are some basics:

• Go to CommonApp.org and create an account for yourself as a first-year applicant (unless you are a transfer student). Your username will be your email address. Follow the instructions to create a password and start filling out the application.

• Icons on the Dashboard page – which becomes your landing page once you have added some colleges to your account – provide the status of your progress by college. Green checkmarks signify that an application has been submitted, while a purple pencil indicates an application that is still in progress or ready for submission.

• If you choose to allow your colleges to contact you by email, which you can do when creating your account, be sure to check your email regularly and read communications sent to you by colleges on your list and respond if the email seems to require a response. If you do not respond, the college may assume that your interest in them is not meaningful, and that assumption may work against you if you choose to apply. Further, colleges can track whether or not you open their emails and failing to do so would also indicate a lack of interest.

• After August 1, you may start adding colleges to your Common Application. (If you add them prior to the August 1 rollover, all your work in those supplements will be lost.) Once you have added your colleges, you can answer questions specific to each college in its supplement. Your responses may trigger additional essays, so it is wise to fill out these questions early!
These college-specific sections are also where you’ll be able to indicate if you wish to submit an arts supplement or portfolio, if they offer the option.

Not every application requirement is outlined in the Common Application. For example, some colleges will require you fill out a self-reported academic record through SRAR and Dartmouth asks for a Peer Recommendation. Double-check your colleges’ application requirements on their websites!

• If you have a question that cannot be answered quickly by reading through this handout or the Common Application website, reach out to the Student Solution Center. It is entirely possible to lose hours trying to find a solution that either doesn’t exist or that would take someone at the Common Application five minutes to answer once they respond to your email. Get your question in the queue before wasting too much time on your own, and then keep trying to find a solution, if you want.

• When listing your Activities, list the ones that are the most important to you at the top; you can re-order them when you are done. You have only 50 characters, including spaces, for the “Position/Leadership” description and 150 characters, including spaces, to describe what you accomplished and any recognition you received, so use your words judiciously. You may find it helpful to draft these Activity descriptions in a word processing program where you can count the characters and then copy and paste them into your Common Application. You can list as many as ten activities but do not feel obligated to do so.

• Draft your essay responses in a word processing program and then copy and paste them into the application. You can preview how the formatting looks at any point using the “Preview” button on the upper right-hand corner.

• Additional Information – The Additional Information section is NOT meant to be used as a place to add an additional essay of your choosing. It is an excellent place for information that doesn’t fit elsewhere – additional test scores or awards of consequence, additional information about an activity that doesn’t fit easily in the Activities section (often helpful for students with engineering or business projects experience), or details about a circumstance that has had bearing on your academic performance (an illness, learning difference, or family situation).

The Additional Information section also provides a space where students may address the impact of the coronavirus on them and their families:
“Community disruptions such as COVID-19 and natural disasters can have deep and long-lasting impacts. If you need it, this space is yours to describe those impacts. Colleges care about the effects on your health and well-being, safety, family circumstances, future plans, and education, including access to reliable technology and quiet study spaces. For more information, check out our COVID-19 FAQ.

Do you wish to share anything on this topic?*”
The response is limited to 250 words and this question is accompanied by a more detailed FAQ to help students consider the kinds of impacts they may wish to report, including illness and loss, housing and employment disruptions, and shifting family obligations.

Click on the link below to read the Dunbar Common Application FAQs; we hope you find this resource useful. 

Common Application FAQs

Good luck, and as always, we’re here to help in any way we can!

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Congratulations to the Dunbar Class of 2025!

Looking Back on the 2025 Admissions Season

Last week, the Dunbar Consultants team sat down to review our students’ application results and reflect on this year’s admissions season.

Here are our findings:

1.     Smart early application strategies are critical, continuing a trend we have seen for several years now as colleges fill significant portions of their incoming classes with Early Decision students. Most of our students’ greatest successes came from early application commitments. In short, how a student applies is equally important as their academic profile.

2.     More than ever, institutional priorities drive admissions decisions, including seeking recruited athletes, international, first generation, and under-resourced students.

3.     Legacy relationships create less leverage in admissions than they used to; five states now specifically ban the use of legacy in reviewing applications at either public or all institutions (CA, CO, IL, MD, VA).

4.     There is continued growing interest in undergraduate business and STEM programs, which is consistent with national trends. We advise families that business programs are more selective than most arts and sciences programs; engineering is even more selective, and computer science is the most selective. For these programs, we see a growing emphasis on a student’s fit to major at colleges that accept by area of study – in other words, prospective business or engineering students should find a way to specifically engage in those fields to demonstrate their interest.

5.     Another national trend that we are seeing among our students is a shift in focus to Southeastern state universities with a wide range of academic opportunities, warm weather, and big school spirit.

6.     While we didn’t necessarily see more waitlist decisions this year than has become the norm, we have seen an increase in students being accepted off waitlists at colleges including Columbia, Georgetown, the University of Michigan, and NYU. We believe these acceptances are being driven by the reluctance of some international families to send their students to the U.S. for college in the current political climate. Furthermore, we anticipate waitlist activity to continue into the summer months and will be watching this trend closely in this upcoming application season. (Waitlisted students should continue to monitor their email!)

7.     Only 11% of our students’ deferred applications were ultimately accepted – a finding which confirms our advice to move on from a deferral and seek an Early Decision 2 option, if possible.

It’s validating to see that our assessments continue to be on target – 95% of our students’ Likely applications were accepted, 62% of Possible applications, and 25% of Reach applications. (We define those categories as greater than 75% chance of acceptance, 50% chance of acceptance, and less than 25% chance of acceptance, respectively.)

Thank you to all the families of our seniors who entrusted us to work with their students – we are incredibly proud of all of them! — and we look forward to working with our juniors as they ramp up to put together their own applications!

Have a wonderful summer!

SEE OUR COMPLETE CLASS OF 2025 ACCEPTANCE LIST

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Thank you!

We are excited to share that we have been selected the best COLLEGE PREP SERVICE by Best of the Gold Coast Connecticut!

Thank you so much for your support! We will continue to strive for excellence in helping our students navigate the college admissions process. We are incredibly proud of our Class of 2025’s acceptances and look forward to their continued successes!

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The Year of the Waitlist?

This feels like the Year of the Waitlist!

As more students apply to more colleges, it has become increasingly difficult for colleges to accurately predict their yield—how many of the students they accept who choose to enroll— and shape their incoming class. Having a waitlist gives a college a cushion in the event they don’t meet their enrollment goals in terms of class size or distribution. This year, in particular, we are seeing long waitlists as colleges question whether international students will come to college in the U.S. at the same levels as they have in recent years.

While it is arguably a gentler outcome than a denial, waitlists are not where we recommend you focus your energy. We recommend you concentrate on the amazing colleges that accepted you and attend Accepted Students Days with an open mind. Prior to May 1st, you will need to decide which of those colleges to attend and send in an enrollment deposit to secure your place in the incoming class. YOU MAY NOT DEPOSIT AT MORE THAN ONE COLLEGE. If you have deposited at one college and are subsequently offered a spot off a waitlist by another college, you may deposit at the second college, but you must also advise the first college that you will not be attending.

While we encourage our students to focus on the college where they have deposited, it’s important to know how to handle being placed on a waitlist.

Read the waitlist instructions carefully as they may vary across colleges and you should immediately accept a spot on waitlists at colleges that still interest you. We also recommend following up with a note expressing your continued strong interest in the college, if allowed. If it is truly your first choice, let the college know and indicate you would attend if accepted (and be sure your school counselor is also informed so they can confirm that should the college contact them). In addition, if you have favorable new information to update your profile – a new set of strong grades, recent achievements or recognitions, an additional letter of recommendation, etc., mention that in your note or ask your school counselor to pass the information on to the colleges. Avoid sending excessive new information/recommendations or sending multiple emails to colleges to make your case; that can be counterproductive.

It might help to think of a waitlist as a pool of well-qualified applicants that colleges can dip into to ensure their class has the balance of students they are seeking. As they draw from that waitlist, they’ll be looking for students to fill in gaps that might be defined by region, gender, or academic interest.

If you are placed on multiple waitlists, rank them in order of preference. You may be contacted and asked for an immediate decision. If you decide not to remain on a particular waitlist, notify that college as soon as possible as it may reduce the waiting period for someone else.

It is important to realize a waitlist means what it says – “You have to wait.” While some waitlists have started moving, many colleges will wait until May 1st, the deadline to receive enrollment deposits and the point at which they will see how their class is coming together. It may take longer, or they may invite you to start in January instead of September; or they might not accept you at all.

Lastly, while we encourage you to accept a waitlist offer if it’s from a college high on your list, you need to be realistic about your chances. Celebrate all of your acceptances and especially the college where you deposited! The best way to bounce back from being waitlisted by one of your top choices is to become excited by the college that said YES to you and where you said YES back.

We wish you the best of luck!

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Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

With so many college decisions to be announced in the next several weeks, it’s natural and appropriate to hope for good news! But you should also be prepared for some disappointment as most every student gets a rejection letter in this highly competitive college admissions process; it’s almost a fact of life. Hopefully, there will be more good news than bad and you will have some good choices to make.

Once you have heard from all of your colleges, you will need to decide by the May 1st reply date which of those that have accepted you to attend. Take time to consider all your options; now the power to decide lies with you—it’s your choice. You may also want to visit some campuses again during April. Most colleges offer special visit days for accepted students, so take advantage of those if you can.

Try to make your decision by mid-April so that you can send in your tuition deposit (where required) to reserve your place well before the May 1st deadline. You may not deposit at more than one college.

We also encourage you to advise the colleges accepted you but that you will not attend that you appreciate their offer but have decided to go elsewhere. Colleges will appreciate this information and your thoughtfulness might help future applicants from your high school.

Wait Lists:
As more students apply to more colleges, it has become increasingly difficult for colleges to predict their yield – the percentage of admitted student who will enroll. Therefore, many colleges are now placing more students on their wait list, in some cases 25% or more of applicants, which they can go to if they need more students to fill their class. The number of students who are accepted from the wait list varies from year to year and from college to college but usually it is a small percentage of students who opted to stay on the wait list; in some years, it might be none. The good news is that, while wait list offers are certainly not guarantees, they do indicate that the college likes you and might accept you if they have room.

If a college that is high on your list offers you a place on their wait list, reply immediately as colleges have been known to admit candidates from wait lists in direct relation to the order that the replies come in. When you reply, it is critical to include a note expressing your continued strong interest in the college; if it is your first choice, say so (and be sure your guidance counselor is aware so they can confirm that should the college contact them). In addition, should you have new information worth submitting to the college – a new set of strong grades, another teacher recommendation, etc., be sure to mention that in your note or ask your guidance counselor to pass the information on to the colleges. Avoid sending excessive new information/recommendations or sending multiple emails to colleges to make your case; that can be counter-productive.

If you are placed on more than one wait list, rank them in order of preference. You may be contacted and asked for an immediate decision. If you do not want to remain on a particular wait list, notify that college as soon as possible as it will reduce the waiting period for someone else.

It is important to realize that a wait list means what it says, “You have to wait.” You should not expect to hear from most colleges until the May 1st reply deadline when they know their yield. It may take longer, they may invite you to start in January instead of September, or they might not accept you at all. If you are offered a spot and decide to accept it, notify the college where you initially deposited, as well as any other wait list colleges, that you will be enrolling elsewhere. Remember that you may not deposit at more than one college at the same time.

Lastly, while we encourage you to accept a wait list offer if it’s from a college high on your list, you need to be realistic about your chances. It’s best to assume you will be attending the college where you deposited and engage with it since that is most probably where you will go.

We wish you the best of luck!

SUMMER

Planning for Summer

Believe it or not, now is a good time to think about SUMMER plans, especially if you are interested a summer enrichment or research program with an early deadline (as in December or January!).  We have always advocated taking advantage of the summer months to pursue interests, earn money, develop independence and responsibility, build skills, and explore passions—or ideally a combination of these goals! If you are looking for summer programs in a particular interest area, we have three amazing resources to share.  These websites have searchable databases of hundreds of summer enrichment programs for high school students. There are TONS of opportunities on a wide variety of campuses and a wide range of disciplines from aerospace, architecture, and archeology to zoology. If you are interested in doing an academic program, we suggest you start researching programs now.

College Matchpoint

Teenlife

Snowday

Some examples of programs we have seen our students enjoy and benefit from are listed below with links. While we are not affiliated with any of these programs, we like to share ideas for our students to explore.

Academic Pursuits: These types of programs allow high school students to take college level courses with other high school students on a college campus. These types of “pre-college” programs do not generally provide an admissions boost to the institution that hosts the program. However, they are a great opportunity to get a taste of college life and possibly develop a relationship with faculty at that respective school.

  Yale Young Global Scholars

  Brown Pre-College

  Georgetown Summer Programs

  Columbia Pre-College

  Johns Hopkins Pre-College

If you are a student with a particular interest in history, The Concord Review is a quarterly journal that publishes original academic writing by high school students.

Independent Research: If you are interested in research, we recommend you explore what kinds of research you can get involved with locally or virtually with a professor. Sometimes it is possible to join an existing research team or get involved in an ongoing project. Additionally, if you have an idea for a project and it aligns with a particular professor’s research (which are always listed in faculty bios online), you can propose it. Who knows, it might lead to a collaboration! Remember, a research project doesn’t have to be at a “famous” college to have merit! There are also tuition-based research programs that pair you with faculty across various institutions. Some of the most well-known programs to explore are:

Horizon

Pioneer

Lumiere

Polygence

CCIR

STEM-specific interests: This is a list of highly competitive academic summer programs with a STEM focus. A few of them are completely free as well.

Pre-Med:
Medical Immersion Camp is a new summer program that gives high schools students some real-world exposure to working in the medical field.

Business Interests: We have seen students explore a variety of these types of activities to stretch their business and entrepreneurial muscles, beyond participating in an academic summer program.

– starting a small business of your own

– finding a local internship that aligns with a particular interest and/or looking for opportunities to job shadow

– tying fundraising into microfinance opportunities through Kiva

– selling handmade items if you are crafty: handmade jewelry, soap, greeting cards, etc.

– starting a blog or podcast linked to selling products, services, or advertising

– upcycling and re-selling thrifted items on platforms like eBay or Depop

Visual, Creative and/or Performing Arts: We have seen our creative students explore opportunities where they can deepen their skills and talents across the artistic disciplines of writing, music, fine arts, and the performing arts. If you are considering applying to a BFA program or are considering programs where submitting a portfolio is required or encouraged, these types of experiences are a great way to build repertoire, find audition material, and/or develop pieces that showcase your artistry and technical skills. Here are some ideas:

– Exploring local community performance groups (competitive dance groups, local youth symphonies, local theater groups, competing in regional and state competitions).

– If you are interested in technical theater (lighting, sound, costuming) we also suggest you reach out to local theaters for possible summer opportunities.

– Scholastic Art and Writing Competition

– Attend arts camps such as French Woods and Interlochen

– There are also a number of theater arts, film, dance, music, debate, and journalism summer programs that take place on college campuses. Some of these programs will have an audition component. Some of the well-known creative arts programs are:

Northwestern Cherubs

MPulse at the University of Michigan

NYU Tisch

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Paying Jobs: Summer is a great time to get some old-fashioned work experience! Tremendous work (and life) skills can be develop through jobs such as the ones below:

– Babysitting

– Working as a camp counselor

– Waiting tables or caddying (many local tennis, swim, and golf clubs hire high school students in the summer)

– Scooping ice cream or working in a retail store

– Lifeguarding

– Teaching a skill – during the pandemic we saw lots of teenagers teaching younger students particular skills in an hourly lesson format. We saw students do this both for sports (basketball, baseball, soccer, etc.) and the arts (singing, playing guitar, creative movement, crafting, etc.)

Service: We also recommend ways to use your time to help others in your community or beyond. Looking for local ways to get involved can be very meaningful and does not cost money.

– Identify an area of interest (tutoring, working with kids, working with animals, housing insecurity, food insecurity, environmental causes).

– Consider tying service into an existing interest such as joining groups that teach skills to underserved kids or kids who may be neurodivergent or have physical challenges (soccer, tennis, golf, dance, and therapeutic riding come to mind).

– If you are part of a religious community, look into whether there are opportunities to go on a mission or service trip. Keep in mind that service trips are most valued when they are more focused on community and connection versus exotic travel!

– Other community resources for summer involvement will depend on where you live. This organization, DoSomething provides a wonderful list of ideas in this article as well as a sortable database.

– Consider looking for opportunities at Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs or local municipal camps or daycare programs, senior citizens homes, nature centers, soup kitchens, land trusts, and community foundations.

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Tips for College Visits

There are many ways to assess whether a college or university may be a good fit for you, but we believe, when possible, the best way for students to get a sense of academic and social fit is to visit the campus when students are present if you are able to do so. Campus tours and information sessions provide a dizzying amount of information and without some plan for managing it, all that useful information about each college or university may get lost in the deluge of detail.

Useful tips for making the most of college visits:

Before visits:
• Do your research: Using the college list you, your parents and your college counselor have drafted, go online and learn about the academic programs, campus, student body, college culture and anything else that might interest you about the college(s) you will visit. Prepare questions for the tour guide or information session.

• Plan to allow plenty of time for your visit so you can attend the information session, take a campus tour and walk around a bit on your own. Don’t plan on seeing more than two colleges in one day.

During the visit:
• Get the name and card of your interviewer or information session speaker and tour guide. Show interest; ask questions; write down answers. It’s best to have your questions at the information sessions be more general and less personal in nature. You can ask the more specific, personal questions when speaking with a representative after the session is over.

• Fill out the form at the admissions office with your personal information.

• Be open and observant. Consider the following as you explore the campus:
1. Do students appear happy? Can you see yourself making friends and living with them for four years?
2. Look at bulletin boards to see the types of activities and events offered on campus. Do they interest you?
3. Pick up the campus newspaper.
4. Check out the town or city where the college is located.

After visits:
• Process the information gathered: Look at your notes and the brochures and keep track of your impressions.

• Contact the college admissions representative you met: Write an email or note to those colleges you want to continue to pursue, thanking them for meeting with you and asking them any follow-up questions.

• Maintain the information gathered: Keep a file box of information, cards, and track your impressions in a dedicated notebook or file on your computer.

One final tip is to not let the weather or a less-than-inspiring tour guide influence your impressions. Even the most beautiful campus can seem dreary on a rainy day, and a tour guide you don’t connect with does not represent a whole student body. If possible, reach out to students as you walk around campus and ask questions about student life; most students are happy to talk!

Unable to make it to campus in person? We highly recommend engaging virtually as much as you can. Attend virtual information sessions, take virtual campus tours, and engage in student life via the university’s social media accounts to get a feel for what it would be like to be a student there.

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Building a College List

With more the 2,500 four-year colleges in the United States, it can be (understandably) overwhelming for students to narrow down that list to just 10-12 colleges to which they will apply. Not only that, but a college list should contain options across a range of admissibility (Likely, Target, Reach) to ensure a student has options that they’re happy about at the end of the process.

What do we mean by this?

· “Likelies”:  A student has an estimated greater than 75% chance of admission based on their academic profile and test scores. However, this process is not perfect, and even colleges we believe will accept you may not if they suspect you will not attend or if you have applied to a particularly competitive major.

· “Targets”:  A student has an estimated 50% chance of admission based on their academic profile and test scores. We want you to have some nice options, even beyond your Likelies.

· “Reaches”:  A student has less than a 25% estimated chance of admission. Every list should have a few Reaches, and typically these schools are the easiest ones to find.

Want to learn more about Dunbar’s recommendations for narrowing down your college list?

Check out this section in our Handbook for tips on how to get started!

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Writing a Great Personal Essay

Throughout high school, students have been taught the importance of writing clear and logical essays for many of their academic courses. Students learn the value of revealing their thesis early in the essay and then logically and with evidence, proving their thesis throughout the body paragraphs and then restating their thesis in the conclusion, perhaps with some new insight. While the exact essay format may differ between schools and teachers, learning how to write a clear essay is important now and throughout college.

Certainly, writing clearly and using vivid language to capture the purpose of the essay is also essential in the Personal Essay. Using evidence to support an idea, applying correct grammar, and proofreading carefully matter as much in the Personal Essay as they do in an essay for any academic course. However, while the academic essay strives to be objective and impersonal, the Personal Essay is, well, just that, personal. It’s purpose is to express who you are and should show the reader personal insight. So, when you begin writing the Personal Essay, still use those effective writing techniques, but remember that the purpose of this essay is to reveal the authentic YOU so do not be afraid to stray from a strict academic format.

1. Ask yourself, “What do I want admissions officers to know about me that they cannot learn from my transcript and scores?”

2. Make sure the opening sentences draw the reader into your essay right away. Specific, sensory details can help the reader want to read more. Then, using first person narrative, show rather than tell your story. And, as you wrap up the essay, connect what you are writing about to who you are now and who you want to be. Show your core values.

3. Admissions readers want to read about your growth from an experience. Write not only about the “what” of that experience, but also about how you grew from this experience.

4. Sometimes writing about something ordinary can be extraordinary if you show through details why it is important to you.

5. More than anything, be yourself and don’t concern yourself with trying to present a perfect person.

READ MORE OF DUNBAR’S ESSAY WRITING TIPS

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Summer = A Great Time For Reading

Whatever your high school curriculum, reading beyond school assignments is extremely important, especially material that is related to a subject or subjects you are studying (or that simply interests you!). Reading will deepen your understanding and knowledge, enable you to contribute more to classroom discussions, and will be very helpful in an interview if an admissions officer asks you, “Do you like to read?” or “What books have you read recently?” We realize that fitting outside reading in can be challenging given a busy schedule of schoolwork, athletics, and other extracurricular activities, but reading will make you a more interesting person, expand your knowledge and boost your standardized test scores. Some colleges ask on their applications to elaborate on the reading you have done for pleasure.

We have developed a broad reading list that enables the reader to experience the English language at a high level, while concurrently illuminating how people think, what they most care about, and what they feel. Without doubt, great writers develop from readers of great literature. And great works of literature not only help build a stronger vocabulary and an internal sense of the rhythms of great writing, but also increase one’s empathy for others and develop greater emotional maturity.

If your workload does not allow you enough time to read additional books, we strongly suggest you try to read newspapers and weekly news magazines, including editorials and opinion pieces, which are all available online; not only will such reading expose you regularly to good writing, but it will also make you more aware of what is going on in the world. Audiobooks are another way to engage with written language via listening and can be enjoyed more passively, such as when you are in a car or riding the train. Our favorite publications, based on the quality of their writing and their general appeal, include The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, BBC, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, National Geographic, and Sports Illustrated.

Summers and vacations are a time, no matter what your plans are, to aim to read as much as possible. Every college likes candidates who like to read for pleasure, and especially those who like to dig out information in a field that interests them which demonstrates your intellectual curiosity, a very fine quality! Take advantage of your summers to relax but also to grow intellectually and as a person.

The bottom line here is simply this:
READING IS BENEFICIAL FOR EVERYONE. READ MORE!
Our reading suggestions are here:
Dunbar Reading List

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