The Possibly Official Common App Q&A Thread

[fendey516]

For the Midyear and Final report, do we send those in at a later time from the rest of the common app? I'd assume so since we wouldn't know our midyear and final reports if applying EA...

[oeij]

feel silly

but are we allowed to simultaneously apply EA and ED? - to two serperate schools of course..

[Terp2014]

What do you put in for "Counselor's Position"?

Mini-Rant:

This is kind of annoying, I put it "None" for my dad cause he didn't even graduate High School and it's asking me what Graduate Degree he received...WOOOW...

[amaster008]

Wow. I started my common app and there are several questions that I have.

1) My parents did not go to college in America. Should I just leave that portion blank then or try to fill it out to the "best of my abilities"?

2) What the heck does Counselor's Position mean? I would assume their position is ... "counselor" but I might be totally mistaken ... Please elaborate!

3) Do I have to self report every single ACT test score? Or can I just report my highest score?

4) Should I fill out the "race" part even though it is optional? I am Asian, just to clarify.

Thank You So Much!!!

[pb50]

1. is the art supplement "common"? say if i ask my piano teacher to write me a rec (which it says to do), i can use this rec for other schools when i submit the art supplement too right?

2. also, under the activities section, it says list your activites and awards received...well i play the piano, and i've won quite a few of awards/honors...should i list all? or just a few and then attach more on the resume ?....

3. also under work experience, what if i had some informal *employment*...to cut to the chase, i've taught piano to little kids, but i'm not really employed by anyone...

4. both my parents got a bachelors and masters at the same college, but it only allows you to choose bachelors; then my parents moved to the US, and got another masters at another school...so basically 2 masters and 1 bachelor. there's no way to indicate this on the application?

[teamfrangela92]

Terp: I had that issue to with my mom. Just put None for Grad School Degree.

Amaster: 1) I would just put None for both undergrad and graduate sections. 2) I just put Guidance Conselour. 3) I think that it depends on the school. Some schools want all of your scores and some will let you choose which one you want to send. Check the college's .edu site and check it out. 4) It's really your choice. I just read a book on the college app process and if you don't put down a race, they respect that. Whatever way you do it, they don't really care.

PB: 1) Sorry, I don't know about the art supplement. 2) I would just put the biggest ones under the Honors Section and not mention it in the Activities Section (it will be infered since you must practice alot to get thoe awards). 3) If you were paid, put it down under work experience. If you were not paid, put it under activies as community service. 4) Hmm... I would put the most recent masters in the US and the bachelours in the foreign country for both parents, but I think that it's up to you.

NOW, MY QUESTIONS =D

1) Academics Section: So.. I put down my senior year courses and they ask for credit value. How would I write it like this:

AP Biology (1) orr... AP Biology - 1 Credit or AP Biology: 1 ?????

2) Tests Section: Is there a way to only submit SAT II's to only one school [Dartmouth] out of my eight? Oh wait... could I submit all of my applications except DMouth first and then add on the SAT II's, then send to DMouth? ARGH.

3) Writing Section: Title on Common App essay.... recommended or not?

Thanks a lot guys =]

[teenage_cliche]

Guys, chill about the questions about your counselor and how to report grades and classes - your school has a way it tends to do this, your counselor is much better prepared to answer questions about him/herself than we are, so just email them or wait until September.

If your parents went to college, they went to college. Doesn't matter where it was, put it down.

[pFNMCp]

@fendey: yes. MYR is to be submitted after first semester grades are available and FR is to be submitted after second semester grades are available.

@oeij: usually, you can. But you will have to check the information available from each specific college about the specific restrictions that you agree to when applying EA/ED to that college.

@Terp: just put "Counselor" until you're able to ask your counselor what to put as their position.

@amaster: 1. Put 0000 as the CEEB code and then type in the name of the university.
2. See above.
3. It only says "tests required", so I'm pretty sure it's fine to put down only the scores that you're going to submit.
4. Do whatever you want.

@pb: 4. Put the bachelors from the first school and the masters from the second school, I guess.

@teamfrangela: 1. The punctuation shouldn't matter, but I suggest always including the word "credit" just in case there are numbers in the actual course title.
2. Yeah, you'll have to replicate your application if you want different schools to see different things.
3. If you wrote off of a prompt, I recommend putting the prompt as the "title". But if you just wrote about something without having a prompt, I think a title is redundant.

[sashimi]

Should internships (unpaid) go under Activities?

[ReadyToRoll]

There are a lot of questions in the common app. that are optional, such as parents education level/schools attended, names of siblings, etc.

Is there a reason that one should or should not fill these sections out...besides obviously doing so if you are applying to a school at which one parent is an alum?

Thanks!

[Lemonio]

some questions...
my dad's or mom's occupation's are not listed...what should i put?
my dad is a data mining consultant and my mom is decision writer for judges
what does "current year courses" mean, and how should i write them?
half of my activities don't fit into their guidelines...for example, what would a internship at a tv station be, journalism, career oriented, computer technology?

also the additional details space for activities is too short to provide additional details....
what idiot wrote the common app -.-

[Lemonio]

also if my parents where born in the soviet union which is not on the common application should i put the russian federation, even though it would technically be not true?

[idk11]

Anyone have any advice on internships both paid and unpaid?

[Lemonio]

i have that problem too.
i put mine down under other -.-
what a terrible application
the college my dad went to isn't even on there

[Terp2014]

idk - If it's paid, I think it does in the "Work Experience" section. Unpaid would probably count as an Extra Curricular Achievement