what selection to pick for an academic course on common app

by Aubrey Bode 4 min read

So, if you select the Grainger College of Engineering on the Common App, you’ll be given a choice of majors such as “Materials Science & Engineering” and “Agricultural & Biological Engineering.” Even though you’ll have up to the start of your junior year to declare once you’re there, your options will still be limited to the engineering campus.

Full Answer

What is the education section of the Common App?

The Education section of the Common App is exactly what it sounds like: it’s where you tell your chosen colleges about your high school academic performance. From grades to class rank to what courses you took, colleges will want to get a detailed look at what–and how–you did in high school.

Why use the Common App to apply to college?

By using the Common App to apply to colleges and universities, you'll only need to provide your information and essay once — saving you time and energy. Applying to colleges and universities can put stress and strain on degree-seekers.

Do I have to commit to a major in the Common App?

By listing a major or career in the Common App, you don’t actually have to commit! You are only bound to your major choice if you are applying to a specific program at a university that requires this declaration (i.e. many engineering or nursing schools).

Which schools do not use Common App?

Generally speaking, religiously-affiliated universities and military schools do not use Common App. A few public or state schools also prefer to use their own admissions application system. Here are a few notable schools that do not use common app: Register Now!

What do I put for course name on Common App?

Next, you'll be asked to enter information for each course. Under Course 1 title, type the full name of your first course.

How do you fill out a course and grades on Common App?

0:1010:38COMMON APP COURSES AND GRADES/COLLEGE SPECIFIC ...YouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipWhen you click on courses and grades it will give you a list of which of the colleges on yourMoreWhen you click on courses and grades it will give you a list of which of the colleges on your dashboard. Require you to enter your courses.

What do you put for academic honors on Common App?

Examples of activities you can include:National Merit Scholar - Commended Student/Semifinalist.AP Scholar.Honor Societies.Arts awards.Publications.Outstanding achievement awards.Athletic character recognition awards.Awards at the local, state/regional, or national level.

Should I fill out the courses and grades Common App?

Information. Some colleges require that you complete the Courses and Grades section of the Common App. If your college is not on this list, you do not need to complete the Courses and Grades section.

What does courses and grades not used mean on Common App?

Need to know about courses and grades The section is either required or not received. In other words, if a college does not require courses and grades, then they will not be able to receive the information a student enters into the section. Courses and grades questions are only exportable via XML export templates.

What do I put for 12th grade grades on Common App?

For each course, select the appropriate Subject category and then type the name of the course as it appears on your transcript. Add your year-end grade and credits earned for each class. You will not need to add 12th Grade Courses and Grades if it is prior to the end of S1.

What counts as an academic honor?

Generally speaking, an academic honor or award is any major achievement you've made and been recognized for in some way. The form of recognition can range from an actual object, such as a trophy or plaque, to prize money, a title, or verbal recognition.

What are considered academic achievements?

Academic achievement represents performance outcomes that indicate the extent to which a person has accomplished specific goals that were the focus of activities in instructional environments, specifically in school, college, and university.

What is an academic honor?

An academic honor code or honor system in the United States is a set of rules or ethical principles governing an academic community based on ideals that define what constitutes honorable behaviour within that community.

What GPA should I put on Common App?

Whether your GPA be weighted or unweighted, as long as you report it correctly on a 4.0 scale, you should be fine.

What does an admissions officer see in a film major?

To an admissions officer, a student who goes into a specific field without a concrete long-term vision seems unfocused. On the flip side, if that same Film major lists their future plans as “Other - Documentary Filmmaker,” the admissions officer sees an ambitious student.

Do you have to use the same version of the Common App?

Just because you’re filling out the Common App, doesn’t mean that you have to use exact same version for every submission. When thinking about how to choose a major on the Common App, know that different universities have varying names for different majors, and this may affect the way that you want to portray your future plans as well.

Is indecisiveness good on an application?

While your aspirations may not be set in stone, indecisiveness never looks good on an application. If you’re smart about how to choose a major the Common App, you can show many more elements of your passions through this one small question.

Is Amherst College open?

Amherst College. Amherst features a completely open curriculum, which means that there are no distribution requirements ( unlike Yale) and no core curriculum. With no central curricular requirements, it’s easier for Amherst students to double major and still have enough time to explore other subjects.

Does Yale University offer minors?

Yale suggests that its students do so in the Fall term. Yale does not offer minors, but students are able to double major with the permission of their residential college deans.

Does Brown University have an open curriculum?

Brown University features a similar Open Curriculum. So, when picking your major on the Common App for a school with such a curriculum, don’t stress too much about changing your mind about your major.

Does the Common App affect your choice of major?

At most schools, your choice of major on the Common App does not impact what you actually end up studying in college and you can change your mind. Sometimes, however, you might have to apply to a specific college within a university, so it does limit your choice to an extent. Let’s walk through the protocols at three different schools (one major ...

How to access the education section of the Common App?

In order to access the Education section of your Common App, you’ll need to log into your Common App , click on the Common App tab, and click on Education in the column on the left side. The Education section is divided into nine subsections; click on the title of each subsection to open it up. Each part of the Education section will guide you ...

What happens if you are not satisfied with your grades?

If you’re not totally satisfied with your grades, you still have a chance to wow admissions committees with the other parts of your application, from your activities to your test scores to your essays.

Do IB and AP courses count as college courses?

In this context, AP and IB courses do not count as college courses.

Do colleges ask for the same information?

Since basically every college requests the same or similar educational information, this can save you a lot of time and typing. Before you begin filling out the Education section, you’ll want to gather the necessary data from your records and clarify any requirements that are unclear to you.

Is it easy to estimate your chances of getting into college?

Estimating your chance of getting into a college is not easy in today’s competitive environment. Thankfully, with our state-of-the-art software and data, we can analyze your academic and extracurricular profile and estimate your chances.

How many colleges use the Common Application?

Prospective students can use this service to apply to online schools, apply for transfer credit, and receive helpful tips and school and program recommendations. More than 900 colleges and universities work with the Common Application, making it one of the most popular platforms of its kind.

What is the common application?

The Common Application is a streamlined application service. Prospective students fill out their basic information, and the service shares the data with all of the applicant's chosen schools. University applications are the individual application processes that schools use, independent from one another.

What is the Common App?

Though you do need to meet the specific requirements for each school on your list, the Common Application includes a general application portion that goes to every school to which you apply. The general application section includes a list of your high school courses, grades, and activities; entrance exam scores and dates; and your parent or legal guardian’s information. This portion of the application might feel overwhelming. It can be difficult to remember and/or track down all of this information. The Common App recommends having this information collected before you sit down to fill out the general application portion. This will make things much easier and probably quicker for you. You will likely need the help of your parents/guardians and your high school counselor as you fill out the general application.

How many schools does the Common Application work with?

The Common Application works with more than 900 schools, including institutions in Canada, Europe, and Asia. Prospective students can apply to online, Ivy League, public, and private colleges and universities. Some schools prefer to work with the Common Application over their own application processes, although candidates can still independently ...

What information is required for the Common Application?

The Common Application collects the information that is most commonly required for most institutions, such as personal and parental information, financial data, and extracurricular activities. Each user also must supply transcripts and test scores, along with their response to an essay prompt.

How much is the Common App 2020?

According to the U.S. News & World Report, the average application fee in 2020 was $44.

What to do when filling out the Common App?

A to-do list is another organizational tool that can be a great asset as you fill out the Common Application. The Common App dashboard does a good job of laying out what you need to do to complete the Common Application for each school on your list, but it can be helpful to create your own to-do list. Include every aspect of the Common App, even if the items on your list are things like “create an account,” “find five schools to apply to,” or “ask parent for income info.” Each small step counts towards the successful completion of your application. Checking each of these small steps off as you go can be a great way to acknowledge your effort and stay motivated.

Including outstanding Activities section examples!!!

The Common App Activities section, along with the Common App essay, letters of recommendation, and supplemental college essays, form a critical part of the “non-quantitative” portion of your application.

Common App Activities: Overview

If you’re a high school student applying to schools that use the Common App, you’ve definitely got questions about how to craft a killer Common App Activities section. This feature isn’t unique to undergrad school applications.

What to Include in Your Common App Activities Section

In Common App, each entry in the Activities section is structured in the following way:

How to Fill Out Your Common App Activities Section

Select the category that best matches the specific activity. The Common App Activities section category options are:

How to Make Your Activities Section Stand Out

Although there are important aspects of the first three fields to consider, the most important, by far, is the activity description. Let’s discuss how to make those 150 characters sing with significance.

3 Examples of Common App Activities Sections

Led violins in 4 concerts throughout the school year, helped direct orchestra functions, Tulsa Young Musicians Recognition (20**).

FAQs

1. What order should I list my entries in the Common App Activities section?

What is Common App?

Common Application, often referred to as Common App, is a centralized online portal for undergrad college applications that is used by schools in the US, Canada, and many other countries across the world.

List of Schools That Use Common App

The following tabs show the list of schools in the US that use Common App, arranged by state. You can use the arrows to navigate to more tabs.

Components of Common App

Once you’ve created an account and Common App is open for submissions (usually, August 1 or later), you’ll be able to enter your application information in a form with various tabs. There are several different application components that are required to help colleges make their assessment.

Alternatives to Common App in the Admissions Process

Common App is the oldest and most prolific college admissions portal in the US and Canada, with a huge number of member schools, including quite a few international universities. This generally means that the majority of students applying to college will end up using Common App.

Tips to Make Your College Application Stand Out

Many students work hard throughout their high school years to meet the admissions criteria of their dream schools, taking on multiple challenges such as completing taxing IB or AP courses or joining summer programs for high school students.

What is the Common App Activities Section?

The "Activities" section in Common App allows you to describe yourself above academics. College wants to know how you live your life outside the classroom. They want to know what are interests you developed within you. Are you doing any activity as a leader? They want an excellent academic student with leadership qualities.

How Common App Activities Section Looks like

When you fill your application form, the 5th section will be in the "Activities" section. In this section, you'll be first asked, "Do you have any activities that you wish to report?" If you want to report any activity, you can click "yes."

How To Fill Common App Activities Section

After knowing the Common App activity section, let's look at the correct way to write the section. Here correct means filling the form so that it will increase the chances of your admission. Because, as mentioned earlier, this section has the potential to influence decisions. So, let us look at each area of the section:

THE HONORS AND AWARDS SECTION

This section on your application is where you list awards you’ve won and honors you’ve received.

Conclusion

Lastly, I'm sure you understood what Common App section activity is, what it has, and how you can fill it. All this clearly shows how crucial is this section considering the admission process. The section can make you stand out from everyone else. Hence, whenever you fill the common application, keep in mind the importance of it.

What is the common application?

The Common Application is an online platform that allows you to apply to multiple colleges at once. The Common App streamlines the college application process by allowing students to fill out details such as their contact information, extracurricular activities, grades, and essays just one time. It's the most popular college application platform, and more than a million students use it each year.

How many sections are there in the Common App?

Under the "Common App" tab, you'll see seven sections to complete. Here we explain the Common App instructions for each of these sections to ensure you fill them out correctly.

Can you submit a common app without answering it?

If a required question is left blank, you won't be able to submit without answering it. We do recommend double-checking your answers though, to make sure you included all the information you wanted and there are no errors.

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Accessing The Education Section

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First of all, to fill out the Common App’s Education section, you’ll need to get to it. In order to access the Education section of your Common App, you’ll need to log into your Common App, click on the Common App tab, and click on Education in the column on the left side. The Education section is divided into nine subsections; cl…
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Current Or Most Recent School Section

  • In this section, the Common App will collect information about the school you currently attend or have most recently attended.
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Current Or Recent School Lookup

  • Your first task is to tell the Common App what high school you attend now or most recently attended, as well as various facts about that high school. Fortunately, you don’t have to provide all this information from scratch; the Common App system includes a database of high schools that you’ll search through to find and choose yours. When you open up the Current or Most Recent Sc…
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Other Questions

  • Once you’ve designated your current or most recent school, you’ll have to answer a list of questions about that school, seen in the following screenshot. Below the screenshot, we’ll go over how to respond to each of those questions. One more note on completing this section: if you don’t have a school counselor, fill in these answers for whoever has “overseen your academic progres…
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Other School Section

  • In this section, you’ll enter information about any other schools you’ve attended for high school, aside from the one you’re currently attending or most recently attended. For instance, if you moved to a new city during high school, this is where you’ll put information about the school you attended before you moved. If you were homeschooled for part of high school but then attende…
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College & Universities Section

  • In this section, you’ll provide information about any colleges or universities you have already attended. This section is relevant to you if you took any courses at a college or university while you were in high school through a “post-secondary option” or similar program. In this context, AP and IB courses do not count as college courses. When you initially open up the Colleges & Unive…
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Grades Section

  • In this section, you’ll provide information about your academic performance in high school- specifically, your grades as expressed by your class rank and GPA. When you click on Grades, you’ll see a screen like the one below: We’ll go over each of the questions you need to answer below. It’s likely that you won’t know all of these answers offhand, but your school should be abl…
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Current Or Most Recent Year Courses Section

  • This section is where you’ll provide detailed information about the courses you’re currently taking, or, if you are no longer in high school, the courses you took during your most recent year of high school. For most students, this will simply mean entering the classes you’re taking during your senior year. Before you start filling out this section, you’ll probably want to have a copy of your s…
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Honors Section

  • In this section, you’ll list and describe up to five academic honors that you’ve received. Since choosing and detailing those honors can be complicated in and of itself, we at CollegeVine have chosen to write a separate post on this issue. Head over to our post on “Reporting Honors and Awards on the Common App”to learn what you should report in this section and how you should …
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Community-Based Organizations Section

  • In this section, you’ll answer questions about any community-based organizations which may have helped you with the college application process without charging a fee. These organizations might include Questbridge, Upward Bound, the Boys and Girls Club, or others. If you’ve been aided by a community-based organization like these, you likely know it already. If you’re not sure wheth…
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