STEP BY STEP TO COMPLETING THE COMMON APPLICATION ONLINE
Go to and create your account (just below the green circle for Applicant Login); your username is your e-mail address and you will create your own password.
Go first to the fourth tab that opens on the next screen (“college search”) and identify the colleges to which you will be applying. Be liberal here-if you think you’re going to apply, add the school. You can always delete (and add new ones) at any time before you apply. Having the schools identified places them on your dashboard (the first tab) and provides a quick summary of deadlines, completions and requirements.
Begin the actual Common App (third tab):
Any and all questions with red asterisks MUST be answered. When each section is complete, a green check mark will appear and move to the screen to the next section to be completed.
Any items that ask for telephone numbers will also have a space for country codes (Common App is, after all, international). Be sure to use the drop down menu and select “+1” for the United States or Common App will keep telling you that the section is not complete.
Be cautious about giving Common App your cell phone number – it will be passed along to admissions and you may get phone calls from recruiters. Use your home phone/land line/parent cell.
When completing the Education section:
Here is the Herricks info you need in the School subsection:
If you started here in freshman year, your date of entry is 09/2013
Your graduation date will be 06/22/2017
Your “counselor” is your Teacher Advisor; enter his/her name and email address here (customize)
You can use the school phone #516 305-8721
Here is the Herricks info you need in the Grades subsection:
Herricks does not rank students
Class size: 320
Your Cumulative GPA is the District Weighted GPA printed on your transcript.
Herricks uses a 4 point grading scale
Your GPA is weighted if you took Honors or AP courses
When you list your senior year courses, do so in this order:
Full year courses = 1 credit; one-semester courses = .50 credits.
Honors include department awards, Research Awards/Contests, National Honor Society, National Merit Commended/Semi-finalists, AP Scholar/Scholar with Honors/Scholar with Distinction, and anything for which a student has been selected by the school even if unable to attend.
Testing Providing this information to the colleges allows them to begin evaluating your application even if they haven’t yet received official scores. You will still need to follow up and ensure the colleges receive all official reports from testing agencies (not for AP tests). Provide your highest scores SAT and/or ACT in each area even if those scores are from different test dates. Answer “Yes” if you have scheduled future testing so that the admission office can anticipate receiving further score reports.
When you complete the Activities section, list these in priority order – most important to you goes first; next most important second; etc. You have ten slots given to you in this section. You get only 150 characters for description so use adjectives, action words and nouns and abbreviate where appropriate. Include work experience (even babysitting), religious activities, sports (at school or not), club participation, community service, other hobbies, etc. In the line for details, you can list any honors won, and accomplishments (e.g. Presidential Award for Community Service). The character limit isn’t much so applicants can use the Additional Information section (after the essay section) to elaborate. You have 10 slots given to you in this area.
Be sure to go beyond the essay part of the writing section and complete the two sections at the end (disciplinary history and additional information, if being utilized)
Once Common App info has been completed (minus the essay – don’t need to have done the essay to go to this next step), click on the “My Colleges” tab (second one) to Invite and Assign Recommenders. Under your first college you will see a designation “assign recommenders” – click here.
Before you can Invite and Assign Recommenders, you must complete the Federal Education Rights Privacy Act (FERPA) questions. We recommend you authorize your schools and colleges to release and share records. We highly recommend you waive your right to access your recommendations and other documents being sent from Herricks. Doing so gives the colleges confidence that you trust your recommenders to write honest assessments. Teachers and colleges pay close attention to how you respond to this question. Warning: once any invited school official submits a recommendation, you cannot change your FERPA response!
Although Herricks uses Naviance, we do NOT use it for college applications so answer “no”! Doing so allows you to invite your counselor and teachers writing your recs right here through Common App
After Inviting your teacher as a Recommender, you must now Assign him/her as a recommender for the college. Once you’ve done this with your first school, do the same for every other school on your list – the “assign recommenders” part must be completed separately for each college.
If your teacher prefers to mail in his/her Teacher Evaluation form and letter to each college, rather than uploading them to the Common App, you will see a warning.
Click the Offline Form link to print the Teacher Evaluation form. Print this form. Complete the Contact section (top portion) of the form. Address a business-sized envelope to the college and add a stamp. Give the form and addressed, stamped envelope to your Teacher for mailing. Do so for each of your colleges.
You must invite and assign your Recommenders by the Herricks deadline for your colleges! EA/ED - October 1, Regular – December 1
Visit the Application section under each entry in “My Colleges” to determine what campus-specific questions you must answer for that school.
Visit the Writing Supplement section under each entry in “My Colleges” to determine what your additional writing for that school may be (if released – not all schools have released theirs in August!). You may complete these if they are accessible.
Write your Writing (essay) in a Word processing program and cut and paste it into the Common App tab. Be sure to preview the essay to look for any blank spaces, missing lines, etc.
After you complete the Common App and college supplements, you Submit each to each college, in two separate steps. You can verify the status of submission of each/both and the application fee payment.
You must submit both the Common App and any Writing Supplement and pay your Application Fees by the deadline in order for your submission to be complete!