You've reached senior year and you're contemplating the Common Application, used by over 1,000 colleges and universities. How can one application possibly fit all the possible combinations of students and colleges? Not all colleges require the Common Application, some universities have their own, smaller application forms that may be more manageable to complete, and certainly more personally tailored to each college. On the other hand, using the Common Application can allow your child to apply to many colleges at once.
The Common Application allows students to apply to a diverse group of colleges (public, private, large, small, religious, and secular), inside the United States and within 20 other countries around the world. Over 6,060,037 students submitted a Common Application in 2021. Those students attended public, private, charter, and home schools, and ranged from gifted Ivy League applicants to struggling learners hoping to enter their neighborhood safety school.
As a homeschooler, you will experience the Common App the same way any new guidance counselor would experience it their first year on the job. It may be confusing, challenging, and require excessive amounts of concentration, but if you go into the experience knowing the forms are a perfect fit for very few, you can learn to lighten up and stress less. Most common app questions can be answered with your best guess. Others can be answered with simple facts, such as grade point average and number of credits. However, many questions don’t have a right or wrong answer, and will require you to give what you think may be a good response, without being sure.
Your child’s Common Application will be received the same way it is received from any other student. A real person will eventually see the application – an admission office representative who has seen it all. The admissions representative knows how challenging the application is, and is familiar with a range of responses. Homeschoolers have an advantage. Your students are genuinely well educated and literate in a tangible way. You are a genuinely caring parent who is involved in the process and deeply motivated to help your child succeed in earning college admission.
If you look at the big picture, the Common Application has a goal to serve both student and college. The college wants to get to know your student, your school, and the level of your student’s education. The Common Application attempts to collect enough information so 1,000 different colleges can understand the educational background of over 6,000,000 students. Each section includes specific forms or requirements to help colleges understand your child.
Throughout the application process, I want you to feel confident. You are the homeschool parent and the perfect educator for your child. Your job title is “Guidance Counselor” or “Home Educator” or “Homeschool Parent.” Because this is your job, you can provide certification that your records are official school records. You can check the box labeled “transcript affirmation.” And you will communicate as the “school” on behalf of your child.
