INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILLING OUT AND SUBMITTING APPLICATIONS FOR AMERICAN UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIPS

When applying to universities in the US, there are usually many options. However, the two most popular options in the US are applying through the Common App system or submitting your application directly to the school. Some schools do not have the Common App and may require you to apply through the Coalition system. The best way to check which method you should apply by is to go directly to the university’s website and look for the “Application” section. Below I will briefly introduce the Common App system.

What is the Common App?

The Common App is a college application system used by international students as well as native-born students who want to study at universities in the United States. The advantage of the Common App is that this system has more than 800 universities and colleges in 49 states in the United States. In addition, the system also includes some universities from Canada, China, Japan, and countries in Europe.

Most Ivy League schools in the US will require you to submit your university application through the Common App system. Therefore, the Common App will probably be an indispensable system in the journey of applying to the dream country of America.

Instructions on how to apply in the Common App

Register for a Common App account

1. First, you should go to the website commonapp.org and create an account for yourself in the “Create an Account” section. You should click “First year student” if you are preparing to apply to your first year at a university in the US. 
2. The system will then ask you to fill in your email and some other personal information. Please note that you should fill in the information truthfully because you cannot change the information after creating an account. You should use the email account that you follow the most to register for the Common App because universities will use that email to contact you. 

Fill out your profile in the Common App

After logging into your Common App account, you should go to the “Common App” menu to fill in your personal information.

1.Profile

You fill in your full name, phone number, home address and other information as required by the system. For Citizenship, you should fill in the “F-1 Student” visa where the system asks what visa you plan to apply for next year of college. If you are granted a Common App Fee Waiver (which means you are exempted from paying fees to universities), you should fill in “Yes”. However, in most cases, this Waiver will not be granted. 

2. Family

You fill in your family members' information from college degrees to occupations.

3. Education

Fill in the name of your high school. If your school is not in the Common App system, the system will display “I don't see my school in this list” and you click to select it. Then the system will let you fill in your school information yourself. In this section, you will be asked to fill in the information of a counselor. In most international school systems, each class will have a counselor. This counselor has the role of monitoring the student's academic performance as well as the spirit and personality of each student.

This advisor will also have the role of advising on the university as well as solving problems that students encounter. However, the education system of our Vietnamese school will almost never have this advisor. Therefore, you will fill in the information of your school principal. In addition, in the "Current or Most Recent Year Courses" section, you must fill in all the subjects you took in grade 12 or the school year you are currently studying. This includes physical education and other subjects such as art, etc. 

4. Testing

You fill in the information about the English certificates you have to study abroad in the US such as TOEFL, IELTS, SAT. 

5. Activities

You fill in the extracurricular and social activities you have participated in. American universities are very concerned about your social activities. For them, a successful person is someone who can balance his/her work/study and daily life, not just burying his/her head in studying. Therefore, you should fill in as many activities as possible, maximum 10 activities. These activities can include personal activities such as going to gym, painting, music, not just social activities. 

6. Writing

Select the prompt and fill in your essay. Note, you should not leave the “Additional Information” section blank. You can put another essay you wrote or your Resume in that section. 

Fill out college applications

Go to College Search and find the college you want to apply to and add it to your profile. Usually, colleges will have three sections of information you have to fill out: Questions, Recommenders and FERPA, Review and Submit Common App.

1.Questions

You will be asked to answer questions that vary from university to university. Some universities will ask you to write a supplementary essay to learn more about you. Most supplementary essays will be about why you chose that particular university. 

2. Recommenders and FERPA

In this section, you must fill in the information of 1-2 teachers who will write letters of recommendation for you. The teachers who write the letters of recommendation should be the ones that you feel most compatible with and have interacted with the most. But these teachers should know you well enough to give recommendations about you to colleges.

The FERPA form is a contract you sign to confirm that you are allowing the Common App and the college to have access to your information. If you want your recommendation letters to be read by future students after you go to college, you should select “I waive my right to view all recommendations and supporting documents.”

3. Review and Submit the Common App

This is where you will review all of your university application information. You should check and recheck carefully before submitting your application and clicking the Submit button. It is best to read the application 3 times before submitting. Once you click the Submit button, you cannot cancel that application and submit a new application. 

Note: 

In the Common App, they will provide basic information about each university such as application fees, required additional documents, and application deadlines in the “College Information” section. To ensure your own safety during the application process, you should carefully check that information on the school’s website. There will be some cases where the Common App fills in incorrect information or has not updated the new deadline. Good luck to you.

Etest English Center is not only a prestigious SAT/ACT/TOEFL/IELTS test preparation center in Ho Chi Minh City, but also a place to help you prepare documents, write essays to apply for scholarships to study abroad in the US, Australia, Canada, UK, etc. through the course. AMP(Admission Mentoring Program) – writing scholarship essays. 

In this course, you will be taught essay writing techniques, Common App profile, resume creation highlighting your personality and touching the emotions of a dedicated 1-on-1 recruiter. The best thing about this course is that from then until now, all 100% students of the course have received scholarships to 95 top universities in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, with a total value of more than 2,000 billion.

Register to leave information here: https://etest.edu.vn/khoa-hoc/chuong-trinh-amp/