A Couple Application Questions

My son is in the process of completing college applications for next fall. We have a couple questions about the Common App process.

First, when he selects his recommenders, do they know every school he is applying to, or do they simply upload their recommendation and it gets matched within the common app.?

Second, his school offers courses similar to an AP that he is taking as a Senior, but they aren’t specifically named “AP”. Instead, they are referred to as College Level in a High School setting and students have the option to take the AP exam at the end of the year for AP credit. The school switched to this option to avoid students/parents feeling pressured to pay for an exam at the end of the year. The question is, should this be included on his application as an “AP” course or something else?

  1. He can tell his recommenders the schools he is applying to, but I don’t think they look at the schools listed on the Common App. Why would they? I’m not sure they can even access that information. As far as I am aware, they upload the rec and that’s it. If the student is applying to particular schools or majors, he can mention it to the recommenders, but what they do with that info is up to them. The whole point of the rec is to get candid, honest view of a person from someone who isn’t related but knows them reasonably well. This is why students should choose recommenders who they like and who like them in return, ideally teachers from classes in which the student made a genuine effort to do well.
  2. The colleges will look at the high school profile and will know what courses offered are the highest level available. They should be listed by wherever name they are called by the high school. So he should call it College Level Biology, or whatever the class is called on his transcript.

Thank you for the quick response. I guess my main concern is that my son wants to apply to quite a few schools. It’s very different than when I went to college, and he wants to be sure he has enough safety, match, and reach schools, to have enough choices in the end. I was concerned that his teachers or counselor might frown on anyone applying to much more than a few schools. So, it’s encouraging to know that they are not really involved and/or care about that part.

As far as the course name, what you described is exactly what he did. We just wanted to make sure it was correct.

Many students these days apply to over ten schools. Teachers don’t care. They just write one rec total for the student. Did you think the teachers write a new rec for each school? No.

If he takes the AP exam, he might get credit or placement for it. But he can only list the ones he’s already taken if he’s a senior now. If he already has AP scores back, he can list them.

Thanks. He has taken AP English as a Junior, so we’ll get that score sent, and was signed up to take 3 more as a Senior that were converted to this different course description.

How do the transcripts work? Are those also just uploaded through the common app?

As part of their input for your student’s common app, the counselor will provide a school profile that will put the school into context (how many AP classes are offered, how GPA is calculated, how many students pursue post-secondary education, etc.). They will also provide information on your student specifically - GPA, class ranking, rigor of classes, etc. If you dig around on the common app website (or here on College Confidential), you can find the forms the counselors have to fill out. I believe the counselors can see where the student has applied but not certain. They do not receive

As for recommenders, they upload a single letter for the student that is part of the student’s application to each college. The student can select which letters go with which application. For example, some colleges require only one letter from a teacher and others require a letter from a STEM teacher and one from a humanities teacher.

I do suggest that the student sends the recommenders information about what they are interested in studying, which schools they are planning to apply to and more details about their background - including a resume if they have it. My daughter asked teachers in person and then followed up with an email with specifics (how to upload letter to common app, due date, etc.).

And yes, the counselor uploads the student’s transcript.