<p>You fill out the Common App, then you submit once for each school. Each school usually has a supplement section of their own which you complete. When you are ready for that school, you submit (and pay if necessary) for that one school. You do this repeatedly for each school as it is ready.</p>
<p>I believe (the Common App did change last year and last one our family did was the year before, but someone told me this is the same) that you CAN create multiple versions of the Common App. I had to search the help function (or equivalent) to figure out how it is done. One reason you might want to is that EA applications are due in November. For my kid, by the time she submitted all her RD applications, she had finished near the top of a state athletic competition and had some top finishes in an academic competition since her EA application was submitted. So she created a second version for that. And then one of her colleges was a STEM school, which the rest were not. So… she created a 3rd version where she weighted her STEM activities more heavily. I suppose it is possible that the Common App has made some kind of rule saying you can’t do this, or your GC may ban it. But I think it is possible, and not “against the rules” unless your GC refused to upload your rec letters or something.</p>
<p>My kids did list pretty much all their activities. Great results, too (last one got in everyplace she applied, including U of Chicago, Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd, etc.). Some of the things they did:
- Activities they only did in 9th and/or 10th grade did NOT get listed IF (1) they were not important to their narrative/story they wanted to tell about themselves or (2) they had not won any awards of significance in them – individual or team.
Other than that, they listed everything. They went to a small high school where kids are encouraged to do a lot of things (otherwise it would be hard to fill the activities/teams!). And they listed activities from outside school that were important (volunteer activity, one was an avid entomologist with county & state fair ribbons for it, etc.)</p>
<p>They did use the additional information section. Do NOT put additional essays in there or just a repeat of your resume or info that is elsewhere in the Common App. The types of things they put in (with headings and bullet items listed underneath, not always even full sentences if the point got across) were:</p>
<ul>
<li>One kid took a MOOC. No place on the Common App to list it (not a high school class, not for college credit…). She listed the course info and her course rating.</li>
<li>Our kids’ high school is on a block schedule, and a lot of the art and music type courses are small credit amount. This results in a long list of courses. She couldn’t fit all the hs courses was taking on the list. She put that in the additional info section.</li>
<li>She had additional detail she wanted to put in on a few ECs she listed high on her EC list. Example: Quiz Bowl. She had awards and ranked finished over 4 years of high school, camp attended, etc. She put “See additional information” in the EC teeny tiny line, then put a header and used bullets to list her accomplishments in this area. Same with Robotics.<br></li>
<li>She had a few ECs that didn’t fit on the EC list – not top priorities for her, but not thrown out based on the "9/10’ criteria described above.</li>
</ul>
<p>As long as the application is not repetitive, run-on, and clearly organized/labeled, that is fine with colleges. They want a complete picture, but you have to be concise and organized.</p>