This is purely hypothetical, but what if I were to accidentally submit my application to a school (say, Northwestern) right now before I was actually ready to submit? Like, everything would be filled out, but all my essays were terrible first drafts and I had a lot of inaccurate information for testing, awards, activities, etc. It’s months in advance of the deadline—would Common App allow me to withdraw that application and resubmit it later?
Also, if someone was able to hack/guess my account info, they’d just be able to submit it, right? At least for schools without application fees, all you have to do is check the boxes and then I would be unable to cancel/redo the application?
Are you planning to hack someone’s account or something? Once an app is submitted, there is no correcting through the Common App interface. You could contact the school directly, but the optics of that aren’t great. So protect your password, and proofread before you submit.
You cannot retract an app once it is submitted. Therefore, just be incredibly cautious. Take care with your app, proofread proofread and proofread one more time, and guard your password.
@intparent @yonceonhismouth Lol, thanks. No, not trying to mess with anyone’s account. Just seems like once in a while something like this might happen, either by hacking or by accidentally submission or by someone you know doing it to ruin your application. Too bad there’s no mechanism for retracting an app.
The best way to prevent this from happening is not to share your username or password with anyone!
It’s not that easy to submit an application via the Common App. It’s not like there’s 1 button click…and it’s gone! It’s a several step process to review and submit your app. To your point, though, I’m sure it happens. I hear from time to time about people wanting to change their app from ED to RD, which apparently is not too difficult, but requires a phone call. Change something else? YMMV.