My son, a senior, has requested recommendations from two teachers and has taken the SAT, ACT, and some SAT subject tests. His last day of school this calendar year is Friday Dec 20. He will have several applications done before then, but if he decides between Dec 20 and Jan 1 that he wants to apply to some extra schools, using the Common App, will that be possible? Or must recommendation writers and the guidance counselor be told in advance all the schools that will be applied to? I think the answer is no, because they are not writing separate letters for each school applied to. He would of course have to write supplemental schools for each school.
Once the recommendation have been up loaded to the Common App he can apply to as many schools as he wants. S19 did a few last minute ones last year. One ened up giving some significant merit and got some serious consideration, but ultimately didn’t end up getting picked.
At our HS, kids have to complete a form to request transcripts be sent three weeks prior to the deadline. That’s the only barrier I see for you. Our transcript requests cost $2 each, which is how they fund naviance.
But once the transcript is load up to the Common App what prevents you from sending applications to as many as you want?
Transcripts don’t come via the common app, do they? D19’s school sent them directly to the colleges she applied to. They generally just needed a couple days’ notice, other than ahead of winter break when they asked for longer, so check with your school. That said, some colleges are more lenient on receiving supporting documents a week or two after the deadline as long as the app itself is submitted on time, so check that too.
They must be able to send with the common app as my kids’ school requires a fee per school, unless they’re on the common app - then it’s just one fee.
Transcripts aren’t uploaded via the Common App by our school, recs aren’t either. Last minute apps over break could be sent but the transcripts and recs would not be sent until you could connect with a guidance counselor.
For S19 of all of his initial applications submitted through the Common (or Coalition) app the transcripts were provided in one of three ways: official transcript uploaded to the app by the GC, self report feature of the app, or SSAR (separate self reporting system). The only school he applied to that the GC had to send a separate transcript for was MIT since they use their own system. This included schools like GT, Uof M, CMU, VT, Princeton, JHU, and UVA. Now when it came time to send an updated transcript with the 1st semester grades a few of the schools requested they be sent by Slate or to a direct school email that we did have to request the GC to send the transcript.
Ok, it sounds like it will depend on your HS. I am not sure why a school would require that the transcripts be sent to each school individually as it seems like that would be more time consuming and work? Are they trying to maintain some control for some sort of metric?
Many colleges ask for an original, sometimes, even certified by the hs.
Also, remember that for many schools, the app deadline is not the same as the “supplemental materials” deadline, supplemental materials being letters of recommendation and transcripts. ESPECIALLY for the deadlines that fall over winter break. We only had one school that EVERYTHING had to be in by the app deadline, and it wasn’t a 1/1 deadline school. So just check that out that might answer your question!
Our guidance counselor said at a presentation for parents that students can apply to schools using the Common App over Christmas break and ask that transcripts and recommendations be sent once school reopens in January. We will encourage our son to get applications done before then.