I am currently a Junior in High School and decided to create a Common App account to be more ready when I start writing essays for applications. However, I’ve noticed a problem: all of the dates seem to be for current seniors who will be attending in the Fall 2017. For example, the website still says that Stanford’s early action deadline is 11/01/2016. Did I make an account too early? Will the dates automatically change over the summer or will I have to make a new account?
I am a Junior as well and I did the same thing. I asked my school’s college counselor about it and it’s apparently fine - she said she didn’t know when exactly it would “update” but I assume it’s when the common app opens (I think it’s late July/early August).
Don’t worry you guys are fine. The Common App will usually update by late July, but school specific prompts/question may not open until August or even September. You will not have to make a new account or do anything for the Common App to update. DO NOTE that all prompts may not be the same each year, but I think that the Common App main essay prompts should be mostly the same or similar. I’m not sure about the school specific prompts that you’re interested in like Stanford. I would advise keeping your responses saved in a word document or something and when the school releases their school specific info look back over the essays to see if they fit your current prompts. I created my Common App before some schools released their information, but nothing bad happened.
Come August 1st all the school specific sections will be wiped and reset, however the main app will remain.
I guess you have to wait till August to make there
And the 2017-2018 prompts are out: http://www.commonapp.org/whats-appening/application-updates/common-application-announces-2017-2018-essay-prompts
You can certainly do your essay now, and download after August 1.
Does anyone know if it’s ok to get teacher recs now? Or will they disappear when the app updates in the middle of summer?
In my school, recommendation letters for Juniors are due by the end of school in June. Mine have been uploaded onto Naviance. When the Common App goes live in August, I’ll go on and upload the letters, and fill out the survey they ask on each of the kids I recommended.
Teachers absolutely appreciate the time to put together a well written recommendation letter. This isn’t our first rodeo; we write these letters every year. We’re aware of the timelines. So please, ask your teachers before school ends for those letters!!!