<p>When you add colleges in Common App, you can also see writing supplements for the colleges. Can you rely on this info? or you have to look up on each College's website to know what exactly is required? or you go through common app and complete all the sections for the college you are applying to and that is all you need to do.</p>
<p>Yes and no. There are two types of supplements:</p>
<p>(1) those that show up automatically when you add the college</p>
<p>(2) those that don’t show up until you answer a college-specific question that “triggers” a supplement.</p>
<p>For example, College X asks what major you’re planning to pursue. You say “chemistry” and all of a sudden there’s a new essay for you to write - all about why you’re interested in chemistry. Go back and change your major to “history” and it disappears.</p>
<p>So, what you see when you add a college is NOT always what you get . . . but anything that’s required will eventually show itself.</p>
<p>There definitely won’t be additional required writing that doesn’t appear through the common app. Sometimes there is a separate optional easy first step form available only on a school’s website (it might be called Part One or something similar). That form, if it exists for any of your schools, generally just gets you into their mail distribution system and might trigger an invitation for an interview. It can also sometimes be a way get an automatic fee waiver (e.g. Carleton College).</p>