--- title: What Is Common App? description: Money Magazine explains what the Common App is, what colleges accept it, and how it may differ from school to school. authors: - name: Greg Daugherty url: https://money.com/author/greg-daugherty/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 22 covers: - Education - Business - Economy and Politics - Lifestyle - Personal Finance former_staff: true published: '2015-12-10T14:00:31.000Z' modified: '2024-04-16T09:19:36.000Z' section: Education tags: - applying to college - Coalition Application - College - College Applications - College tip of the day - colleges - common app - common application - Universal College Application word_count: 229 canonical: https://money.com/what-is-common-app-for-college/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![151210_COLL_CommonApp](https://img.money.com/2015/12/151210_coll_commonapp.jpg) *The University of Denver is one of the hundreds of colleges that accept the Common App.* The Common App, or Common Application, is a standardized online form for students applying to multiple colleges. It is currently accepted by some 700 colleges and universities in the United States and around the world. To participate, the schools must grant undergraduate degrees, be public or not-for-profit, and meet certain other requirements including independent accreditation. According to the nonprofit organization that administers it, the Common App is used by nearly 950,000 students to file more than 4 million college applications each year. Although the Common App simplifies the process of applying to a lot of colleges, each school may still have slightly different requirements you’ll need to note. For example, some colleges require supplementary or school-specific essays from every applicant, while others consider essays optional. The Common App web site indicates each participating college’s requirements. [![Best college education image](https://content.money.com/wp-content/themes/money2018/img/college-site-banner-02.png)](https://best-colleges.time.com/money/search-colleges/?xid=cm-mcpFindTheCollegeWidget) The Common App is not the only way to apply to several colleges at a time. There are other, similar services that operate on a smaller scale, including the [Universal College Application](https://www.universalcollegeapp.com), which is used by 40-some schools. Another service, the [Coalition Application](http://www.coalitionforcollegeaccess.org), created by the Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success, debuted this year. It is sponsored by a group of more than 80 largely elite colleges. You can learn more about the Common App and how to fill it out at [CommonApp.org](https://www.commonapp.org). ***Related:*** [What Is FAFSA and Who Should Fill It Out?](https://money.com/what-is-fafsa-and-who-should-fill-it-out/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/what-is-common-app-for-college/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Education", "item": "https://money.com/education/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "College Application", "item": "https://money.com/college-application/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "What Is Common App?" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/what-is-common-app-for-college/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/what-is-common-app-for-college/", "name": "What Is Common App?", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-12-10T14:00:31.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/what-is-common-app-for-college/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/what-is-common-app-for-college/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-16T09:19:36.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "What Is Common App?", "articleSection": "Education", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/12/151210_coll_commonapp.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 1400, "caption": "151210_COLL_CommonApp" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Greg Daugherty", "url": "https://money.com/author/greg-daugherty/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/greg-daugherty/#author" } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-12-10T14:00:31.000Z", "description": "Money Magazine explains what the Common App is, what colleges accept it, and how it may differ from school to school.", "abstract": "Money Magazine explains what the Common App is, what colleges accept it, and how it may differ from school to school.", "@id": "https://money.com/what-is-common-app-for-college/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-16T09:19:36.000Z", "wordCount": 229, "keywords": [ "applying to college", "Coalition Application", "College", "College Applications", "College tip of the day", "colleges", "common app", "common application", "Universal College Application" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Education", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "College application", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_application" ] } ] } ] } ```