Common App Fall 2025 Application Updates

Top Future Education

1. Interface and Navigation Enhancements

• A redesigned interface introduces a more user‑friendly, mobile‑optimized experience, replacing top tabs with a left‑side panel.

• The main menu item “Common App” is now relabeled “My Common Application” and moves ahead of “My Colleges” for clearer navigation.

• Progress indicators (green checkmarks) across sections help students track application completion easily.

2. Essay Prompt

• The seven main Common App essay prompts from the previous cycle remain unchanged for 2025-2026. This allows students to begin brainstorming and drafting their personal statements early.

3. Additional Information Section

• The word limit for the optional "Additional Information" section has been significantly reduced. For first-year applicants, it has been cut from 650 words to a maximum of 300 words. This change encourages more concise responses.

4. Challenges and Circumstances Section

• Replaces the previous “Community Disruption” prompt.

• Expanded to invite students to discuss a broad spectrum of obstacles (e.g. family hardship, technical access, mental health, caregiving, school strikes, housing instability, discrimination, pandemics or natural disasters) up to 250 words.

• This helps colleges gain better context about applicants’ lived experiences while offering optional use for support resources.

5.  New "Responsibilities and Circumstances" Checklist

• A new, required checklist has been added to the Activities section. This allows students to share information about significant commitments they have outside of school, such as household responsibilities (e.g., caregiving for family members) or personal circumstances, without needing to write a full essay.

6. Citizenship and Residency Questions

• The options for citizenship status have been updated to be more inclusive. A new "U.S. resident" category has been introduced, which consolidates several statuses including DACA, refugee, and undocumented students. The term "green card holder" has also been added to clarify "U.S. permanent resident."

7. Application Process Enhancements

• The disciplinary history question has been removed from first‑year applications, reflecting greater equity considerations.

• New inclusive options let students specify chosen name, pronouns, and gender identity, all visible to colleges as intended.

• Fee waiver eligibility is now easier to request: no counselor signature is required, based on qualifying statuses like free/reduced lunch.

8. Expanded Membership: Community Colleges Join

• For the first time, additional community colleges are now available on the Common App (e.g. Lincoln Land, Oakton, Triton in Illinois), alongside existing campuses that joined earlier.