The Common Application (more commonly known as the Common App) is an undergraduate
college admission
University admission or college admission is the process through which students enter tertiary education at universities and colleges. Systems vary widely from country to country, and sometimes from institution to institution.
In many countries, ...
application that applicants may use to apply to over 1,000 member colleges and universities in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as in Canada, China, Japan, and many European countries.
Member colleges and universities that accept the Common App are made up of over 250 public universities, 12
historically black colleges and universities
Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. ...
, and over 400 institutions that do not require an application fee. It is managed by the staff of a not-for-profit membership association (The Common Application, Inc.) and governed by a 18-member volunteer Board of Directors drawn from the ranks of college admission deans and secondary school college counselors. Its mission is to promote access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process, which includes subjective factors gleaned from essays and recommendations alongside more objective criteria such as class rank.
Membership
Of the Common Application's over 1,000 member institutions,
about one-third are "exclusive users" that use the Common Application as their only admissions application online or in print (listed https://www.commonapp.org/explore/). If the member has a separate