Common App 2025-2026: A Complete Guide to the Changes Students Need to Know

June 17, 2025

As the Common App preps for its Aug. 1 refresh, they're celebrating with some pretty significant (and many helpful) updates we've seen in a while. As someone who works with students daily on their college applications, I wanted to break down everything you need to know about the 2025-2026 application cycle changes within the Common App

Historical Data: The Numbers That Matter

Before diving into the changes, let's talk about the impressive reach Common App achieved this past year. With over 1,000 member colleges from around the world — including public and private institutions — the platform served 1.5 million first year applicants, with students submitting more than 10 million applications.

Here's what caught my attention: Texas became the No. 1 state for Common App applications this year, which is a shift from previous years. The platform also saw students applying from over 200 countries and territories, showing just how global college admissions have become.

The data around essay prompt selection remained fairly consistent, with no single prompt dominating student choices. This reinforces what I always tell my students: there's no “right” prompt to choose — it's all about finding the one that lets you tell your most compelling story.

New Look and Feel: A Fresh Interface After 50 Years

The biggest visual change? Common App is getting a complete user interface makeover. After roughly six years with the same look and feel, they're modernizing everything while keeping the functionality and process students and counselors know and love.

The Key Changes

When the Common App refreshes on Aug. 1, you’ll see that:

Navigation moves from top tabs to a left panel.
The “Common App” tab becomes “My Common Application” (based on student feedback about confusion).
New groupings: The “Apply” section includes My Common Application and My Colleges, while “Explore” houses College Search and Financial Aid.
Progress bars throughout the application show how close you are to completion (finally!). These trackers will appear separately for My Common Application, the common portion of the application, and for the colleges on your list.
Green check marks indicate when you’ve completed a section or a subsection.
Mobile-friendly icons reveal section names when you hover.
Status indicators show which colleges you've submitted to at a glance.

The best part? This is purely cosmetic. The process remains exactly the same for students.

Tip: With its robust filtering system, the Explore Colleges page remains a great way to explore all your college options! It also lets you see at a glance each school’s requirements.

Account Rollover: What Students Need to Know

Here's what I'm telling all my rising seniors about account rollover:

What DOES Roll Over:

Username (email address) and password
College list (students choose which colleges to keep)
All responses in the “My Common Application” section
Advisor invitations

What DOESN'T Roll Over:

Deleted or significantly changed questions
Direct admissions offers
Scholarship matches
College-specific questions and responses
FERPA signatures (students must re-sign annually)
Recommender invitations (except advisors)

The application will close July 28, 2025, for first-year students and July 29, 2025, for transfer students, then it will reopen Aug. 1 with the new interface. (You’ll get a prompt to roll over your Common App account when that happens.)

Do keep in mind, however, that some schools will continue to make changes to their applications during August.

Here’s a link to the Common App’s rollover FAQs for more information.

What Isn't Changing: The Reliable Constants

Some things remain beautifully consistent:

Essay Prompts: All seven personal statement prompts are staying exactly the same. Students can start working on their essays now without worrying about changes.
Core Process: Despite the visual overhaul, the fundamental application process remains unchanged. Students still complete the same sections in the same way.
College Limit: The 20-college limit stays in place, though students with extenuating circumstances can still contact support for exceptions. Students can also continue to apply to the Common App’s first cohort of community colleges.
Activities Section: The character limits and basic structure of the activities section remain unchanged.

What Is Changing: The Updates That Matter Most

Writing Section Modifications

Additional Information Question: The word count for this optional section drops from 650 to 300 words. This makes sense — analysis shows students averaged under 300 words anyway in the last five cycles, with a median number of words below 200.

Here’s the College Essay Guy’s guide on how to write this section.

Community Disruption Question: This COVID-era question becomes the “Challenges and Circumstances” question. Same word count (250 words), broader scope. This is a much-needed change that opens up opportunities for students to discuss various challenges, not just pandemic-related ones.

New Student Context Inventory: Responsibilities and Circumstances

This is huge. After three years of piloting, the Student Context Inventory moves from college-specific questions to the main application. It's a checkbox-style question in the Activities section covering:

Household responsibilities
Personal circumstances
Commitments requiring 4+ hours per week

Essentially, they’re the responsibilities students spend time doing that they don't even think about — but that are important for colleges to know.

This is purely optional and checkbox-only — no writing required. But it gives students a chance to highlight responsibilities they might not have considered “activities” before.

You’re still able to include these responsibilities in other parts of your application if you want to elaborate on them, like the Activities List, Additional Information section, or your main or supplemental essays.

Citizenship Question Updates

The citizenship options get clearer language to make sure that students feel that they see themselves and that they know the appropriate choice value to select.

The refresh will include updated choices as well as some additional text to help students know which option to select. Some of the changes include:

“U.S. Permanent Resident” adds “Green Card Holder”
New “U.S. Resident” option consolidates several categories
Better clarification for DACA students, refugees, asylum seekers, and undocumented students

ACT Changes

The science section is now optional for online test-takers, and that change will be reflected in the Common App. Beginning in August, students will have the option to self-report scores for:

ACT with science and writing
ACT with science
ACT with writing
ACT without science or writing

The ordering of the test section will also be updated to match the official score reports.

Self-Reported Transcripts

The refresh will also include clearer communication about which colleges use SRAR/SSAR (now called STARS), with better in-app messaging to remind students to complete STARS for their colleges that require it.

Direct Admissions Updates

The Direct Admissions program continues to grow. The Common App currently has 136 colleges participating in the program, 44 of which are public institutions.

And a bonus: Many offer perks as part of their direct admissions program, like waiving letters of recommendation or essays. And many of these colleges even extended direct admissions offers beyond state borders (e.g., a Texas student may get a direct admissions offer from a New York college).

As of mid-March 2025, over 700,000 first-gen and low-middle-income students have received at least one direct admissions offer. Pretty exciting.

And in August, students will start seeing a direct admissions section in their applications that they can click into to get an overview of direct admissions and manage and see their offers.

Scholarship Matching Opportunities

The Common App has added a partnership with the National Scholarship Providers Association to offer local and national scholarship opportunities — and students can get matched to these scholarships before they ever submit a college application!

Scholarship matches are based on a student’s profile, education, and activities in the Common App. If students are selected, they'll be notified in the Common App.

Bonus: Students can match with scholarships before their senior year. That by itself is a great reason to have students create their Common App accounts early, take advantage of account rollover, and start getting matched to opportunities sooner.

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Transfer Application Updates

Transfer students see similar changes:

Updated citizenship options
New responsibilities section
Challenges and circumstances question
Additional information reduced from 3,500 to 1,500 characters
New resources for parenting students

The Bigger Picture: What This Means for Students

These changes reflect the Common App's continued commitment to accessibility and clarity. The Student Context Inventory particularly excites me because it acknowledges that not all meaningful experiences fit neatly into traditional “activities.”

For students working on applications this summer, my advice remains the same: focus on telling your authentic story. The new interface might look different, but the goal hasn't changed — help admissions officers understand who you are and what you'll contribute to their campus community.

Looking Ahead: Additional Initiatives

Common App continues expanding access through direct admissions (now at 136 participating colleges), scholarship matching (1.5 million students matched this year), and community college partnerships. These initiatives particularly benefit first-generation and low-income students — exactly the students who need the most support.

Need Help Completing the Common App?

If you find yourself confused by any of the changes or are having trouble with any part of the Common App, help is available! Here are three resources I recommend:

AXS Companion — Open Resource. This is a free resource, and anyone can use or share it widely. No login or account is required, and no student data is collected or used. The AXS Companion includes about 50 modules, so students can use it for end-to-end assistance or on an ad hoc basis to manage only those sections that are confusing to them.
Common App Student Solutions Center
Help | Common App — Support is available 24/7, and you can usually receive a response to your question in under an hour.

Bottom Line for Students and Families

Don't let these changes stress you out. The Common App team has designed these updates to make the application process clearer and more inclusive. The core experience remains the same: tell your story, showcase your achievements, and demonstrate why you're a great fit for your target colleges.

Start working on those essays now — the prompts aren't changing, and a strong personal statement remains one of the most important parts of your application. Everything else is just window dressing on the same solid foundation that has helped millions of students achieve their college dreams.

Ready to tackle your personal statement? The prompts are live and waiting for your unique story. Don't let the new interface intimidate you—focus on what matters most: authentic, compelling writing that showcases the real you.