For rising high school seniors, know that The Common Application will go live on August 1st. And what does this mean? It means students can start filling in their applications. Of course, our students are already well underway on their college admissions essays since The Common App. already released the Personal Statement prompts and the Covid-19 essay prompts. Additionally, many highly selective universities have already released their supplemental essay prompts for the 2021-2022 admissions cycle.

For folks who check out The Common App. each year, you might notice some small changes. As the organization reported on its website back on February 24, 2021, “As a part of an ongoing effort to revolutionize the college application and create a more equitable admissions process, Common App today announced a series of changes to the questions on its application focused on sex and gender. Beginning in the 2021-2022 admissions cycle, the questions related to gender identity will be revised to better reflect the identities of the more than one million students who use Common App each year.” 60 new colleges have also joined The Common App. for this upcoming admissions cycle. And one of the Personal Statement essay prompts — the one about solving a problem — has been replaced with a prompt that reads, “Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?”

We know students and their parents are eager to see The Common App. go live on August 1st. The good news is it’s already July 29th so the wait is almost over. Or perhaps we’re overstating their eagerness just a bit. Or a lot. In any case, the 2021-2022 admissions cycle is underway!