Manage student Common App requests
userEducator Xello productXello 6-12 Time7 minutes

Common App has teamed up with Xello to make supporting your students with their college applications easier. Students send requests to educators to send college application documents. For the colleges that work with Common App, counselors fill out and send the necessary forms from Xello.

FYIFYI: To manage student requests, you first need to set up your counselor account. For help, check out Set up a counselor profile for Common App.

Every student request includes a School report that must be completed first. The remaining forms will vary for students depending on the requirements of the colleges they're applying to.

The first time a school report has been completed at your school, the common school-level information will automatically populate in all forms that haven't yet been started. A banner at the top of the report will indicate that some fields have been autofilled and that changes will apply to all school, mid-year, and final reports not yet started.

In this article

Manage your Common App requests

When you're selected by a student to send their documents, you'll receive their request via email.

To manage your students’ Common App requests:

  1. From your educator account, click Features and select College Planning.
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    • Or, from your dashboard, click the College Planning card.
  2. Next to Common App, click Manage to land on your list of student requests.
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    • Quickly view the status of the forms to see which are in progress, and which have been sent to the college.
    • View which forms are tagged as Required and which are Optional. This tag is determined by Common App and is dependent on the admission requirements of the colleges to which the student is applying. For a form to be required, it has to be required by only one of the institutions the student is applying to.
  3. Next to the student’s name whose documents you’re going to send, click Review.
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    • This opens a brief overview of the forms to fill out, and the colleges the student is planning to apply to.
  4. Click Complete form to open and fill out the form.
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    • Each form will only need to be filled out once and will be applied to any current and future schools the student adds.
  5. Once the form is completed, click Complete to return to the student's list of forms and colleges.
    • In case you'd like to pause and return later, clicking Save draft will save your work.
  6. To send the completed document to the college, click Send.
    • The status next to the form will indicate success.
    • To review the form that you've submitted on behalf of the student, click the View PDF link.

Watch the video below for a quick explanation on how to set up a counselor profile and complete student Common App requests.

Common App Integration for Counselors 2:19

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Manage requests on behalf of a counselor

If an assigned counselor is unable to complete and send the necessary forms for a student, someone at the same school with administrator access can complete and send the forms on their behalf. The original requestee's name will still show as the sender. Counselors with administrator access can also unsubmit forms on behalf of another.

noteNote: Only those with administrator access can create or make these changes. To learn more about educator access and permissions, read the article on Educator permissions.

To manage student requests on behalf of another counselor:

  1. From your educator account, click Features and select College Planning.
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    • Or, from your dashboard, click the College Planning card.
  2. Next to Common App, click Manage to land on your list of student requests.
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  3. From the My requests dropdown, click Other counselors' requests.
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  4. If the other counselor has already set up their counselor profile, click Review to view and complete the forms.
    • You can see the information that's been submitted in previous forms by clicking the View PDF link.
    • You can also unsubmit forms. Follow the steps in Unsubmit a Common App form below, starting with step 4.
  5. If the other counselor has not set up their counselor profile, click Assign to me.
    • Click the Other counselors' requests dropdown and select My requests to find the forms you've just assigned to yourself.
TipTip: Track who was the last person to update the forms by clicking Review on the student request.

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Unsubmit a Common App form

If a mistake was made while filling out a Common App form, you have two options: 

  1. You can correct the errors by completing an Optional report.
  2. If the college hasn't downloaded it yet, you can unsubmit the form, edit it, and resend it.
noteNote: Not all forms can be unsubmitted. The Fee Waiver, Early Decision 1, and Early Decision 2 forms cannot be unsubmitted.

To unsubmit a Common App form:

  1. From your educator account, click Features and select College Planning.
    Click to enlarge
    • Or, from your dashboard, click the College Planning card.
  2. Next to Common App, click Manage to land on your list of student requests.
    Click to enlarge
  3. Find the student whose form you want to unsubmit, and click Review.
  4. Locate the form, click the Options dropdown, and select Unsubmit form.
    • The form cannot be unsubmitted if the college has already saved it. If this is the case, a notice will pop up letting you know.
    • If the form you're unsubmitting is dependent on other forms, those will need to be unsubmitted as well. A notice will pop up for you to select and Unsubmit the other forms. Once you've selected them all, click Done.
  5. To confirm the original submission dates will be deleted and the form removed from Common App, click Unsubmit.
  6. To complete and resend the form to Common App, follow the steps above under Manage your Common App request.

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Additional resources

  • pdfPDF
    PDFCommon App guide
  • pdfPDF
    PDFStudent guide for Common App and Xello
  • pdfPDF
    PDFCommon App teacher recommender guide
  • live webinarWalkthrough
    WalkthroughCommon App integration walkthrough
  • pdfPDF
    PDFCommon App annual tasks

    A guide to help admin and counselors with wind-down tasks before the end of the Common App school year and start-up tasks before the next.

  • live webinarRecorded webinar
    Recorded WebinarXello and Common App 101
  • short videoShort Video
    Short VideoLinking your Common App to Xello

    A student-facing video covering how students link their Common App account with Xello (also available in Spanish).

  • short videoShort Video
    Short VideoRequesting your documents for Common App

    A student-facing short video that walks through how to request documents for Common App in Xello (also available in Spanish).

  • pdfShort Video
    Short VideoXello's Common App integration for counselors

    A short video to walk counselors through how to integrate and begin completing tasks for Common App in Xello.

  • pdfShort Video
    Short VideoCommon App teacher recommender through Xello

    A quick overview of how teachers complete teacher evaluations for students applying to Common App colleges.