Common App integrates with three career-counseling platforms

The Common App will allow three publishers of career-planning software to integrate the online college application used by more than 900 schools into their platforms, the nonprofit announced Monday.

The companies — MajorClarity Inc., XAP Corporation and Kuder Inc. — join 10 others that offer integration with the Common App, according to a press release.

Creating a Common App account spares prospective college students from having to fill out the same information about themselves over and over again, though the application accommodates questions specific to individual universities. Common App offers a dashboard on which students can see all the requirements for university applications and track submissions.

A high school might use a particular third-party service to coordinate students’ career planning or guidance counseling, but Common App data, including where each student applied and those applications, lives in a separate Common App account. But integrated third-party programs can swap data with Common App accounts, allowing, for instance, guidance counselors and teachers to more easily submit transcripts and letters of recommendation.

“Core to our mission is championing those who support students,” Common App CEO Jenny Rickard said in the press release. “By providing a flexible and extensible integration service, we can help an even greater number of school counselors to scale their support for students as they navigate the college admission process.”

One of the platforms already integrated is Unifrog, which offers personality and interests quizzes, college search tools and space to draft application materials. High schools can pull every step of career advising into one place, beginning with students finding out what jobs might interest them. Students can draft their Common App essays within Unifrog and get feedback, while counselors can also track student admissions processes and applications using the platform.

Applicants using third-party career platforms at school need to actively link their Common App account because guidance counselors don’t automatically have log-in information for individual students. Typically, a pop-up will list what information the third-party app will receive, like the status and material on applications, and the student will need to accept, according to the Common App’s website.