Filling in the Common App from Ghana, section by section
Fill in the Common App's sections in order, using your names exactly as on your passport, your Ghanaian address as you would write it for post, and your school's details entered by hand if it is not listed. Report grades as recorded, never as a converted GPA. Add your recommenders early, waive your right to see their letters, and request a fee waiver if you need one. Check everything before your first submission.
How do I fill in the Common App from Ghana?
In order, one section at a time, with your documents beside you. The Common App's sections are the same for every student: profile, family, education, testing, activities and writing, then each university's own questions. A Ghanaian student fills them in the same way, with a few choices to get right.
Set aside a few evenings, not one night. Most of the Common App takes patience rather than skill, and careful answers now save corrections later.
What do I put in the profile?
Your personal details, exactly as on your passport. Three Ghana-specific points:
- Names. Enter your names in the same order and spelling as your passport. If you use a different name at school, the Common App lets you add a preferred name, but your legal name must match your passport.
- Address. Write your Ghanaian address as you would for post: house number and street if you have them, area, town and region. Include your GhanaPost GPS digital address in an address line if the form has no field for it.
- Citizenship. Choose Ghana, and answer the questions about any other citizenship honestly.
Use an email address you will check every day for a year, and that sounds professional. Universities will write to it.
What goes in the family section?
Details of your parents or guardians: who they are, whether they are living, their education and their occupation. Answer plainly. A parent who is a trader, a teacher or a farmer is described simply as that; there is no better or worse answer.
If you live with a guardian, a grandparent or one parent, say so. If a parent has died, the form allows for that. These answers also help aid offices understand your household later.
How do I enter my school if it is not listed?
Choose the option saying you cannot find your school, then enter its name, address and details by hand. Many Ghanaian SHSs have no College Board code, and universities still read applications from them without any problem.
Use the school's official name, the same as on your transcript. Your counsellor or headteacher will be linked to the school when you invite them as a recommender. Our guide to getting a transcript from a Ghanaian SHS covers what the school sends.
How do I report my grades and the WASSCE?
As your school and WAEC record them, never as a converted GPA. Leave the GPA field blank, or use your school's own scale if it has one. Choose "None" for class rank unless your school ranks.
Our guide to WASSCE grades on the Common App shows exactly where each grade goes, including results you are still waiting for.
What goes in the activities and writing sections?
Your activities list, your personal statement and, if you need it, an additional information note. Each has its own job:
- Activities: up to ten, each with a short description. Include work at home, a family business, church or mosque roles and caring for siblings, not only school clubs. Our guide to the Common App activities list shows how to write them.
- Personal statement: one essay, up to 650 words, sent to every university. Our guide to personal statement ideas helps you choose a topic.
- Additional information: optional, for context the rest of the form cannot hold. Use it for a change of school, a disrupted term, or circumstances at home that affected your studies. Keep it short and factual. Leave it blank if you have nothing of that kind to say.
Write the essays in a document first, then paste them in. The Common App can strip some formatting, so check the preview afterwards.
How do I add my recommenders?
Invite them early, from the "My Colleges" section, after you add your first university. You usually need:
- A counsellor: your college counsellor, or the headteacher or assistant head acting in that role.
- Two teachers, ideally from your final years and from subjects related to what you want to study.
Before you invite anyone, you will be asked whether you waive your right to see their letters later. Waive it. Colleges generally give more weight to confidential letters, and the right only applies after you enrol anyway. Our guide to asking for recommendations covers who to ask and how.
What about the fee waiver?
Request it in the profile section, if your family cannot pay application fees. For a Ghanaian student, the indicator that usually applies is a statement from a school official about your family's finances, which your counsellor or headteacher then confirms. Our guide to applying without application fees explains it.
What do I check before I submit?
Everything, once, slowly, before your first submission. Once you submit to a university, that version is final for that university. Read the preview PDF the Common App produces, and check:
- Your name, date of birth and passport details match your passport.
- Your school name and dates match your transcript.
- Every grade matches your terminal reports or WAEC results.
- Your activities read clearly, with no cut-off sentences.
- Your essays are the final versions, in the right boxes.
- The aid question is answered "yes" if your family needs aid.
Ask a parent or teacher to read the preview with you. A second pair of eyes catches what you have stopped seeing.
After each submission, save the PDF of what you sent, with the date, in your applications folder. If a university later asks about something in your application, or an interviewer refers to it, you will have the exact version in front of you.
What should I do first?
Create your Common App account this week, using your passport names and a reliable email. Fill in the profile and family sections, which need nothing but your documents. Then add your first university, so you can invite your recommenders.
If you would like someone to check your Common App with you before you submit, you can book a call with us.
Questions people ask
How do I fill in the Common App from Ghana?
Section by section: profile, family, education, testing, activities and writing, then each university's own questions. Use your passport names, your Ghanaian address in full, and your school's details. The process is the same as for any student, with a few Ghana-specific choices.
What if my school is not on the Common App?
Choose the option saying you cannot find your school, and enter its name, address and details yourself. Many Ghanaian schools have no College Board code, and universities still read applications from them without any problem.
Should I waive my right to see my recommendation letters?
Yes, in almost every case. Colleges generally give more weight to letters the student has not seen, and teachers write more freely. The right only applies after you enrol at a college anyway.
Can I change my Common App after submitting?
Most of it, for future submissions, but not what you already sent to a university. Once you submit to one university, that version is final for that university. Check carefully before your first submission.