Which Schools Use the Common App? The Rank-Ordered List (2025)
/The complete list of schools that use the Common App and schools that don’t, organized by ranking
READ ON FOR A LIST OF COMMON APP SCHOOLS
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Introduction
As your child begins the college search, she’ll be asked to write essays, submit test scores (e.g., ACT or SAT), supply demographic information, and more. Colleges differ from one another, and their application requirements vary. However, many colleges—including the nation’s most prestigious—require students to use the Common Application.
The Common Application, or “Common App,” is currently accepted by over 900 colleges and universities, according to the application’s official website. The goal of the Common App, which was founded over 40 years ago by fifteen institutions, is to make the college application process more streamlined, transparent, and equitable for prospective students. During the 2024–2025 application cycle up to March 1, 2025, 8.5 million applications were submitted by 1.4 million unique applicants using the Common App; an increase of 4% since 2023–2024.
Essentially, this means that your child doesn’t have to fill out ten wildly different college applications; instead, they can send the same application to any school that accepts it. They can write a main essay—the Common App Essay—complete a single Common App Activities section, and enter their demographic information.
There’s a caveat, though: many schools that accept the Common App still require supplemental application materials. Yale, Haverford College, and some SUNY schools, for example, require two additional supplemental college essays beyond the Common App.
In addition, while many schools accept the Common Application, some don’t. Prestigious universities, such as MIT and those in the University of California (UC) system, have their own applications.
Some schools have started accepting the Coalition Application instead of the Common App. The Coalition Application was founded in 2015 by a group of 140 schools (now including 170) “to improve the college application process for all students, particularly those from historically under-represented groups.” Many highly regarded public institutions, such as Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland, use the Coalition Application. Other schools, such as Princeton, accept the Coalition Application in addition to the Common App.
To help you and your child plan the application season, we’ve developed comprehensive lists of schools that accept the Common App and those that don’t. They’re ordered according to the 2025 U.S. News & World Report college rankings, and cross-checked with the Common App’s member search tool.
As we compiled the list below, we came away with a few key observations:
Colleges affiliated with the U.S. military tend not to accept the Common Application.
Religiously affiliated colleges and universities tend not to accept the Common Application.
Some public universities don’t accept the Common Application—and are likely to use the Coalition Application instead.
Some colleges with a more STEM or technical focus—like MIT—choose not to accept the Common Application.
Highly selective universities—Ivy League schools like Harvard and Cornell, for example—tend to accept the Common Application and other application types, like the Coalition application.
The majority of national universities and liberal arts colleges that are ranked in the top 100 by U.S. News (i.e., the schools listed below) accept the Common Application.
Need inspiration for your Common App personal statement? Click below for instant access to 25 full-length example essays including advanced breakdowns of why they resonate with admissions committees.
Gain instant access to 25 exclusive full-length examples covering all seven prompts, plus comprehensive analyses for each to help you craft stellar essays.
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List of schools that use the Common App (by ranking)
National universities
(Updated June 2025)
Yale University (5)
California Institute of Technology (Caltech) (6) (tie)
Duke University (6) (tie)
Johns Hopkins (6) (tie)
Northwestern University (6) (tie)
Cornell University (11) (tie)
University of Chicago (11) (tie)
Brown University (13) (tie)
Columbia University (13) (tie)
Dartmouth College (15) (tie)
Rice University (18) (tie)
University of Notre Dame (18) (tie)
Vanderbilt University (18) (tie)
Carnegie Mellon University (21) (tie)
University of Michigan—Ann Arbor (21) (tie)
Washington University in St. Louis (21) (tie)
Emory University Carnegie Mellon University (24) (tie)
University of Virginia (24) (tie)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (27) (tie)
University of Southern California (27) (tie)
New York University (30) (tie)
University of Florida (30) (tie)
University of Texas—Austin (30) (tie)
Georgia Institute of Technology (33) (tie)
University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign (33) (tie)
Boston College (37) (tie)
Tufts University (37) (tie)
University of Wisconsin—Madison (39) (tie)
Boston University (41) (tie)
The Ohio State University (41) (tie)
University of Maryland–College Park (44) (tie)
University of Rochester (44) (tie)
Lehigh University (46) (tie)
Purdue University–West Lafayette (46) (tie)
University of Georgia (46) (tie)
Wake Forest University (46) (tie)
Case Western Reserve University (51) (tie)
Virginia Tech (51) (tie)
Florida State University (54) (tie)
Northeastern University (54) (tie)
University of Minnesota–Twin Cities (54) (tie)
William & Mary (54) (tie)
North Carolina State University—Raleigh (58) (tie)
Stony Brook University—SUNY (58) (tie)
University of Massachusetts–Amherst (58 (tie)
Villanova University (58) (tie)
Brandeis University (63) (tie)
George Washington University (63) (tie)
Michigan State University (63) (tie)
Pennsylvania State University—University Park (63) (tie)
Santa Clara University (63) (tie)
Tulane University (63) (tie)
University of Miami (63) (tie)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (70) (tie)
University of Connecticut (70) (tie)
University of Pittsburgh (70) (tie)
Binghamton University—SUNY (73) (tie)
Indiana University—Bloomington (73) (tie)
Syracuse University (73) (tie)
Colorado School of Mines (76) (tie)
Stevens Institute of Technology (76) (tie)
University at Buffalo—SUNY (76) (tie)
Clemson University (80 (tie)
Pepperdine University (80) (tie)
University of Illinois Chicago (80) (tie)
New Jersey Institute of Technology (84) (tie)
Howard University (86) (tie)
Marquette University (86) (tie)
University of Delaware (86) (tie)
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (86) (tie)
American University (91) (tie)
Baylor University (91) (tie)
Fordham University (91) (tie)
Loyola Marymount University (91) (tie)
Southern Methodist University (91) (tie)
University of South Florida (91) (tie)
Gonzaga University (98) (tie)
University of Colorado–Boulder (98) (tie)
University of Iowa (98) (tie)
Auburn University (105) (tie)
Texas Christian University (105) (tie)
Elon University (133) (tie)
Clark University (142) (tie)
Liberal arts colleges
(Updated June 2025)
Williams College (1)
Amherst College (2)
Swarthmore College (3) (tie)
Bowdoin College (5) (tie)
Pomona College (5) (tie)
Wellesley College (7) (tie)
Carleton College (8) (tie)
Claremont McKenna College (8) (tie)
Harvey Mudd College (12) (tie)
Vassar College (12) (tie)
Barnard College (14) (tie)
Davidson College (14) (tie)
Wesleyan University (14) (tie)
Smith College (14) (tie)
Hamilton College (14) (tie)
Grinnell College (19) (tie)
Middlebury College (19) (tie)
Washington and Lee University (19) (tie)
Colgate University (22) (tie)
University of Richmond (22) (tie)
Haverford College (24)
Colby College (25)
Bates College (26) (tie)
Macalester College (26) (tie)
College of the Holy Cross (28)
Bryn Mawr College (29) (tie)
Colorado College (29) (tie)
Bucknell University (31) (tie)
Franklin and Marshall College (31) (tie)
Lafayette College (31) (tie)
Mount Holyoke College (34) (tie)
Occidental College (34) (tie)
Denison University (36) (tie)
Pitzer College (36) (tie)
Skidmore College (36) (tie)
Trinity College (36) (tie)
Spelman College (40) (tie)
Trinity University (40) (tie)
Union College (40) (tie)
Scripps College (44)
Dickinson College (45) (tie)
Furman University (45) (tie)
Kenyon College (45) (tie)
Soka University of America (45) (tie)
The University of the South (Sewanee) (45) (tie)
DePauw University (50) (tie)
Hillsdale College (50) (tie)
St. Olaf College (50) (tie)
Wheaton College (IL) (53) (tie)
Whitman College (53) (tie)
Connecticut College (55) (tie)
Gettysburg College (55) (tie)
Oberlin College (55) (tie)
Wabash College (55) (tie)
Centre College (59) (tie)
Rhodes College (59) (tie)
St. Lawrence University (59) (tie)
Agnes Scott College (63) (tie)
Reed College (63) (tie)
Thomas Aquinas College (63) (tie)
Gustavus Adolphus College (66) (tie)
Principia College (66) (tie)
Wofford College (66) (tie)
Lawrence University (69) (tie)
Bard College (71) (tie)
College of St. Benedict (71) (tie)
Muhlenberg College (71) (tie)
Earlham College (74) (tie)
Hobart and William Smith Colleges (74) (tie)
Wheaton College (MA) (74) (tie)
College of Wooster (77) (tie)
Lake Forest College (77) (tie)
Willamette University (77) (tie)
Allegheny College (80) (tie)
St Johns University (MN) (80) (tie)
St. Mary's College of Maryland (80) (tie)
Knox College (83) (tie)
Southwestern University (83) (tie)
St. John's College (MD) (83) (tie)
Stonehill College (83) (tie)
Ursinus College (83) (tie)
Juniata College (90) (tie)
Washington and Jefferson College (90) (tie)
Beloit College (95) (tie)
University of Puget Sound (95) (tie)
Washington College (95) (tie)
Augustana College (100) (tie)
Hampden-Sydney College (103) (tie)
Lewis & Clark College (103) (tie)
Sarah Lawrence College (108) (tie)
Bennington College (114) (tie)
St. John's College (NM) (114) (tie)
New College of Florida (122) (tie)
Cornell College (132) (tie)
Need inspiration for your Common App personal statement? Click below for instant access to 25 full-length example essays including advanced breakdowns of why they resonate with admissions committees.
Gain instant access to 25 exclusive full-length examples covering all seven prompts, plus comprehensive analyses for each to help you craft stellar essays.
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List of schools that do not use the Common App (by ranking)
National universities
(Updated June 2025)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (2)
University of California system (various)
Georgetown University (24) (tie)
University of Washington (46) (tie)
Rutgers University—New Brunswick (41) (tie)
Texas A&M University–College Station (51) (tie)
Yeshiva University (98) (tie)
Brigham Young University—Provo (109) (tie)
Liberal arts colleges
(Updated June 2025)
United States Naval Academy (4)
United States Air Force Academy (8) (tie)
United States Military Academy (West Point) (8) (tie)
Berea College (40) (tie)
Virginia Military Institute (59) (tie)
About the Author
Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and one of the world's foremost experts on college admissions. For nearly 20 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into top programs like Harvard, Stanford, and MIT using his exclusive approach.
