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Common App Checklist Before You Submit
Drop your Common App PDF and supplements. Get every real problem, from a wrong college name to a typo, quoted with its location and fix.
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Final check · Cornell application · example
- Critical · Cornell supplement, paragraph 2: “join the Penn community” names another college
- Critical · Supplement 2 stops mid-sentence: “and that's when I”
- High · Activity 3 says “14 signed up”, your essay says “twenty kids”
- Medium · Personal essay, paragraph 4: “it's gears” should be “its gears”
- Formatting · Supplement 1: “don’t” where an apostrophe was pasted
What you'll get
Wrong college names, cut-off answers and mismatched numbers, caught before you submit
- Every real problem quoted exactly, with where it is and how to fix it
- The worst first: a wrong college name or a cut-off answer before a stray comma
- A corrected version of every flagged passage, ready to paste back in
Before and after
Your application in. A checklist of real problems out.
Common App preview PDF and two Cornell supplements. Activity 3 · Founder & Teacher, Coding Club, Elm Street Library: Started free Scratch coding club for middle schoolers at public library; 14 signed up in 1st yr. Personal essay, paragraph 3: …by October, twenty kids were crowding around four library laptops… Cornell supplement, paragraph 2: …That is why I can't wait to join the Penn community and keep teaching…
Final check Read: Common App preview PDF and two Cornell supplements. 5 issues: 2 critical, 1 high, 1 medium, 1 formatting. Fix before you submit ☐ Critical · Cornell supplement, paragraph 2: “join the Penn community”. Names another college. Fix: “join the Cornell community”. ☐ High · Activity 3 and personal essay, paragraph 3: “14 signed up” and “twenty kids”. The numbers disagree. Fix: use the true number in both. Which is it? Corrected passages Cornell supplement, paragraph 2: That is why I can't wait to join the Cornell community and keep teaching…
Every issue quotes your own words and says where they are. Facts River can't confirm become a question, never a guess.
Why it works
What should you check before you submit the Common App?
Check your application as one PDF, the way a college reads it. Once every required question is answered, Common App lets you preview the whole application as a PDF with a preview watermark, its help center explains. Save that PDF, add your supplement drafts and drop them here. River's final check reads everything together and writes a checklist of real problems, each quoted exactly with where it is and how to fix it, most serious first.
The worst mistakes are the ones a spell checker can't see. Think of another college's name left in a “why us” answer, an answer over its limit or cut off mid-sentence, the same story told in two essays, or numbers that differ between your activities and your essays. River also flags typos, grammar slips and symbols left behind by pasting. It points out empty optional sections worth using too, such as Additional information, which allows 300 words for first-year applicants.
The PDF won't show everything. Your Writing Supplement is reviewed and submitted separately after the Common App, so drop those answers in too and River checks them with the rest. Once you submit to a college, you can't change that application. When an answer runs long, the essay shortener cuts it in your voice. A “why us” answer that needs rebuilding goes to the why this college essay writer, and a thin activity to the activities list writer.
What lands in your doc
What your final check covers
- Another college's name, program or mascot caught in any answer meant for a different school
- Answers over their word or character limit, or cut off mid-sentence, with the exact count
- Numbers, dates and names that don't match between your activities, essays and supplements
- The same story told twice, so each answer a college reads shows them something new
- Typos, grammar slips and pasting damage quoted exactly, with the corrected sentence ready to paste
- Empty optional sections worth using, like Additional information, drafted only from your own facts
How it works
From your PDF to a clean application
Save your preview
Answer every required question, then open the PDF preview of your Common App and save it.
Drop everything in
Add the PDF and your supplement drafts, or paste your answers. Up to ten files at once.
Get your checklist
Every real problem lands in your doc, worst first, quoted exactly with its location and fix.
Fix and submit
Paste the corrected passages back in, preview the PDF once more, then submit to each college.
How to check your application yourself
Read it as a PDF, not in the boxes where you typed it. Answer every required question, open the preview and read it on a different screen from the one you wrote on, or print it. Read each answer aloud, slowly, because your ear catches missing words your eyes skip. Check that the last sentence of every answer is complete, since an answer trimmed to fit can end mid-thought. Then check that your paragraph breaks survived the trip into the application.
Next, search for names. For each college on your list, search your supplements for every other college's name, plus its mascot, town and best-known programs, because a reused “why us” answer is the classic slip. Then write down every number and date in your activities list and find each one in your essays to make sure they match. Do the same for people's names and job titles, which are easy to spell two different ways.
Finally, check limits and symbols. Count the words in your personal essay (650 at most) and Additional information (300 at most), and the characters in every activity box. Look for odd symbols where apostrophes or accents belong, which usually means text was pasted from another program. Ask one person who knows you and one who doesn't to read the whole PDF. Fix everything before your first submission, because a submitted application can't be edited.
Questions applicants ask
Common questions
How do I preview my Common App before submitting?
Answer every required question first. Common App then lets you preview the whole application as a PDF, marked with a watermark that only admission offices can print without, according to its help center. Save it and read it the way a college would. Some answers, such as test scores or date of birth, may be hidden on purpose because a college chose not to show them.
Why isn't my supplement in the Common App PDF preview?
Because the Writing Supplement is reviewed and submitted separately. Common App says you can review and submit it once the Common App itself has been submitted, so the preview can't catch a mistake in those answers. Paste or drop your supplement drafts along with the PDF, and River checks them too, including every college name in your “why us” answers.
Can I change my Common App after I submit?
Not for a college you have already submitted to. Common App says a submitted application can't be changed, and you would need to contact that college's admissions office to ask how to proceed. You can still edit your answers for colleges you haven't submitted to yet, which is why a final check pays off before the first submission.
What are the most common mistakes on a college application?
The costly ones are hard to spot in your own writing. They include the wrong college named in a “why us” answer, an answer cut off mid-sentence, numbers that differ between your activities and essays, and the same story told twice. Typos matter less but still count. River checks for all of these and lists them worst first.
Should I use the Additional information section?
Use it when something in your application needs context no other box gives, such as a drop in grades, a change of school or a family responsibility. First-year applicants get up to 300 words. It isn't a place for a second essay. If your files show a reason to use it, River drafts it from your own facts, with brackets for anything missing.
Is it safe to upload my Common App PDF?
What you upload stays in your own River workspace unless you share it. River's privacy policy says your documents aren't used to train AI models, and River's AI providers are bound by their agreements not to train on them either. The check reads only what you give it, so you can leave out any page you'd rather keep to yourself.
Your next step
More for your application
Read it once more before it's final
Drop your Common App PDF and supplements. River lists every real problem, worst first, with the fix.