Common App Courses and Grades: Which Colleges Require It for Fall 2026

The 2026–2027 Common App opened on August 1, and most of the attention, as usual, went to essay prompts and the renamed Activities and Experiences section. But a quieter requirement costs families an unbudgeted hour every fall: Courses and Grades, the section that asks students to recreate their entire high school transcript inside the application, course by course, grade by grade.

As of August 2, 2026, 81 colleges, universities, and programs on the Common App require it. The list includes Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, Purdue University, Amherst College, and a long roster of public flagships and international universities. The full list appears below. If even one school on your student's list requires Courses & Grades, the section activates for that school, and it is not a five-minute task.

What the Courses and Grades section actually asks for

Courses & Grades is a self-reported transcript. Students enter every course they took in grades 9 through 11, the exact course title as it appears on the transcript, the level (honors, AP, IB, dual enrollment), the grading scale their school uses, and the grade they earned in each term. Current senior-year courses are handled separately: every applicant lists them when completing the Education page of the Common App, so Courses & Grades covers the completed record.

The operative word is exact. Colleges use this data to recalculate GPA on their own scale, so they want the transcript transcribed, not interpreted. That means no converting letter grades to numbers, no averaging semester grades into a year grade unless the transcript itself does, and no quietly upgrading "Intro to Chem" to "Chemistry Honors." The University of Minnesota's guidance is representative: report everything exactly as written, keep an unofficial transcript in hand while you work, and budget 45 to 60 minutes for careful entry.

That time estimate assumes a clean, standard transcript. Students who changed high schools, took summer courses, or carry dual-enrollment credit from a local college should plan for longer, because every institution attended gets its own entry.

Why do colleges require the Courses and Grades section?

It's a fair question. The counselor still sends an official transcript for most of these schools, and colleges reserve the right to check the record against it before a student enrolls. So why the duplication?

Speed and standardization. A self-reported transcript arrives the moment the student submits, in a uniform digital format, while official transcripts trickle in on the counselor's timeline in hundreds of different layouts. For large public universities processing tens of thousands of applications, structured course data lets them recalculate a core-academic GPA (one built from academic courses only, with electives stripped out) immediately instead of waiting on documents.

Verification has teeth. Colleges compare the self-reported record against the official transcript, and Minnesota states plainly that it reserves the right to cancel enrollment for students who misrepresented their academic record. Nobody rescinds an admission over an honest typo. But a pattern of inflated grades or omitted courses is treated as misrepresentation, not sloppiness. The section rewards students who are meticulous and punishes students who work from memory.

Courses and Grades is not the STARS

Families often lump these together, and the confusion costs students time. Courses & Grades lives inside the Common App itself; it exists only for Common App colleges that require it, and it travels with the rest of the application when the student hits submit.

STARS, the Self-reported Transcript and Academic Record System (formerly known as the SSAR or SRAR) is a different animal: a standalone platform on its own website used by a separate set of universities including most of Florida's public institutions. A student applying to Purdue University through the Common App and to the University of Florida through its own application will self-report the same transcript twice, in two different systems, under two different sets of formatting rules. Completing one does not satisfy the other.

We've covered the STARS side of this in depth, including the complete 2026–2027 list of colleges that require STARS, and our free STARS/SSAR tutorial workshop walks through that platform screen by screen. This article stays with the Common App version.

How to complete Courses and Grades without creating problems

Over the years, I've watched this section produce more avoidable errors than almost any other part of the Common App, mostly because students start it the night before a deadline. The fix is procedural, not intellectual:

• Request an unofficial transcript from the school counselor before touching the section, and enter from the document, never from memory

• Match course titles character for character, including abbreviations the high school uses

• Report the grading scale the transcript shows, even if it seems unusual; colleges know how to read it

• Enter each high school or college attended separately, including summer programs that issued their own transcript. Note: make sure each high school and college is listed in the Education section of the Common App

• Have a parent or counselor proofread the finished section against the transcript before submission

The section also becomes required only for schools that ask for it. Each college's requirements are shown inside the application, and students should confirm them there rather than assuming, because a late addition to the college list in October can suddenly activate an hour of data entry nobody budgeted for. This is exactly the kind of detail we verify line by line in JRA's two-hour Common App review before a student hits submit.

The 81 colleges that require Courses and Grades for Fall 2026

The list below was verified against the Common Application website on August 2, 2026. Requirements change every cycle, and occasionally mid-cycle, so use your browser's find-on-page function to check the schools on your student's list, then confirm inside the application itself.

A few patterns stand out before you scan it. Arizona's public universities appear as a bloc, alongside flagships such as the University of Washington, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, and the University of Oregon. Nearly two dozen United Kingdom universities appear as well; institutions abroad generally lack a direct pipeline for American counselor documents, so self-reported records fill the gap. And the presence of Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, and Amherst College confirms this is not a requirement reserved for large-volume public admissions offices.

United States institutions

• Allen University (SC)

• Amherst College (MA)

• Andrews University (IN)

• Arizona State University (AZ)

• Ave Maria University (FL)

• Baker College (MI)

• Bethel University (TN)

• Brescia University (KY)

• Carl Sandburg College (IL)

• Carnegie Mellon University (PA)

• East Texas Baptist University (TX)

• Elizabeth City State University (NC)

• Eureka College (IL)

• Goshen College (IN)

• Hampton University (VA)

• Jack Kent Cooke Foundation (scholarship program)

• Kettering University (MI)

• Life University (GA)

• Lincoln University of Pennsylvania (PA)

• List College, The Jewish Theological Seminary (NY)

• Loyola Marymount University (CA)

• Manor College (PA)

• McDaniel College (MD)

• McKendree University (IL)

• Methodist University (NC)

• Midway University (KY)

• Milligan University (TN)

• Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (WI)

• Minerva University (CA)

• Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MN)

• Mississippi Valley State University (MS)

• Montreat College (NC)

• Morehouse College (GA)

• Newberry College (SC)

• North American University (TX)

• Northern Arizona University (AZ)

• Oklahoma Baptist University (OK)

• Oregon Institute of Technology (OR)

• Prescott College (AZ)

• Purdue University (IN)

• Reinhardt University (GA)

• Ripon College (WI)

• Saint John's College (MD)

• Saint Vincent College (PA)

• Sattler College (MA)

• South Carolina State University (SC)

• Springfield College (MA)

• Stanford University (CA)

• Sweet Briar College (VA)

• University of Alaska Fairbanks (AK)

• University of Arizona (AZ)

• University of Charleston (WV)

• University of Minnesota Twin Cities (MN)

• University of Missouri–Kansas City (MO)

• University of New Mexico (NM)

• University of Oregon (OR)

• University of Washington (Seattle and Tacoma campuses) (WA)

• University of Wisconsin–Madison (WI)

• Xavier University of Louisiana (LA)

International institutions

• American University in Cairo (Egypt)

• Anatolia American University (Greece)

• Bishop's University (Canada)

• Brunel University London (United Kingdom)

• Edinburgh Napier University (United Kingdom)

• EHL Hospitality Business School (Switzerland)

• ESCP Business School (France)

• Franklin University Switzerland (Switzerland)

• Leeds Beckett University (United Kingdom)

• Shanghai Jiao Tong University Global College (China)

• Taejae University (South Korea)

• Ulster University (United Kingdom)

• University of Aberdeen (United Kingdom)

• University of Dundee (United Kingdom)

• University of Glasgow (United Kingdom)

• University of Guelph (Canada)

• University of Limerick (Ireland)

• University of Roehampton (United Kingdom)

• University of Strathclyde (United Kingdom)

• University of the Highlands and Islands (United Kingdom)

• University of the West of England (United Kingdom)

• University of Worcester (United Kingdom)

What families should do this month

For rising seniors, the sequencing is simple. Finalize the working college list, check which schools on it require Courses & Grades, and request the unofficial transcript from the counselor now, while counseling offices are quiet. Complete the section in one careful sitting in August or early September, before essay season consumes every available hour. Students building their lists with our college guidance team do this transcript work weeks before the first deadline, precisely so October belongs to essays rather than data entry.

The Courses & Grades section is not a place to gain an advantage. It is a place to avoid an unforced error. Accuracy, done early, is the entire strategy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Courses & Grades section on the Common App?

It is a self-reported transcript inside the Common App, required by 81 colleges and programs for Fall 2026 as of August 2026. Students enter every course, level, grading scale, and grade from grades 9–11 exactly as they appear on the official high school transcript; current senior-year courses are listed separately on the Education page. Colleges use it to recalculate GPA without waiting for official documents.

Do I still need to send an official transcript if I complete Courses & Grades?

In most cases, yes. Counselors still submit official transcripts for the majority of these colleges, and colleges reserve the right to verify the self-reported record before enrollment. A few, like the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, skip the transcript during application review and collect the official copy only after a student is admitted and decides to enroll.

What happens if my Courses & Grades entries don't match my transcript?

Colleges compare the two, and deliberate misrepresentation can cost you your admission. The University of Minnesota, for example, reserves the right to cancel enrollment for students who misrepresented their academic record. An honest typo won't sink an application, but inflated grades or omitted courses can. Enter data directly from an unofficial transcript, never from memory.

Should I fill out Courses & Grades if none of my colleges require it?

No. The section becomes required only for colleges that ask for it, and there is no advantage to volunteering the information otherwise. Spend that hour on essays or the activities list instead. If you add a college later in the fall, recheck your requirements, because the section can become required mid-process.

How long does the Courses & Grades section take?

Plan on 45 to 60 minutes for a student with one high school and a standard transcript. Students with multiple schools, summer coursework, or dual-enrollment credit should budget more, since each institution attended is entered separately. The work goes fastest in one sitting with the unofficial transcript printed and beside the keyboard.

JRA Educational Consulting helps families manage every stage of the admissions process – from building the college list and completing the Common App to essay strategy and final decisions. To learn more, visit jraeducationalconsulting.com.