By Olivia Dai ’26, Editor-in-Chief

Summer has ended, and for seniors, that can only mean one thing: COLLEGE APPLICATIONS. After suffering years of sleepless nights, caffeinated mornings, and crying in the bathroom, the time has arrived for you to escape from high school. For those looking to stand out in their applications, the Uncommon App is the one for you.

Unlike the boring Common App, which has generic personal prompts and lukewarm options to choose from, the Uncommon App is specially curated to truly get to know you as a person. It offers handcrafted, beautiful, bespoke essay prompts such as:

• If you could become any object in your school, what would it be?
• What is the most creative way you have avoided social interaction?
• What was your most iconic academic downfall?

You could also write about your real hobbies in our extracurricular activities (like sleeping). For example, you can describe the 3,000 hobbies you discovered while procrastinating for your English essay or respectable jobs such as being the self-appointed social media manager for TikTok (8hrs/week, unpaid). We want to know what you do outside of school!

We require three letters of recommendation: one from your pet fish (who has witnessed all stages of your grief), your Starbucks barista (who has your order ingrained into their soul), and your bus driver (who knows all the tea and is your second best friend).

Finally, we do not require you to submit an ACT or SAT score. Instead, you will have to take

standardized tests like the VIBE test, which includes:

• Parallel parking while giving a TEDx talk on why school should start later.
• A rap battle on Greek philosophy against your test proctor.
• Singing an entire Taylor Swift song without getting caught in class.

When you are ready, just place all your papers in an envelope and attach it to the nearest pigeon, or throw it into the void, or upload it to the cloud (if you can reach it). Don’t worry, we will receive it eventually — good luck to all who apply!