Track your Common App students through an API

What you can build on the recommender system

• Get students and form status

  Build this

  Reads the Students section for every student who invited you, with each student's progress and the status of each of your forms.

  Takes

  Form status (optional)

  Returns

  Student name, application progress, form statuses

• Get a student's college requirements

  Build this

  Opens one student from the Students section and reads their college requirements and the status of their teacher recommendations.

  Takes

  Student name

  Returns

  College, required forms, form submission status, teacher recommendation status

• Export the college list for all students

  Build this

  Downloads the student data spreadsheet and reads its College List tab: every college each student added, with plans, deadlines and form statuses.

  Takes

  Nothing

  Returns

  Student name, college, decision plan, deadline, form requirements, submission statuses

• Upload a transcript and submit the school report

  Build this

  Opens a student from the Students section, uploads the transcript to their School report, completes the required fields and submits the form.

  Takes

  Student name, transcript PDF, answers to the required questions

  Returns

  Student name, form, status, submitted date

Automate the recommender system with a workflow

A workflow runs your methods as one process, with nobody at the screen. A schedule or a call from your own system starts it, the steps run in order, and the result arrives in your inbox or in the systems you already use.

• School forms due in the next two weeks

  Build this

  Starts

  Every weekday at 7:00

  Step 1

  Read the College List from the student data export.

  Step 2

  Keep the rows with a form not yet submitted and a deadline in the next 14 days.

  Step 3

  Email you the list, sorted by deadline.

• New students and colleges, sent to your student system

  Build this

  Starts

  Every Monday at 8:00

  Step 1

  Read the College List from the student data export.

  Step 2

  Keep the students and colleges that were not there on the last run.

  Step 3

  Post each new row, with decision plan and deadline, to your webhook.

• Teacher recommendations still missing

  Build this

  Starts

  Every Friday at 15:00

  Step 1

  Get every student who invited you.

  Step 2

  For each student, get their colleges and the status of their teacher recommendations.

  Step 3

  Keep the students with a teacher recommendation not yet submitted.

  Step 4

  Have an AI step group them by college and email you the summary.

You can run a workflow by hand on every plan, Free included. Schedules and webhook triggers come with the paid plans, from $29 a month.

Once built, one call from your code

Once you have built a method, it is one POST to /v1/runs from your backend, or a tool an AI agent calls over MCP. This is what “Get students and form status” would look like.

curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "recommend.commonapp.org/get_students_and_form_status",
    "input": {
      "form_status": "Not started"
    }
  }'

{
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "students": [
      {
        "name": "Jordan Ellis",
        "forms": {
          "School report": "Not started",
          "Counselor recommendation": "In progress"
        },
        "application_progress": "In progress"
      }
    ],
    "count": 1
  }
}

An example with invented data, not a ready-made endpoint. The method exists in your organization once you build it, and its name, inputs and fields follow your request.

The recommender system’s own options

Common App does not offer schools an API of their own. Schools that use one of its recommendation system partners, third-party platforms with a Common App integration, submit counselor and teacher forms from that platform. Everyone else works in the recommender system, which exports student data to Excel.

Read on November 12, 2026: Common App recommender system, Can I download application data for my students?, What is a recommendation system partner?.

Signing in to the recommender system

The recommender system signs you in with your email address and password, and an account exists only after a student invites you. Invitations sent before August 1 have to be sent again for the new cycle. With Fous you sign in once through the recommender system's own sign-in with your own account: the login is sealed with AES-256, and an expired session is signed back in.

Worth knowing

Unsubmitting a form has limits

You can unsubmit a school form only while no college on the student's list has downloaded it, and not while a later form, such as the mid-year report, is submitted.

Forms reach colleges after the student submits

School forms and recommendations reach colleges once the student submits their Common App, so a form you submitted can still be waiting on the student.

Data does not roll over

Student data does not carry into the next application cycle, and invitations sent before August 1 have to be sent again. Export your data before the system rolls over on August 1.

More in Education, research and nonprofit

• Slate
• Naviance
• National Student Clearinghouse secure site
• AQA Centre Services
• Edexcel Online
• FSA Partner Connect
• Submit learner data
• VA Enrollment Manager
• Sponsorship Management System
• Infinite Campus
• PowerSchool SIS
• EDOF
• Arbor MIS
• SLC HEP Services
• Parchment
• UCAS adviser portal
• Benevity Causes Portal

Other industries: CenterPoint Energy My Account, myCoke, Absa Access, Synchrony Business Center, SIPP Online, GST Portal.