# Track your Common App students through an API > Build methods that read your students, their college lists, deadlines and form statuses from the Common App recommender system, one API call each. Or have a workflow read your College List each weekday morning and email you the forms due within 14 days. Page: https://fous.com/automate/common-app-for-recommenders Updated: 2026-11-12 Works with your own Common App for Recommenders account. Fous is an independent product. ## What you can build on the recommender system ### Get students and form status 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 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 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 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](/product/workflows) 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 Starts: Every weekday at 7:00 1. Read the College List from the student data export. 2. Keep the rows with a form not yet submitted and a deadline in the next 14 days. 3. Email you the list, sorted by deadline. ### New students and colleges, sent to your student system Starts: Every Monday at 8:00 1. Read the College List from the student data export. 2. Keep the students and colleges that were not there on the last run. 3. Post each new row, with decision plan and deadline, to your webhook. ### Teacher recommendations still missing Starts: Every Friday at 15:00 1. Get every student who invited you. 2. For each student, get their colleges and the status of their teacher recommendations. 3. Keep the students with a teacher recommendation not yet submitted. 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](/product/methods), 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. Example request: ``` 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" } }' ``` Example response: ``` { "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. | Option | What it covers | What it takes | | --- | --- | --- | | Recommendation system partners | Counselor and teacher forms are requested and submitted in the partner's platform, and colleges receive them as regular Common App forms. | Your school uses a partner platform. Students pick its CEEB code, sign the FERPA waiver and match their accounts in the partner. | | Excel export | Your student data as a spreadsheet, with a College List tab of colleges, decision plans, deadlines, form requirements and submission statuses. | A counselor or advisor account, from the download icon on the My students tab. Student data does not roll over to the next cycle. | | The recommender system by hand | Students, Profile and Resources: track students, download the Requirements Grid and submit school forms and transcripts. | A recommender account, created after a student invites you. | Read on November 12, 2026: [Common App recommender system](https://www.commonapp.org/counselors-and-recommenders/recommender-system), [Can I download application data for my students?](https://recsupport.commonapp.org/s/article/Can-I-download-application-data-for-my-students), [What is a recommendation system partner?](https://recsupport.commonapp.org/s/article/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](https://fous.com/automate/slate.md) - [Naviance](https://fous.com/automate/naviance.md) - [National Student Clearinghouse secure site](https://fous.com/automate/national-student-clearinghouse-secure-site.md) - [AQA Centre Services](https://fous.com/automate/aqa-centre-services.md) - [Edexcel Online](https://fous.com/automate/edexcel-online.md) - [FSA Partner Connect](https://fous.com/automate/fsa-partner-connect.md) - [Submit learner data](https://fous.com/automate/submit-learner-data.md) - [VA Enrollment Manager](https://fous.com/automate/va-enrollment-manager.md) - [Sponsorship Management System](https://fous.com/automate/sponsorship-management-system.md) - [Infinite Campus](https://fous.com/automate/infinite-campus.md) - [PowerSchool SIS](https://fous.com/automate/powerschool-sis.md) - [EDOF](https://fous.com/automate/edof.md) - [Arbor MIS](https://fous.com/automate/arbor-mis.md) - [SLC HEP Services](https://fous.com/automate/slc-hep-services.md) - [Parchment](https://fous.com/automate/parchment.md) - [UCAS adviser portal](https://fous.com/automate/ucas-adviser-portal.md) - [Benevity Causes Portal](https://fous.com/automate/benevity-causes-portal.md) Other industries: [CenterPoint Energy My Account](/automate/centerpoint-energy-my-account), [myCoke](/automate/mycoke), [Absa Access](/automate/absa-access), [Synchrony Business Center](/automate/synchrony-business-center), [SIPP Online](/automate/sipp-online), [GST Portal](/automate/gst-portal). ## Frequently asked questions ### Does Common App for Recommenders have an API? No, not for schools. Common App works with recommendation system partners, third-party platforms with a Common App integration, and counselors and teachers at those schools submit forms through the partner. Other schools use the recommender system itself, which exports student data to Excel. ### Can I export my students' college lists from Common App? Yes. Counselors and advisors can download their student data as an Excel spreadsheet. Its College List tab has every college students added, decision plans and deadlines, form requirements and submission statuses. ### Can I change a school report after I submit it? Only until a college downloads it. You can unsubmit it while no college on the student's list has downloaded it and no later form, such as the mid-year report, is submitted. ### Why can I not see a student in the recommender system? You see only students who have invited you. A recommender account starts with a student's invitation, and invitations sent before August 1 have to be sent again for the new cycle. ### Is Fous affiliated with Common App? No. Fous is an independent product. You use it with your own recommender system account, and a method reads and does only what that account can. Fous is an independent product: it is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the operator of Common App for Recommenders (Common App). The name is used only to say which system this page is about. Something here wrong or out of date? Write to legal@fous.com.