A Free Guide to the Common App: The AXS Companion
By info@dolphinparents.com · October 21, 2026
Who it’s for: Students in grades 11–12 applying through the Common App, plus their parents and counselors.
When to use it: August through January of senior year. The Common App opens August 1, early deadlines fall in November, and most regular deadlines land in early January. Juniors can preview the videos in May–July to get a head start.
The Common App is how most students apply to college, and it has a lot of parts. Test scores, activities, courses and grades, essays, a list of colleges. If you’ve never filled one out, it’s hard to know where to start.
Many students don’t get much one-on-one help with it, either. School counselors often have hundreds of students each. First-generation students feel this the most, because there’s no one at home who has done it before.
That’s why we want to point you to the AXS Companion. It’s a free online guide that walks students through the Common App, one section at a time.
What the AXS Companion is
The AXS Companion was built by volunteer counselors from the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), working with Oregon State University Ecampus. It launched in 2022 at the national NACAC conference, held that year here in Houston. It’s supported by The AXS Foundation, a nonprofit that keeps it up to date as the Common App changes.
It includes more than 70 narrated videos, plus guides from college admissions experts. Topics include:
- An overview of college admissions
- Submitting test scores
- Filling out the activities list
- Writing the personal essay
- Entering courses and grades
- Using the My Colleges section
- Financial aid, with videos in English and Spanish
A few things we like about it:
- It’s free. No cost, no trial, no upsell.
- No sign-in. Students don’t create an account, and the site doesn’t track them.
- It’s trusted. NACAC, the national association for college admission counseling, lists it as a trusted source.
How to use this Common App guide
There are two ways to use the AXS Companion.
Go start to finish. Open the Common App in one window and the AXS Companion in another. Watch each video, then fill in that section. This works well for seniors starting their application this fall.
Drop in when you’re stuck. Only need help with the activities list or the essay? Go straight to that module. Each one stands on its own.
Parents, watch with your student. You don’t need to know the Common App to help. Watching a video together gives you the same starting point, so you can talk about it at the kitchen table. The financial aid videos are especially worth watching together.
Counselors and advisors: the same team runs the AXS Toolbox, a free set of lesson plans, slides, and student worksheets built around the AXS Companion. It’s useful for group sessions and workshops.
Put it in your plan
The AXS Companion shows you how to fill out each part of the Common App. A plan helps you actually get each part done, on time.
If you use DolphinParents, here’s a simple way to combine the two:
- Add a task for each Common App section: activities, essay, courses and grades, and so on.
- Paste the matching AXS Companion link into the task’s notes.
- Give each task a due date that works back from your application deadlines.
Or skip the typing: AskDolphins.ai in one sentence, and it creates the task with the due date and link for you.
Now your student knows what to do next and where to get help with it, and parents and counselors can see progress along the way.
Not on DolphinParents yet? It’s free (Basic package) for families. Sign up at dolphinparents.com.
We aren’t affiliated with The AXS Foundation. We just think it’s one of the best free resources out there.