Nonprofit platform connecting 1.1M+ students annually to 1,100+ colleges
Common App operates the de facto standard application portal for US higher education, processing applications from over 1 million students to more than 1,100 institutions each year. The tech stack—AWS infrastructure (Lambda, ECS, Fargate, SQS), Angular/TypeScript frontend, MySQL/DynamoDB persistence, plus Collibra and Alation for data governance—reflects a maturing data organization prioritizing compliance and integrity across a high-volume, mission-critical system. Current project focus on data governance working groups and enterprise information management signals internal investment in scaling their data infrastructure to match their public-facing scale.
Common App is a nonprofit organization providing the unified college application platform used by over 1,100 institutions in the United States and internationally. Founded in 1975, the organization has grown to serve as the central admissions hub for millions of students annually. The platform consolidates the application process—allowing students to submit a single application to multiple colleges—while operating under a governance model that includes member colleges and universities. Current priorities center on expanding access to underserved communities, strengthening data governance and compliance, and scaling adoption across their membership base.
Common App runs on AWS cloud infrastructure (Lambda, ECS, Fargate, SQS, CloudFront), uses Angular and TypeScript on the frontend, stores data in MySQL and DynamoDB, and implements Collibra and Alation for data governance and catalog management.
Common App is headquartered in Arlington, VA. The organization is currently hiring across engineering, data, marketing, and support roles in the United States.
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