Common Application first-year SDS data feeds begin in mid-August.

Changes to the Common Application will be reflected in the data feeds for the 2023-24 application year. While the changes are not numerous enough to warrant a new source format, the Common Application will be making some changes as described in 2023-2024 First-year Preview Data Catalog Companion Guide document.  

In preparation for the data feeds that will begin, we will update all existing CommonApp source formats to inactivate the remap settings and update the Remap As Of Date. Until the first file is received, the remap settings will appear blank. The mappings will appear with the same mappings from last year once a file is uploaded. At that time you can update your remap settings, including making any desired changes and also updating any year-specific items, such as application round and entry term. Once you have updated and confirmed your mappings for this year, you can go into the Source Formats tool to update the Remap Active setting to "Active." Once this is done, all files received on will import using those settings. For testing purposes, we recommend make all changes in production, and then refresh your test environment and activate the source format there. If the records and data were created as expected, then activate the source formats in production. Please note: documents will not be imported into the test environment.

2023-24 First-Year application changes

New option in the 'Sex' choice group

The Common App is adding an 'X or another legal sex' option to the 'Sex' choice group. Currently, the allowed values for Sex are 'Male' and 'Female'. 

There will be no changes to the Standard sex prompt options in Slate.   The Sex prompts in Slate can be customized by adding 'X or another legal sex' or other values.  Information and instructions on adding additional Sex prompt options in the Customizing Standard Fields and Prompts article.

Race data

The Common Application will continue to send race data for all schools using the Common App SDS process and the Slate automated process.  

Our recommendation is to lock down the fields in Slate (via the permission setting), as race and other sensitive information may arrive from any number of data sources, including existing prospect records where this information had been captured previously or where the student is re-applying.

Permissions can be set on a source format to prevent users from displaying the contents of files loaded from these sources. The race mappings can also be updated to un-map race/ethnicity.  Setting the permissions on the source format is a good way to keep this information inaccessible to most users.

Schools can request that the Common App exclude the race on the PDFs.