Overview
This guide walks you through the complete document-sending workflow in BridgeU—from preparing your school and counselor information to uploading documents, completing Common App forms, sending documents, and tracking their status.
We'll also cover the two main sending methods available in BridgeU: Common App and Parchment.
Video Tutorial
Watch the full video tutorial below for a step-by-step walkthrough:
Step-by-Step Guide
1. Prepare Your School Report and School Profile
Before working on individual students, make sure your School Report and School Profile are complete and up to date.
Go to your name > School Settings > School Details. Review all information and save. Then upload your School Profile PDF (under 2 MB, unencrypted).
2. Understanding the Document Sending Page
Navigate to Documents to access your main workspace. Students are sorted by application deadlines, with the earliest appearing first. Status indicators show progress at a glance. You can also see if students have linked their Common App account.
Before preparing a student's documents, verify that the correct counselor is assigned to their file.
Open the student's profile and confirm the counselor is selected. Ensure your own counselor profile is complete with up-to-date contact information
From the student's Documents page, click Add Document and upload the transcript or other required files. Files must be under 2 MB and unencrypted. Then open the student's Common App School Report, fill in all required fields (marked with an asterisk), attach the transcript, and save.
There are two ways to collect recommendations through BridgeU:
Option 1: Teacher submits directly through BridgeU
Option 2: Counselor uploads a PDF on behalf of the recommender
Important reminder: Teacher recommendations need to be requested from students on BridgeU directly, rather than through Common App.
6. Sending and Tracking Common App Documents
Select the documents you want to send using checkboxes, review your selections carefully, and click Send.
Keep in mind that documents are only sent to universities once students submit their Common App application.
For Parchment, confirm the university accepts it, select the document and institution, review, and complete the sending process. Check delivery status after sending. Parchment provides a tracking ID for each submission—if a university can't find a document, provide the tracking ID to help them locate it.
Before sending documents, run through this quick checklist:
Ensure Common App and Parchment are enabled for your school
Understand the One and Done policy—avoid sending duplicate documents
Confirm your School Report and School Profile are complete and up to date
Ensure files are under 2 MB and unencrypted
Send recommendations through BridgeU, not directly through Common App
Verify counselor information is correct
Confirm students have added their universities
Taking a few minutes on these checks can prevent delays and submission issues.
If you have any questions, need further assistance or have some general feedback for us - we’d love to hear from you! Contact our Support team via Live Chat and by emailing hi@bridge-u.com.
You can also ask our BridgeU Community, a space exclusively for our BridgeU counsellors to ask questions, share insights, provide feedback and get help not just from BridgeU, but directly from other BridgeU counsellors.