> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://support.dabima.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://support.dabima.com/best-practices-students.md).
# Dabima Best Practices for Students
Welcome to Dabima - your source to search for colleges, build your perfect list, see all the work you need to do and actually do the work. Dabima is designed to support you and the people supporting you through this process.
This document summarizes some of the best practices for students to use Dabima specifically related to:
* Setting Your Preferences - personalize your college search and config
* Exploring Colleges
* Selecting and Adding Colleges
* Suggested Colleges
* My Colleges
* My Plan - Seeing Your Workplan
* My Plan - Doing Your Work
* My Locker
* Feedback & Announcements
* Notifications
* Resources
* Copying Activities List, Awards/Honors List and Personal Essays to the Common App
* How Dabima Handles Updating College Data
### Setting Your Preferences
Access your profile by selecting your initials in the upper right hand corner
Completing the Academic Profile, Financial Info, and Admissions & Community sections allows Dabima to customize your college search and provide:
* *My Chances* — likelihood of admission to a college (Likely, Target, or Reach). Takes into account acceptance rate, GPA (unweighted), SAT/ACT (scores and submission requirements), and coursework
* *Suitability* — college fit rating (A, B, or C)
* *Net Estimated Cost* — an estimate of what you will actually pay, helping you assess financial fit. Takes into account family income tier, loans and room and board.
You can also manage other profile information in this section including:
* *Google Account Link* — Dabima uses Google Docs to power essays, resumes, and other document-based features. If your Dabima login is not a Gmail account, or your school/organization is not configured as a Google organization, you’ll need to connect a Google account to use these features. Simply select Link under Google Account and sign in with your Google account.
* *Add your Cell Phone* — Add your mobile number to receive text alerts for college suggestions, essay comments, important deadlines, reminders, and other updates.
* *Set Your Address* — Make sure your address is up to date so Dabima can calculate the distance between your location and colleges you are exploring.
* *Add Team Members* — Invite team members to support you throughout the college application process. You can assign different roles, each with specific access permissions.
* *Parent/Guardian* - Full access to student content, except they can only suggest colleges and provide comments or suggestions on essays, resumes, activities, and honors.
* *Counselor/Advisor and Teacher* - Similar access to Parent/Guardian roles, but without access to financial information or net price estimate calculations.
* *Peer/Other* - Similar access to Counselor/Advisor and Teacher roles, but without access to academic information.
### Exploring Colleges
Select Explore Colleges from the left-hand menu. You can search by Name or by Attribute. Select Dabima Suggestions to pre-fill your preferences, and remember to scroll down when searching by attributes to see all available options.
How search filters work:
* Selecting multiple options within the same category (e.g. Big City and City under the Setting category) returns schools matching any of those options.
* Selecting options across different categories narrows results — schools must meet all category criteria simultaneously.
* So in the screenshot example, Dabima would show you colleges that are
* Part of LUCA Favorites
* Suitability of either A or B
* Proximity of Far
* Setting of either Big City of City
* Size of either Large or Mid-sized
Note: LUCA Favorites is an example of an optional custom filter set by the organization you are working with. Your organization may have different custom filters or none at all.
### Selecting and Adding Colleges
Interested in getting more details on a college? Simply tap the college to learn more.
Use the tabs to explore:
* Comparison of your profile against enrolled students at that college
* Net Estimated Cost — your estimated real cost after merit and financial aid
* Academic tab — programs offered, including accelerated medical, dental, and nursing tracks
* Work tab — a preview of what is required to apply
When you're ready, select Add to My Colleges or the + icon on the college card. You'll choose to Follow or Apply along with all the apply types available for that college (Regular, Early Action, Early Action II, Early Decision, Early Decision II, Rolling) and set your own target submission date. You can update your list at any time.
*Pro tip - if you are using your phone you can swipe right to add a college to your list and swipe left to remove a college from your list.*
### Suggested Colleges
Members of your support team — such as counselors — can suggest colleges for you to consider. When a suggestion is made, you'll receive an email and/or text notification (assuming you have notifications turned on in your profile). Select the link to review the suggestion and decide whether to add it to your list.
### My Colleges
My Colleges gives you a quick side-by-side view of all the colleges on your list, including deadlines, cost, size, setting, and more — making it easy to compare your options at a glance.
### My Plan - Seeing Your Workplan
Select My Plan to see all the tasks involved in your college journey. Your plan is organized around **the applications you're using**, plus any tasks that don't belong to a specific application.
#### My Applications
My Plan includes a My Applications section where you manage which application platforms you're using. Common App is on by default. From here you can also add:
* **UC** (University of California)
* **QuestBridge**
* **Cal State**
* **CUNY** (City University of New York)
A few things to note about how applications get added:
* When you add an application, you'll see all the tasks associated with that app appear in your plan.
* Some applications need to be added explicitly — QuestBridge is a good example of this.
* Others can be added explicitly or automatically. If you add a college to your list that only uses a specific app (for example, UCLA only uses UC), Dabima will add that application for you.
* If you're applying to a college that supports more than one application type we track (for example, a school that takes both Common App and QuestBridge), Dabima will ask which app you want to use for that college — but only if you've already told us you're applying via QuestBridge. Most students only use the Common App, so we only surface this choice when it's actually relevant to you.
**Application-Specific Sections**
Once you've added an application, a dedicated section appears in My Plan with the tasks tied to that app. For example:
* **Common App** — tasks shared across all your Common App schools, like your Personal Essay, Activities List, Awards/Honors List as well as optional tasks like an essay to share additional details or qualifications not reflected in the application?
* **QuestBridge** — QuestBridge-specific tasks, such as required essays (e.g. Biographical Most Influential Factors/Challenges), Short Answer Prompts, and Extracurricular/Honors forms specific to the QuestBridge application
* **UC** — UC-specific tasks, such as Personal Insight Questions, Award or Honor tracking, Educational Preparation Program, Extracurricular Activities, and Volunteer/Community Service
* **Cal State** and **CUNY** — tasks specific to those applications once added
#### General Tasks
Tasks that aren't tied to any specific application live in a separate **General Tasks** section. This includes things like:
* Resources on Financial Aid (FAFSA, CSS)
* Standardized Testing
* STARS (self-reported transcript reporting)
* Resume
#### Organization-Specific Tasks
If you're using Dabima through an organization — like a high school or community-based organization (CBO) — you may also see a custom tasks section with work assigned specifically by that organization. This could include things like:
* Brag Sheets
* Autobiographies
* Brainstorming exercises
* Deadline tasks associated with parts of the application process specific to your organization (e.g. complete part of your Common App by a defined date, have a first cut of your college list by a due date)
#### Section Order and Notable Items
My Plan displays sections in this order:
1. My Applications
2. Organization-specific custom tasks (only appears if your org has assigned custom tasks)
3. Common App
4. QuestBridge (only appears if you've added it)
5. CUNY
6. UC
7. Cal State
8. General Tasks
Things to note:
* Due dates and required tasks automatically adjust based on college requirements and your target dates. For example, if a college requires CSS and STARS, those common tasks automatically change from optional to required.
* The Common App Personal essay due date adjusts based on your target application submission date for a college assuming they use the Common App and the Personal Essay is required
* Completing a shared application tasks automatically updates statuses for all colleges that require it. This will be discussed in more detail in the **My Plan - Doing Your Work** section.
#### College Specific work
Dabima automatically adds colleges you are applying to (note colleges you are 'Following' are not added to your plan) to My Plan. The following details are tracked for each college:
* Deadline dates for each application type, plus your personal target date
* Average GPA and SAT/ACT scores
* Admit Rate — adjusted for your application type (e.g. Early Decision vs. Regular Decision) and location (e.g. in-state, out-of-state, domestic) where data is available
* Estimated Cost — based on in-state/out-of-state status and your financial questionnaire data
* Shared work requirements specific to that college based on the application type (personal essay, activity lists, PIQs, etc.)
* FAFSA — assumed required/accepted for all colleges
* CSS — flagged if the college requires the College Scholarship Service Profile
* Test Policy — Optional, Mandatory, or Blind
* Letters of Recommendation — requirements and notes
* Supplemental Essays — prompts, required/recommended/optional status, character limits, and links to the source. Note: sources linked to the Common App will only appear if that college has been added to your Common App account
* Other Work — portfolios, auditions, interviews, special projects, linked to the college's website
Dabima also tracks specific requirements for individual programs offered within a college. Examples would be:
* Applying to the Engineering school
* Applying to an Honors Program
* Applying for a BFA in Theatre
Requirements tracked include:
* Additional letters of Recommendation along with optional notes on any related requirements
* Standardized Test Policy requirements for that specific program along with optional notes (e.g. thresholds, etc.)
* Supplemental Essays along with prompts, if the essay is required, recommended or optional, character length, etc. Essays will link to the application source. Note: sources tied to the Common App will only appear if the college has been added to your Common App account and you have selected the relevant application options. For example, an additional essay prompt for a college’s engineering program will only appear if you indicated interest in applying to that engineering program within the application. If you have not set up the Common App correctly, these links may result in an error. Links may also reference the college website directly.
* Other Work including details on Portfolios, Auditions, Special Projects, Interviews, etc. Other work will link to the details often contained directly on the college’s website
### My Plan - Doing Your Work
Dabima not only shows you what to do — it provides tools to manage and share your essays, activity forms, honors/awards forms, resumes, and more.
#### Marking Tasks as Done/Skipped
Select the icon next to any task in My Plan to mark it as Done or Skipped. You can change the status at any time by selecting the Done or Skipped button again to unmark it.
#### Managing forms (e.g. Activities, Honors/Awards)
Select tasks such as the Activities List or Academic Honors & Awards List in the Common App section or Work Experience in the UC app to manage your information. Dabima saves a draft of your active changes. Select Edit to begin, then Save to keep your changes or Cancel to discard them.
* Team and org members have read-only access unless your counselor has explicit edit permission. They can provide feedback you may incorporate at your discretion.
* You can create as many activities as you like, though the shared application will have maximum limits (e.g. Common App supports a maximum of 10)
* Character limits are not enforced, but Dabima will visually indicate when you are over the limit.
#### Managing Essays
Dabima lets you create multiple versions of any essay, each linked to a specific applicaion prompt and college where applicable. Essays are automatically shared with your team.
* Do not upload essays directly. Instead, select the task (e.g. personal essay, supplemental essay) and create a new version. If you have already started writing elsewhere, copy and paste your content into Dabima after creating the version.
* Team members have ‘comment/suggest’ access by default. Organizations can grant counselors edit access if preferred.
* When opening essays, make sure your browser is logged into the Google account connected to your Dabima account. If you are logged into a different Google account, you will see a 'You need access' message.
#### Managing Resumes, Surveys, Questionnaires
Resumes, surveys, and questionnaires work like essays but open with a set template for you to fill in. Only one version of each is maintained in Dabima.
#### Hiding and Favoriting College Specific Programs
It is easy to hide or favorite specific college programs that you are or are not interested in.
* On desktop/laptop/tablet: select the Hide / Hide All link to hide a program, or the star icon to favorite it.
* On mobile: swipe right to favorite a program, swipe left to hide it.
#### Updating Application Status
Go to the college in My Plan and select the appropriate status category to update your application status at any time.
#### Managing Apply Type/Target Dates
Select your current apply type in My Plan and follow the menu options to change your application type or target date at any time.
#### Adding a College to the Common App
Select Add to Common App to open the Common App login page in a new tab. After signing in, the college will be added to your Common App list — provided you haven't yet reached the 20-college maximum.
### My Locker
My Locker gives you a central view of everything you are working on, regardless of which task or college it's associated with.
* Jump directly to any task or document
* Sort and filter by task type, status, or last modified date
* Customize the column layout to match your preferences
### Feedback & Announcements
This section centralizes all communication from your team in one place.
* Feedback is tied to a specific piece of work, such as an essay.
* Announcements are from your counselors — general updates and heads-ups about the process.
You can always request feedback from people on your team when you are working on a task. Just select the Request feedback button next to the version you want feeback on or the feedback tab on the right side of your screen and the request feedback icon:
### Notifications
Dabima keeps you in the loop with email and text notifications, as long as you haven't turned them off in your profile. Text notifications also require that you've added your cell phone number — see Setting Your Preferences for how to add it.
You'll receive a notification when:
* **Someone edits a collaborative document you're working on** — this applies to documents like essays, resumes, and other document-based work. You'll only be notified if you haven't made edits to that document since their last edit — if you're actively working on it, you won't be interrupted with a notification about someone else's changes until it's your turn to pick it back up.
* **Someone on your Dabima team sends you feedback or posts an announcement**
* **Someone suggests a college for you to consider**
* **A deadline is approaching** — deadline alerts may be turned on or off depending on your school or organization's preferences, so you may not see these depending on how your school or org has configured Dabima.
### Resources
Resources are available throughout Dabima and surface relevant guidance right where you need it — whether you're building your college list, writing your personal essay, or navigating financial aid. A dedicated Resources section also lets you browse and access all available materials in one place.
### Copy Activities, Awards/Honors & Personal Essay to Common App
Dabima's Chrome extension lets you automatically copy your Activities List, Honors/Awards List, and Personal Essay directly to the Common App, saving you time and reducing manual copy-paste errors.
Requirements
* Chrome browser on a desktop, laptop, or tablet (not supported on mobile)
* Must be logged into the Common App before using the extension
*How It Works*
Activities & Honors/Awards
Select the Common App Activities Page or Common App Honors Page button to navigate to the correct section of the Common App, then select Sync to Common App to replace your current Common App content with what Dabima has on file. A few things to keep in mind:
* Only the first 10 Activities and first 5 Honors/Awards items will be copied
* If any field exceeds the Common App character limit, Dabima will automatically truncate the content to fit
* Review your Common App after copying to confirm everything looks as expected
Personal Essay
Select the Common App Essays Page button to navigate to the correct section of the Common App. Dabima will display quick links to your essay versions — you will still need to copy and paste the content into the Common App essay field.
Visit the following link to install the Chrome extension:
### **When College Data Hasn't Been Updated for the Current Cycle**
Colleges update their application requirements and deadlines for each new admissions cycle, but that update doesn't happen everywhere at once. Sometimes a college (or a specific program within a college) hasn't published its updated requirements yet. Other times, Dabima is still in the process of refreshing its data for that school. Either way, you may see information from the prior cycle until the update is complete. You may notice this both while exploring colleges and once a college is on your plan.
**Requirements Notice**
If the requirements shown for a college are from the previous cycle, you'll see a message at the top of that college's page:
> *This school's requirements are from the 2025 - 2026 cycle. They haven't been updated for 2026 - 2027 yet, but expect them to be similar.*
This lets you know the essays, forms, and other requirements listed are based on last cycle's information. They're usually a reliable guide to what to expect, but they haven't been confirmed for the current cycle yet.
**Deadline Notice**
Deadlines work a little differently, since two separate dates are involved:
* **Your target date** — the date you're personally working toward. Dabima sets a default target date using current-cycle assumptions: the same month and day as last cycle's deadline, moved forward one year.
* **The official college deadline** — the actual deadline published by the college. This stays pinned to last cycle's date until Dabima confirms the college has published its current-cycle deadline.
When you go to set your target submission date for a school whose official deadline hasn't been updated yet, you'll see a warning like:
> *The 2025 - 2026 deadline was April 1, 2026*\
> *Expect the 2026 - 2027 deadline to be on a similar date*
You can still choose and adjust your own target date in the meantime — it just won't be validated against a confirmed current-cycle deadline until that data is updated.
**Automatic Updates**
You don't need to do anything to get the corrected information. Once a college announces its deadline for the current cycle and Dabima updates its data, the official deadline on that college's page will automatically update to reflect the new date — no action needed on your part.