<p>Can I have another essay there?</p>
<p>Of cuz you can</p>
<p>If they gave you a whole box to write any additional comments you have, it means more chance for you to show the admissions officers who you are and for them to learn more about you. It means a higher chance of getting in. Sure it’s optional, but it’d be wise to take advantage of the opportunity to write more, especially if other applicants don’t bother to write anything in the Additional Comments. You should utilize it in a way that tells something about you that they won’t already know from reading the rest of your UC application. It can help shed more light on your personality.
There are people who say not to treat the Additional Comments section as a place for a third essay because it will annoy the admissions officers since they will have to take time to read it, but I don’t think that’s true at all. It never hurts to present yourself more, and they won’t penalize you for making more effort and spending your time on something that’s supposedly “optional.”
I think the two paragraphs I wrote in the Additional Comments were what got me into UC Berkeley. (It’s interesting that I don’t think there’s a word limit in the Additional Comments box, but I’m not sure.) I wrote about how much I love being in orchestra and love learning Spanish, and I think it strengthened my UC application because it showed first of all that I can write pretty well (used some neat vocabulary) and also my passion and excitement for something. Again, some people will say not to just use the box to write about things you’re interested in or some random topic, but I did anyway. You can definitely take some creative liberty with the Additional Comments. It got me into four UCs, including UCLA. =)</p>
<p>I put another essay there too</p>