<p>My D is a senior, getting things together. We have reached a bit of an impasse about the "extra info" part of the Common App. </p>
<p>My younger son has dealt with mental illness for the past 10 years or so. He's switched schools several times, had multiple hospitalizations, seen a zillion specialists and therapists, had significant episodes of violence and destructive behavior. It has had a tremendous impact on my D and very much shaped who she is today.</p>
<p>I want her to include some information about the environment she's grown up in and how despite it she has performed beautifully. She's extremely independent, very sure of herself, capable and yet still compassionate and empathetic (usually LOL). She could have followed a very different path to seek/demand our attention but she went this route instead; we are very proud of her and I especially have enormous feelings of guilt for the stuff we COULD have done for her but for her brother's sucking up all our time, energy, money, etc.</p>
<p>She is reluctant to include anything like this on her app. She feels that striving to overachieve is who she is and not really a response to this dysfunctional environment, and that she still has many advantages other kids don't have. I feel that if she's being compared to her own HS class and other kids at her level, then the adcoms should have an idea that she did come through challenges and not just sail through life. </p>
<p>She absolutely refuses to write any essay about this subject matter. Says her GC can include a paragraph about her brother in the LOR. </p>
<p>Obviously I'm conflicted, not because I come out looking bad (which I probably did earn) but because I want her to have every possible bit of support on her side.</p>
<p>Any thoughts, comments, suggestions are appreciated.</p>
<p>The application is the student’s, not the parent’s, and it is the student who will live with the consequences of the decisions. While parents may offer advice, the final decision on what to submit should be the student’s. If the student says she is not comfortable writing about such an intensely personal and no doubt painful subject, I would not apply pressure on her to do so.</p>
<p>If she doesn’t want to include it, that’s fine.</p>
<p>She may feel that this is something that is just too personal to share or that it comes across as whining.</p>
<p>Lots of kids leave the “additional information” section blank or use it to provide straightforward information about something on their transcript that might raise a question, such as “I didn’t take the second semester of French IV because it met at the same time as BC Calculus.”</p>
<p>I had a similar issue with my son. He won, and still did very well in admissions. I’m still on your side, though, thinking that your D should present herself fully and to her best honest advantage. But it wasn’t my decision and isn’t yours. It sounds like she’s got it together pretty well, and if one of the LORs says something, that will probably be enough. It might be even better coming from an outside party!</p>
<p>My son used the Additional Info section to write another essay about a project he had done.</p>
<p>I agree with the other posters; if she does not want to talk about this, do not force her. Your daughter sounds like an outstanding young person! My kids used the extra information section to paste their resumes. Yes, it was redundant but it allowed them to explain their extracurriculars and it looked much nicer than the application form.</p>