<p>The Common App (on "Education") reads: If your education was or will be interrupted, please check all that apply.</p>
<p>Click here if you: did not/will not graduate
Click here if you: did/will graduate early
Click here if you: did/will graduate late
Click here if you: did/will change secondary schools
Click here if you: did/will take time off
Click here if you: did/will take gap year
Click here if you: did/will receive GED </p>
<p>Now, I moved to a different school during my sophomore year, so naturally I checked off did/will change secondary schools. The Common App then proceeds: Provide details on the item(s) checked above. To upload a document in response to this question, please click the 'Upload Document' button. If your upload is successful, you will see a 'View Document' button and a 'Delete Document' button appear. </p>
<p>So...is this another opportunity for an essay, or what?</p>
<p>That’s where you explain the reasons and/or consequences of what happened. If it’s nothing interesting either way, don’t feel obligated to write an essay. If, however, it was because of financial hardship and adversely affected your extracurricular activities or even grades, then you might want to write about that.</p>
<p>Alright, so if it is something interesting/something I need to talk about, it doesn’t have to be an anecdotal essay, does it? I’m assuming a succinct explanation will do?</p>
<p>Also, what if you have to explain something else? Would it be included in the same word document or what…</p>
<p>In my case, I have to explain the unusual circumstances of my move, but I also need to find somewhere on my application to note that the only reason I’m not continuing French in my senior year is because the French program was cut - but I’m doing a noncredit-bearing class via my school’s Continuing Education program (similar to how you’d take a Driver’s Ed class after-school).</p>
<p>I would advise that you explain the French situation elsewhere on the application. That section is intended simply to explain the circumstances of your interruption.</p>
<p>Apologies for the thread necromancy, but I’m facing the same problem. Thought I’d post here instead of creating a new thread. Does anyone have any advice as to how long this essay should be? Whats the max length? Would say 150 words be too much? Also, would anyone advise sneaking in what I’ve learned due to this experience? (I moved countries by the way)</p>
<p>This depends in part on the schools you are applying to, but if your description of the reasons for, and impact on you of, your academic move or interruption requires 150 words, that will probably not annoy them.</p>
<p>I’m doing the same for graduating early. The story’s not very interesting I just didn’t want to vegetate my senior year. My document was about 125 words, is this sufficient?</p>
<p>I honestly believe that anywhere from 100 to 300 words is fine(totally ballpark #s, fyi), as long as the content is proportional to the wordcount. remember, these people read between 500 and 2500 apps a year; they dont care about every little detail of the situation. just get to the point, explain it well, and get out. if you can accomplish that in an organized, timely manner, that might even help make the impression that you are a good writer.</p>
<p>i would strongly advise AGAINST writing about how you wish this or that had happened better. as a generalization, reps hate nothing more than an essay about how you coulda/shoulda/woulda gotten a higher SAT, GPA, etc. if you need to tell them about a certain difficulty, make sure to do it in a matter of fact kind of way, you will come off as being all the more mature for it, rather than a whiner.</p>