On Common App, there is an “Additional Information” question at the bottom of “Writing” section: “You may use the space below to provide any additional information you wish to share.”
This question is optional and has a 650-word limit.
How should one approach this question? Is this meant as another essay that comes with a theme and has to be ‘creative’ writing, or is this a matter-of-factly list of information, or even bulleted list?
Thanks for any insight!
It is not another essay. In fact, most people probably leave it blank.
It’s usually used to explain something that isn’t easily explained elsewhere - illness, strange gaps in the resume etc.
Not an essay. Not needed. If you have to use it, be mercifully brief. Almost nothing needs a long, intricate explanation.
My kid got a full tuition scholarship offer and I’m pretty sure her additional information essay had a lot to do with that. The school was very small, so I think the admissions Dept. had more time to read applications than the average school (and I’m not sure they had any kind of supplemental essay). When she went to the scholarship weekend, they asked her about a lot of the things that she included in the additional information section. It was 650 words long.
The topic of her main essay was about a hardship that she had dealt with, so she used the additional information section to include some other aspects of her life that were more positive and which gave the school a better sense of her personality and life experiences. She didn’t try to be particularly creative, she just didn’t want to give the colleges an “Oh, poor me” impression.
She got lots of merit aid from several small LAC’s and she was a good student, but her stats were not extremely impressive, so I really do believe that they did appreciate the extra effort she put into her application.
It is enough space as needed to submit a factual explanation of whatever needs to be explained. It can be a sentence or two, or a paragraph – or the whole 650 words if that is what it takes. Depend on the problem. Some things are easier to explain than others.
It could also be used to simpliy add in additional important positive information that didn’t fit elsewhere - but again, the idea is to add factual information.
My son used the essay to expand why he was applying in his junior year. He mentioned dual enrollment and a few classes he had taken, but did this in a humorous way. It wasn’t intentional, but it showed his lighter side
Unless there is a particular reason to write this essay, I’d leave it blank.
My D16 used it to explain a major surgery she had in the summer between junior and senior years. She did it so it wouldn’t look like she did nothing for 3 months.
D18 is elaborating on an EC that won’t fit in the activities section. Just some bullet points though, not an additional essay.