Additional Info Section on Common App

[Anonymous]

Did your kid use this space for an extra 650 word essay?

Hearing from our private that’s what a lot of ppl did for T20….

So basically a 2nd personal statement.

[Anonymous]

No, that's definitely not appropriate. One of my kids used that space to explain an extracurricular activity that was pretty unusual and wouldn't have been understood with the limited space on the activities list. It was not an essay, just an explanation of the required training and types of projects she did with the organization. My other child did not use it at all.

I listen to a lot of podcasts about college, interviews with admissions people etc. to try to understand the way things work now and my take from all that is a 650 word 2nd essay they didn't ask for would be more annoying than anything else and likely not read.

[Anonymous]

Yes my kid did. Our private counselor suggested it was a good place to explain a well developed by unusual interest so it was a focused essay about his pointy interest.
500 or so words.
Went to all Common App schools. Other supplemental essays didn’t repeat that topic.

[Anonymous]

Yes - kid at public.
Used the space to address anything in application package that an reader might have questions about. Example - shared some backstory to complement grade trajectory.

[Anonymous]

Didn't use it. We were told it's used for special circumstances---illness or death in family or reason for grade dip, course issue (scheduling conflict, etc.).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes my kid did. Our private counselor suggested it was a good place to explain a well developed by unusual interest so it was a focused essay about his pointy interest.
500 or so words.
Went to all Common App schools. Other supplemental essays didn’t repeat that topic.

I think this is appropriate. Basically, to explain an extracurricular involvement/academic interest as an elaboration on the tiny amount of space on the activities list. But not appropriate to do a completely separate personal statement in the same vein as the common app essay.

And, of course, to explain any special circumstances that affected transcript, grades, etc. Like you didn't continue your foreign language in senior year because it conflicted with class X which was a priority for you because it aligns with your planned major. Or you had mono in junior year.

[Anonymous]

Put some extra awards in there that would not fit onto the regular application. Was perhaps inappropriate, but got into some T10 places.

[Anonymous]

My child used it to explain an Honors Independent Study Project that appears on their transcript with an H as the grade. It was a very involved project that pertained to their major, and they wrote about 500 words to BRIEFLY describe the project and IN DETAIL describe what they learned from the experience. (Had there been another place on the application to explain it, they have left this section blank.)

Having said this, they did get rejected at their ED1 school (Villanova), but were accepted at all their EA schools and their ED2.

Also, Sara Harberson is very emphatic that this section should be left blank. We disregarded that advice (obviously) because the school counselor told us we should use the space in this way. I don't know that omitting it would have changed Villanova's decision; probably not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child used it to explain an Honors Independent Study Project that appears on their transcript with an H as the grade. It was a very involved project that pertained to their major, and they wrote about 500 words to BRIEFLY describe the project and IN DETAIL describe what they learned from the experience. (Had there been another place on the application to explain it, they have left this section blank.)

Having said this, they did get rejected at their ED1 school (Villanova), but were accepted at all their EA schools and their ED2.

Also, Sara Harberson is very emphatic that this section should be left blank. We disregarded that advice (obviously) because the school counselor told us we should use the space in this way. I don't know that omitting it would have changed Villanova's decision; probably not.

Curious what the ED2 was. And congrats!

[Anonymous]

Could it be used to explain Bs or B+ in foreign language (for an otherwise all A student)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could it be used to explain Bs or B+ in foreign language (for an otherwise all A student)?

I definitely wouldn’t. You don’t want to call attention to something that isn’t a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could it be used to explain Bs or B+ in foreign language (for an otherwise all A student)?

I definitely wouldn’t. You don’t want to call attention to something that isn’t a big deal.

New poster here, an admissions reader. The reader will notice anyway. (And then they'll notice that it was for a foreign language.) The big question is what you would be explaining. Just saying "I am not as strong in my language" is not an explanation. Saying, "I am partially deaf, making it difficult to understand some of the subtleties of my foreign language" would be an explanation that could be helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn't use it. We were told it's used for special circumstances---illness or death in family or reason for grade dip, course issue (scheduling conflict, etc.).

+1 our HS counselor at private said it was there to explain things like activities/sports lacking freshmen year during the Covid shutdown. OR if you had a major illness or circumstance that caused a dip in grades. Or for those with unusual family obligations that prevent them from doing ecs, etc. Course scheduling issues that left you unable to take a certain course or class size limit, etc.

We were told it was not the place to just throw in more ECs and other crap and that colleges don't like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child used it to explain an Honors Independent Study Project that appears on their transcript with an H as the grade. It was a very involved project that pertained to their major, and they wrote about 500 words to BRIEFLY describe the project and IN DETAIL describe what they learned from the experience. (Had there been another place on the application to explain it, they have left this section blank.)

Having said this, they did get rejected at their ED1 school (Villanova), but were accepted at all their EA schools and their ED2.

Also, Sara Harberson is very emphatic that this section should be left blank. We disregarded that advice (obviously) because the school counselor told us we should use the space in this way. I don't know that omitting it would have changed Villanova's decision; probably not.

Our private HS counselor also felt the same. Also against more recommendation letters. No more than 2 teacher and the counselor. Or resumes that are basically the same as the common app activities.

More is not better and it pisses off AOs is what we were told. My kid is having a lot of success this cycle--no idea if any of that mattered. W

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did your kid use this space for an extra 650 word essay?

Hearing from our private that’s what a lot of ppl did for T20….

So basically a 2nd personal statement.

We were told not to annoy the AOs. Only use it to explain something unusual (like a dip in the grades due to unusual circumstances) or give very brief details on out-of-school courses taken in a college etc. Bullets. Nothing extra to read.