The Additional Information section on the Mutual App appears to be a 650-word oasis amidst the desert of Callous character limits establish elsewhere in the awarding. Nevertheless, this inviting area of brag-canvass existent manor should not be mistaken for an invitation to spew random musings on T.S. Eliot's The Waste product Land or chronicle the reasons you lot quit the mandolin when you were 8 years old. In fact, the Boosted Data section's purpose is then gravely misunderstood, that it volition probably exist most helpful to brainstorm with an explanation of what it is not meant for.

How Not to approach the Additional Information section

Admissions officers are genuinely decorated people and are, during the heat of application flavour, under immense time constraints. Only at very small-scale schools volition an admissions officer spend more than fifteen minutes reviewing a unmarried application and, at many schools, a complete application review will take 8 minutes or less. Further, at some selective schools such every bit Georgia Tech, the Academy and Pennsylvania, and Bucknell University, staffers divide up single applications by section, like a expert old-fashioned Ford assembly line.

All this is to say that while every discussion on your application genuinely matters, very rarely is an admissions officer left lamenting, "If only he/she could have written more than!" after completing a review. In truth, the opposite complaint is uttered with far greater frequency. The impetus for opening up the Additional Data field should be a feeling of: "My awarding would be incomplete without X, Y, and Z" versus a mindset of: "Hmm, 650 complimentary words of space to fill. Let me think…" If you lot keep this distinction in mind as you weigh whether or non to include extras on your application, you will cease upward making a sound option.

Extenuating circumstances

If a life event truly impacted your academic performance, then the Additional Information department is a perfect place to succinctly and effectively explain the hows and whys. Common events that would fall in this category include:

  • Parents got separated or divorced
  • A serious affliction of an immediate family unit member
  • The death of a family member or shut friend
  • A personal illness (physical or mental)
  • Yous were diagnosed with a learning disability or ADD/ADHD
  • You had to work an extraordinary number of hours due to an adverse financial situation
  • Yous were impacted by a natural disaster
  • You were the victim of a crime
  • Y'all transferred high schools

No affair the challenging life event being discussed, it is best if in that location is a positively trending arc to the narrative. For instance, if your grandpa unexpectedly passed away in the offset semester of your junior year leading to a dip in your grades, hopefully, your academic performance improved the following semester.

If the event in question had a deep touch on on your life, it may very well be worthy of being the subject of your Common App essay. In that case, at that place is no need to be redundant by rehashing it in this section. Information technology'south also okay to mention something relatively minor hither if information technology actually had a major impact on your operation, even briefly. For instance, you had a migraine when y'all took the SAT the beginning time in the winter and scored a 1090; you took it once again in the jump and scored a 1300. Even though your prospective colleges "Superscore" the results, you desire to provide an explanation as to how your score when up 210 points in three months.

Boosted activities or awards

Ane mutual reason to utilize this department is to include additional awards that wouldn't fit in the five allotted spaces within the designated Honors & Awards section. This is ever a perfectly acceptable use of this infinite, provided that the additions add value and are not mere "filler." Most commonly, loftier-achieving students who have earned more v honors, have a take a chance to include a few extra awards. These can exist things like:

  • National Honor Social club membership
  • National Merit Semifinalist
  • AP Scholar with Distinction
  • Honor Roll/Master's List
  • President'southward Volunteer Service Award
  • Whatever accolade in music, art, poetry, journalism, photography, or community service

Typically, it's rare that an activity that didn't scissure the top 10 is going to be worth forcing into your application. If activity #11 is a i year of JV soccer in 9thursday grade or a four hours of volunteer work in 10th grade, it is very likely not worth including. Subsequently all, the Activities Section is ultimately about depth, not latitude.

Links to performances, publications, or enquiry

Try fitting a URL into an activities or honors field—we cartel you! If your Tedx Talk, musical operation, one-act reel, or contend title is available on YouTube, the Boosted Data section is the place to include it. This is a perfectly acceptable use of this department and the worst outcome is simply that the admissions officeholder elects non to watch it.

Y'all tin also include things like a local paper's coverage of the charitable arrangement you founded or an op-ed you penned on the dangers of vaping. If you're a high school superstar who has already gotten their proper noun on published inquiry, feel gratis to link to it hither.

Explanations of transcripts, grading practices, or curricular abnormalities

International students or habitation-schooled students are the prime candidates for this category, but anyone who attends a high school with an singular curriculum or culling ways of grading can and should include a neat and tidy explanation here. Some examples include:

  • Your schoolhouse has express AP/IB offerings
  • You took or are before long taking a course with a mysterious title that requires further explanation
  • Your school has extremely unforgiving form ranges—an 87% is a C+

Nosotros would non suggest including less physical items like, for example, complaining that you received a D in physics due to a teacher disharmonize. This section should merely be used to convey factual, tangible information.

The COVID-xix Question

For the 2021-22 admissions bicycle, the Mutual App has included a separate area within the Additional Information section where applicants tin can discuss any ways in which they were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Our advice for approaching that prompt can be constitute in our previous web log: How to Address the COVID-19 Question on the Common App.

College Transitions' final thoughts

The Boosted Information department is an first-class tool for students who truly need the extra space in gild to impart every of import facet of who they are and what they achieved. It is as well an ideal place to explain circumstances that take impacted one's educational progress that are not otherwise discussed anywhere in the application. If you are experiencing lingering doubts about whether something warrants inclusion in this section, accept that as a sign that it may not be a worthwhile addition. A judicious approach will undoubtedly be appreciated past harried admissions officers.