The Additional Information Section in the Common Application: A Key to Providing Context

By: North Shore College Consulting

When and How to Use It Effectively

When it comes to college applications, every detail matters. The Common Application provides a platform for students to showcase their achievements, experiences, and aspirations, giving colleges a holistic view of who they are. However, sometimes there are circumstances or nuances that can't be fully captured within the standard sections of the application. That's where the "Additional Information" section comes into play. In this blog post, we'll explore the ins and outs of this often-overlooked section and guide you on when and how to use it effectively.

Understanding the Additional Information Section

Located towards the end of the Common Application, the Additional Information section provides students with an opportunity to provide context and explanations for aspects of their application that may not be immediately clear elsewhere. With a generous word limit of 650 words, this section can be a powerful tool for addressing gaps or unusual circumstances that might raise questions for admissions officers.

It's essential to understand, however, that the Additional Information section is not meant to serve as a second personal statement. While colleges are interested in learning about your experiences, accomplishments, and challenges, this section should not be used to reiterate or duplicate information already provided elsewhere in your application.

When to Use the Additional Information Section

The Additional Information section should be reserved for circumstances that warrant further explanation or elaboration. Students should carefully evaluate their application for any areas that might benefit from additional context. Some situations where the use of this section could be appropriate include:

1. Explaining Gaps: If you've experienced gaps in your education due to personal or family issues, this is the place to explain them. Perhaps you had to take a break from school due to illness, family responsibilities, or other challenges. This section allows you to provide context without leaving admissions officers wondering about the missing pieces. You can also use it to address any discrepancies or unusual circumstances in your academic record.

2. Special Circumstances: If there are factors beyond your control that have affected your academic performance or extracurricular involvement, this section is ideal for explaining them. For instance, if you had to relocate frequently due to a parent's job, it might have impacted your ability to participate in certain activities. 

3. Personal Challenges: Some personal challenges are deeply impactful but might not be suitable for the main essay. If you've overcome adversity, such as dealing with a serious illness, overcoming a learning disability, escaping an abusive situation, or taking on significant caregiving responsibilities, you can briefly touch on these experiences in this section. Use this section to elaborate on how you demonstrated resilience in the face of adversity.

4. Personal Identity: If aspects of your personal identity, such as sexual or gender identity, played a role in your educational experience, you can explain how they influenced your path. For example, if you used different pronouns than those mentioned in recommendation letters due to not being out as trans or nonbinary to your teachers, this section can provide insight.

5. Provide Additional Context: Many students participate in extracurricular activities or honors that may not be widely recognized but hold personal significance. The Additional Information essay is a good place to describe a significant volunteer experience or community involvement that influenced personal growth and cannot be adequately described in the 150 character limit of the Common App’s Activity section. . 

What Not to Include in the Additional Information Section

While the Additional Information section provides an opportunity for students to provide context, there are certain topics that should be avoided. 

1. COVID-19: The Common Application includes a dedicated section for COVID-19 related information. Avoid discussing the pandemic here unless it's directly tied to a unique circumstance that can't be addressed elsewhere.

2. Irrelevant Details: Don't use this space to reiterate your achievements or list additional activities. Admissions officers already have that information in other sections. Avoid irrelevant details, like listing your favorite books, foods or hobbies, as these can detract from the overall impact of your application.

Self-Evaluation: Do You Need to Use the Additional Information Section?

While the Additional Information section can offer valuable insight into your life, it's essential to use it wisely. Admissions officers read through countless applications, and they appreciate conciseness and relevance. So, before deciding to use the Additional Information section, take a step back and evaluate your application as a whole. Is there any crucial context missing? Consider whether there is any key context or information that could help admissions officers gain a deeper understanding of your achievements, challenges, or personal circumstances. If you determine that there are relevant aspects that require further explanation, utilizing the Additional Information section can be a valuable opportunity. Conversely, if your application is comprehensive and leaves little room for confusion, it's perfectly acceptable, and often advisable, to skip this section.

It's Okay to Skip It

Lastly, it's important to emphasize that it is perfectly acceptable not to use the Additional Information section if you do not have any pressing issues or gaps to address. Remember, this section is truly optional, and if your application is comprehensive and provides a clear picture of who you are as an applicant, there may be no need for additional explanations.

Closing Thoughts

In the realm of college applications, transparency and authenticity reign supreme. The Additional Information section is your chance to provide a comprehensive view of your journey, shedding light on the aspects that might not be immediately evident. Use it thoughtfully and strategically to enhance your application's narrative and ensure that admissions officers leave with a full understanding of your unique story. Remember, it's okay not to use this section if you have no pressing issues to address; quality is always better than quantity.

The Truth Behind How Colleges Receive Your Application

By Matt Musico

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to completing and submitting college applications. Here’s what you should be keeping track of as you complete your applications, and how admissions offices receive your documents before reviewing them.

The college admissions experience involves several variables. What makes applying to college difficult for many students is that outside of a couple of things, not much is completely in your control, and that can be scary.

One of the myths I bust every year with students and families is how documents are received prior to college application deadlines—the truth is, not every piece of your application needs to be submitted by the deadline. It’s important to understand what’s needed for an admissions office to consider your application complete and ready for review and this knowledge will help you plan, organize, and finish your apps with less stress.

Priority 1: Your Application Form

Of all the things we’ll be talking about here, this is the one part of your admissions file you have complete control over. From filling out your basic personal and educational information, to completing an activity list and writing your essay, it’s entirely up to you – the student – to complete and submit your application form. And your application form must be submitted by the application deadline.

Colleges may accept multiple types of applications. Some types include the Common Application, the Coalition Application, the ApplyTexas application, the UC application, applySUNY, and school-specific applications.

Official Test Scores

For those who have taken the SAT or ACT and plan on submitting scores, many colleges want the information directly from the ACT or College Board, which you can order to be done by logging on and requesting as such through the website.

My general suggestion to students is to request official scores to be sent (which includes paying a small fee per school) three to four weeks before application deadlines. While it’s done electronically, scores don’t automatically land in the inbox of an admissions office — it can take longer than one would expect to process and add scores to your file. 

Official High School Transcript

For a college to decide whether you’re academically qualified, they’ll need to take an in-depth look at the grades you’ve earned and the classes you’ve taken. However, your grades must be sent to colleges in a specific way.  

Your school counselor will likely be the one sending your transcript, or you’ll be making an online order if you use a service called Parchment for transcript requests. Your transcript must be “official,” which means it is sent directly to the colleges on your list, without you seeing them. The process of sending official transcripts varies by high school, and in some cases, you may need to meet with your school counselor and request transcripts to be sent as early as two to four weeks prior to an application deadline. Make sure you understand your school’s policies and process.

Counselor Recommendation and School Profile

In addition to sending college admission offices your official transcript, it’s common for school counselors to write and send a letter to speak on your behalf. This is not the same as a teacher letter of recommendation, which I’ll talk more about below.

In addition to their letter of recommendation, your counselor will also send a school profile, which shares pertinent information about your high school, such as the size of your graduating class, the grading scale, what’s available in the curriculum, the percentage of students who graduate and attend two- and four-year colleges, and more.

Many admissions counselors read applications from specific geographic areas, so it’s easier for them to become familiar with a school and what’s available there. However, for new counselors or part-time application readers, the school report gives them a general picture of what the curriculum is like at any high school.

Teacher Letters of Recommendation

Colleges can get a sense of your academic achievement by dissecting your transcript, but hearing from one or two teachers may also provide them the story behind the grades you’ve earned. We’ve talked about what goes into the process for letters of recommendation, but there are a couple of different ways you can do this.

For those using Naviance, you can send a request electronically to your teachers asking that they write and submit a letter of recommendation on your behalf. You can also send requests to potential recommenders through application platforms, such as the Common App or Coalition Application. Not all schools require the same number of letters of recommendation. There will be some that require one or two, some that will require none, and others that won’t even allow students to send them at all.

How Colleges Collect Application Materials

With all these moving parts, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with the idea that everything must be submitted simultaneously. I’ve had several conversations with students and parents in recent years that involve some variation of the following statements: 

• I’m not ready to submit my application yet because my teachers aren’t done with their letters of recommendation.
• I submitted my application two weeks ago, but I just got an email saying it’s still incomplete. Why?

Both scenarios happen because it’s incredibly rare for a college to both receive and process all parts of your application in one sitting. Usually, a college will get pieces of a student’s application over the span of a week or two because several people are responsible for getting things submitted to the colleges on your list.

If you’re thinking about holding off on submitting your application because other pieces haven’t been submitted yet, don’t wait – just submit it. The most important part of your entire file is your application form, because unlike the other pieces of the application discussed above, it’s the only thing you have complete control over.

Many schools also give students a one- or two-week grace period for submitting the supplemental pieces of their application – but there is no such grace period for your actual application. Although this process is now mostly digital, humans still must add your transcript, letters of recommendation, test scores, and other materials to your file manually, and that takes time.

Also, if you get notified from a college that there are pieces of your application still missing, don’t freak out. It takes time for colleges to process all the documents they receive, and in the middle of the application process, it’s normal for them to be a few days — or even a week or two — behind in processing application documents because they get so overloaded. If you get an email, phone call, or text message notifying you about an incomplete application, confirm with your teachers and counselor that things have been submitted, and then let the admissions office know everything is either already there or on its way. It’s common for a college to have all the necessary documents in their possession, but to still consider items “missing” because they haven’t been processed yet.

Getting everything complete and submitted prior to college application deadlines is stressful enough without trying to submit all materials at once. There should hopefully be comfort in the fact that there are some areas of the process you can control. This includes requesting letters of recommendation, transcripts, and test scores to be sent with plenty of time before college applications are due, as well as completing and submitting the actual application form itself. Don’t be concerned with trying to time everything to be submitted all at once – it rarely happens, and admissions offices don’t expect you to submit everything in that manner, as long as it’s submitted prior to the deadline.

How to Organize College Applications

By Bethany Goldzer

If you are a junior, the summer months are a good time to get organized. However, you may be wondering where and how you should begin. This post will show you what to do to get organized. Key action items are:

1. Developing a college list of where to apply.
2. Making a spreadsheet of college requirements and materials to gather for each school.
3. Building a system to organize application materials and correspondence in your email inbox.
4. Creating a timeline of when to submit college applications, ideally well ahead of admission deadlines.

Develop a College List

When you are building a college list, your goal is to find colleges that fit you best. Don’t make the mistake of choosing the wrong college for you. If the school does not offer a major you are passionate about, or does not provide resources that will support your needs, then you risk dropping out or transferring to another college. Avoid this costly mistake and take the time to research colleges ahead of time. While it’s tempting to get a list of colleges from friends, don’t fall for it. A college that may work for them may not be best for you. 

During the pandemic, a physical tour may not be possible, but find a virtual tour of campus to get a feel of what it’s like.

How do you choose colleges? Use a search engine like Niche or Cappex to research colleges. Look for schools that offer your desired degree and major. Then learn about them, as well as other similar colleges. Check out selectivity (how hard it is to get admitted) and the financial aid they provide to families (if this is of concern to you). Also, visit the college’s website to learn about campus life and its physical environment such as buildings, landscaping, and resources on campus. During the pandemic, a physical tour may not be possible, but find a virtual tour of campus to get a feel of what it’s like.

Make sure that you think about how close you want to be from your home, such as within a 2-hrs drive or 2-hrs plane ride. Also consider other things that matter to you such as diversity, proximity to urban centers, Greek life, NCAA ranking, and the party scene for instance.

Once you discover 7 to 10 colleges that fit you, organize them into reach, target, and safety categories. A good list has:

• One or two reach colleges;
• Five or six target colleges; and
• Two safety colleges.

Track College Requirements

The fall that you apply to college will be like taking an additional class. You will have an instructor (your admissions counselor), who will be reading and grading your assignments. If you do a great job in putting together your application and you’re a good fit, chances are good that you will gain admissions. Materials you’ll need to put together include your general essay, supplemental essays, resume, transcript, brag sheet for stellar recommendation letters, and interviews. 

Don’t wait until the last minute to submit college applications.

Networking with Admissions Officers. Also in your plans, you’ll need to network with admissions officers ahead of time to make sure they know, like, and trust that you are a good fit for the school. Admissions officers are part of a committee and must spend time reading your application. When deciding who to admit, the admissions officer will present you to the committee for a vote.

My College Tracker. Completing college applications is a lot of work, and you’ll need a foolproof plan for keeping it all organized. I suggest that you use my college tracker, a spreadsheet that I developed that allows you to enter college information, deadlines, requirements, and track where you are in the process every step of the way. Many schools allow you to check applications using Naviance. As you complete application items, your counselor will be alerted by email.

Once you sign up for Common App or Coalition Application, transfer deadlines and requirements for each school into your college tracker spreadsheet. Also, devote a tab to storing passwords for your college site like the College Board, Common App, Coalition App, ACT, FAFSA, and so on. It can be hard to keep up with so many log-ins, so having them stored when you need them. My favorite tool to use is Google Sheets. In the next section, I will describe how to use Google Drive to organize your college application materials.

My College Tracker

Store Application Materials in a Cloud Drive

Many students work on applications while at school or at home. If you want easy access to your application materials, wherever you go, you can use a cloud drive. My favorite, and one you are likely most familiar with, is Google Drive. Create a “College Application” folder as your master folder. In this folder, store your general college essay, resume, and brag sheet. Also store sub-folders for each college you’ll be applying to. In the sub-folders, you will store supplemental essays and other supporting documents. What’s great about this system is that you can link folders and documents to the College Tracker (saved as a Google Sheet) for easy retrieval, such as essays and your resume. As a bonus, you can also upload essays written in Google Docs directly into your Common App essay section. The same is true for other parts of the Common App that require an upload.

Manage and Monitor Your Inbox

You will need to manage communications between you and the college office. Email is the primary way that college officers will communicate with you. Make sure that you create and provide colleges with a professional email address, such as first.lastname@domain.com. Ideally, this account would be separate from the one that you use for your personal life. Make sure that you check the email account everyday to respond to time-sensitive emails. If there is a request that you do not understand, ask a parent or guidance counselor for help. 

Organize Your Inbox. Keep every email you get from a college. To help you organize your inbox, I recommend that you label and sort emails by colleges so that you maintain a record of communication. You never know when you may need to refer back to an email. 

Submit Applications on a Timeline

When you register for Common App or Coalition App, you may notice a series of deadlines. Many application deadlines will fall on the same day and will be determined by the cycle you want to be considered. The type of decision cycle is termed regular decision, early decision, early action, and rolling admissions for example. Regular decision deadlines usually fall between January 1 and February 1 and will have the largest pool of students applying. Early decision has an earlier deadline date, November 1 for the majority of colleges and is binding. Early action have the same November 1 deadline and is non-binding. Rolling admissions college applications are considered as they are received, meaning you can have a decision within weeks of submitting.

Facing many different deadlines or many college applications due on the same day, don’t wait until the last minute to make a submission plan. Get ahead of the curve by creating a timeline of submissions, either weekly or bi-weekly, starting two weeks before your first deadline. For example, if NYU, Boston University, and Ithaca College are due on November 1st, submit one college on October 15, a second on October 22, and the third on October 29. Try never to submit the application on the due date to avoid technical issues with the application that can result from the high volumes of other students trying to submit their applications.

Conclusion + Next Steps

In this post, I reviewed how you can get organized for college applications. Follow these steps to ensure that you have all ducks in a row before you get started and hit submit. Also, be sure to read 7 Steps to Creating a Stand Out Application.

 

What To Do After You Submit Your Application

 Author: North Shore College Consulting

After months of writing essays, describing your activities, talking to your counselor and teachers about letters of recommendation, and gathering all of the other information requested by a college, you finally press that submit button. Now you can take a deep breath and sit back and relax. Or can you? While we encourage you to take that deep breath and pat yourself on the back for all of the hard work you put into your application, there are a few more steps. 

1, Watch your email carefully for instructions from the colleges. Most colleges will send you information on how to set up your application status portal. Take the time to read these emails carefully and follow their instructions. This portal is where you can confirm that the college has received all of the pieces of your application (test scores (if applicable), letters of recommendation, transcript, etc.). The portal may require or recommend additional information such as uploading a resume, writing an optional essay, signing up for an interview, or reporting courses and grades. It would be a shame to put all of the work into an application only to miss the last few steps and not have a complete application. 

In addition to watching for application completion, the portals are usually where you will ultimately receive your admission decision. We recommend bookmarking the link to the portal and keeping your username and password somewhere handy and safe. There is nothing worse than hearing a college has released decisions but not remembering how to access your portal.

2. If your family is applying for financial aid, be sure you know what information is required and when the deadlines are to apply for aid. The FAFSA and the CSS Profile opened on October 1st, so you can complete those applications now. If you have been watching your email carefully, you likely have received emails from the colleges you applied to with this particular information. Don’t hesitate to reach out to the colleges’ financial aid offices with any questions you have. They want to help!

3. Continue to research the colleges you applied to. If a representative from the college will be coming to your high school, try to attend that session and introduce yourself. Whether or not a college tracks demonstrated interest, admissions officers like to meet the applicants. We also suggest following up with an email afterward to thank that individual for taking the time to speak with the students at your school. Continuing to learn about a college may help in the decision-making process when evaluating your options later in the school year.

4. Sign up for interviews if available. Interviews are usually optional, but you should embrace this opportunity if a college offers you one. Interviewing will allow you to give the college more information about yourself and show that you are really interested in attending their school. If you are offered an interview, make sure you are prepared. Before the interview, review the details you have learned about the school and why you would like to attend. We also recommend that you make a list of some questions to ask the interviewer.

5. Continue to work hard in your classes. Now is not the time to let senioritis take over. Colleges may ask for your grades from your first trimester, first quarter, or first semester. And, of course, second semester matters too. Colleges will require a final transcript and can revoke an offer of admission if your grades decline drastically.

6. Along the same lines of not letting senioritis take over, don’t let the excitement of finishing applications cloud your judgment. Colleges will need to be alerted about any disciplinary issues. Save yourself the stress of a possible rescinded offer by continuing to keep your behavior in the classroom, outside of school, and online in check. For more ways to steer clear of senioritis, check out our previous blog post here.

7. Thank your counselor and your teachers for their assistance and for writing your letters of recommendation. You can do this before you have received decisions from your colleges, but be sure to follow up after deciding on a college to let them know what school you will be attending next year.

While this may seem like a lot to do, we promise, the tough part is over (unless you count waiting for decisions). Don’t stop now. Make sure you cross the finish line before you stop to celebrate, but we encourage you to look back and appreciate all you have accomplished. Be proud of yourself and try to savor every moment of the rest of your senior year.

HOW TO ORGANIZE AND GET AHEAD JUNIOR YEAR

 Source: CollegeData

If you’re currently sure that college is in your immediate future, there are ways to start working on your application as a junior in high school, even while researching and/or visiting colleges.

1. COMPLETE PARTS OF YOUR APPLICATION

I focus on helping students build and finalize their list by the end of junior year, but once we hit the spring semester, we begin multi-tasking to cross other items off our to-do list. If that’s the spot you’re in, this includes completing activity list descriptions and filling out parts of the Common Application.

Within the Common Application, you’re allowed just 150 characters to describe each of your extracurricular activities done throughout high school. This is typically a multi-meeting process with my students because it’s harder to write these descriptions than they initially realize. Instead of focusing on describing the activity, focus on any accomplishments achieved, or why you enjoy participating in it.

I’ll also let you in on a college admissions life hack – while the Common Application doesn’t go “live” until August 1st, you can start filling out parts of it before then.

At the end of July every year, the Common Application shuts down to prepare for the next admissions cycle. If you’ve answered any specific college application questions, your answers will be lost, but info about your personal and educational background (located in the Common App tab) and any college lists you’ve created will get rolled over from the previous year’s version.

Instead of waiting for August 1st to start filling things out, you can already have the Profile, Family, Education, Testing, and Activity sections done before shifting your focus elsewhere. Even if your college list includes non-Common Application schools – schools that might be included with the Coalition Application, the University of California application, Apply Texas, among others – these schools will ask similar questions. But now, you have a bunch of basic information ready to copy and paste wherever it’s needed.

2. PREPARE TO ASK FOR LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

If asking two teachers to write you a letter of recommendation for college during the spring of junior year feels early, that’s because it is. This is on purpose, though -- some teachers may only say yes to a certain number of students. If you want specific people to be part of your application process, it’s a good idea to ask sooner rather than later.

I usually suggest that students ask for letters of recommendation right after spring break. Teachers are coming back from vacation, so they’re relaxed, and there’s no end-of-year stress with AP tests or final exams yet. It’s that perfect lull in the school year – especially since they’re typically not getting bombarded with these requests yet.

Use your time at the beginning of junior year to continue cultivating your relationships with all teachers and to decide which two you’d like to ask when the time comes.

3. WHEN TO START THINKING ABOUT COLLEGE ESSAYS

My favorite time to help students conceptualize essay ideas is in June and July prior to senior year. Writing an essay still feels natural at that time because you were just doing it in school, but you don’t have homework to distract you from getting a first draft written.

I’ve found that the best way to get a first draft on paper is to break up the writing process. First, spend time brainstorming different topic ideas, whether it’s just writing notes on potential ideas, or answering writing prompts that’ll force you to contemplate various aspects of your life experiences and personality. From there, map out how you’d like to attack this topic with a thorough outline.

But juniors shouldn’t worry about essays until the end of junior year. Before then, focus on crystallizing your list, completing parts of your application, and getting prepared to ask two of your current teachers to write you a letter of recommendation.

How to Create a Great Common App Activities

 

 How to Create a Great Common App Activities List from the College Essay Guy

In the video, I cover:

§ Why strong verbs are key + where to find my Epic List of Activities List Verbs

§ How the BEABIES exercise can help you remember stuff you did

§ How to bring more variety into your descriptions (if you've already written them)

§ Tips for the Awards and Honors section

§ Lots more

Activities Exercise

Ultimate College Search Guide for Freshmen Students

Getting Involved

Time Management

Focus on Grades

Taking Advanced Courses 

Source: College Express

Preparing for College Applications for Juniors

College admissions is an ever-evolving process, and there is more to know today than ever about helping your child navigate their future. To help you get started, WeAdmit invites you to attend our free webinar, where you'll learn everything from how to plan a summer schedule to how to manage financial aid, high school courses, exam prep, and more. Both parents and students are welcome to join!

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