Should You Write These “Optional” Essays?

Today we’re talking about two optional essays in the Common App. If you click on the Common App tab and click on the writing section, you’re going to see an area that says “Additional Information.” In there, there are two yes or no questions. And if you click no, there’s nothing you need to write, but if you click yes, it’s going to pop open a box where you can actually write something. Let’s take a look at those.

The first question says, “Community disruptions such as COVID-19 and natural disasters can have deep and long lasting impacts. If you need it, this space is yours to describe those impacts.” So, when Covid happened and we all got locked down, high school students all had the same experience. Their education got curtailed, their sports got canceled, their clubs didn’t happen, and they were all going to wind up writing the exact same Common App essay. So, cleverly, the Common App added this extra optional piece so that students could talk about that experience here and write their own unique, different Common App essays, not the same as everybody else applying to college that year.

But now it’s been years, and most likely you weren’t in high school when the pandemic happened. So your high school career, your grades, your activities weren’t hampered by that experience. So for most students, they’re not going to write about this essay. But, they did add the little extra piece that it could be community disruptions, natural disasters. It could be things like if you live in an area impacted by a hurricane, a tornado, wildfires, and these things impacted your ability to have a normal high school experience; if you don’t have the grades you wish you did, if learning was difficult during that time, if your sports got canceled, then you can write about it here.

But don’t just focus on the negative, “everything was bad”, right? Like that famous quote by Mr. Rogers says, “Look for the helpers.” So how were you a helper? Who did you help? Or, how did you better yourself with this time? Focus on something positive by the end, kind of dovetail into showing them that you are the kind of resilient person who will succeed at college.

The other question says, “Do you wish to provide details of circumstances or qualifications not reflected in the application?” And this is genuinely for extenuating circumstances. If you had a major health crisis, a major family crisis, something that really impacted you and only you, and impacted your transcript, your grades, your application that they need to understand, they need to see your application through the lens of this experience. And this is not an essay. This is maybe 3-5 sentences in and out. You’re going to explain what happened, explain how you’re better now, and you’re ready for college, and “thank you for considering my application in the context of these circumstances.” That’s it.

Most people will say no to both of these questions, so look them over. Consider if they’re right for you and if they’re not, click no. And if you have questions, call us at 732-556-8220. We are here to help.