What Is the Common App Additional Information Section?
In addition to the Common App essay and Activities List, the Common Application includes space for applicants to provide additional information about their life in and outside of the classroom. This section is called the “Additional Information” section.
The Additional Information section on the Common Application is an optional space where you can share important context about your academic or personal background that isn’t captured elsewhere in your application. It’s designed to give admissions officers a fuller understanding of your experiences and background, particularly if unique circumstances have shaped your journey through high school.
Unlike the personal statement or supplemental essays, this section is not intended for storytelling, reflection, or showcasing achievements. Instead, it offers a space to clearly and concisely explain anything that may raise questions or require further clarification, such as health issues, academic disruptions, missing coursework, family responsibilities, or other relevant situations.
It can also be used to highlight nontraditional elements of your academic record—such as independent study, school transfers, or extracurricular projects—that don’t fit within the standard sections of the Common App.
While this section is not required, it can be a valuable opportunity to ensure that your application is reviewed in the proper context. If you choose to use it, your goal should be clarity, not creativity—your writing here should be factual, straightforward, and focused on helping the admissions reader understand you more fully.
Advice from a Senior Mentor
“Be careful not to write about one of these topics here and in a school-specific supplement. You may have to add or remove this part of your additional information section for each individual school to which you apply in your Common App portal in between submissions. For example, you may choose to write about your cultural upbringing in response to Duke’s optional short essay question, but not include it in your NYU supplement. If this is the case, you will want to remove this portion of the additional information section when you submit your Duke application, but add it back in before you submit your NYU application. Be sure to save your writing in a separate document so that you can easily access it and copy and paste it back into your Common App portal as needed.”
– Lindsay, Command Education Senior Mentor
 What Should You Include in the Common App Additional Information Section? |
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The Additional Information Section should be used to provide necessary context—details that help admissions officers better understand your academic or personal background, and that you were unable to include elsewhere in the application. Use this space only if the information is relevant, clarifying, and genuinely adds value to your application.
You should consider including the following types of information:
Context for Academic Disruptions or Irregularities
Use this section to explain any significant changes or disruptions to your academic record. This might include a dip in grades due to illness, recovery from an injury, mental health challenges, or responsibilities at home that affected your schoolwork. If there's a semester or year that doesn’t reflect your typical performance, this is the place to provide context.
Health or Personal Circumstances That Impacted Performance
If you experienced chronic illness, medical leave, or family obligations (such as caregiving or working to support your household), and these circumstances impacted your academic or extracurricular life, you can explain that here. This allows admissions officers to understand your priorities and the challenges you’ve overcome.
Explanation of Unusual Schooling or Grading Systems
If your school uses a unique grading scale, doesn’t compute GPA, or has policies that may be unfamiliar (e.g., no class rankings, narrative evaluations, or alternative course structures), this is an appropriate place to explain how your academic performance should be interpreted.
Gaps in Education or School Transfers
If you took a gap year, repeated or skipped a grade, transferred high schools, moved between educational systems, or had to take time away from school, explain what happened and why. This can demonstrate maturity, adaptability, or intentional academic decision-making.
Additional Achievements or Projects Not Covered Elsewhere
If you’ve completed an independent project, built something noteworthy, conducted research, earned recognition, or participated in experiences that didn’t fit in your Activities section or personal essay, you can succinctly describe them here—especially if they support your academic or extracurricular interests.
Cultural, Linguistic, or Personal Background That Affects Your Academic Experience
If language barriers, immigration, cross-cultural transitions, or other aspects of your background have significantly shaped your education, this can be helpful information for admissions officers to take into account when evaluating your application.
 Should I Include in the Additional Information Section? |
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If you’re having trouble deciding whether or not to write a response to either prompt in the additional information section, or if you’re wondering what you should write if you do choose to fill one or both out, here are some questions you can ask yourself as you complete the additional information section:
Does this information add necessary context to my application?
The first additional section question is an appropriate space to include things such as sickness, disabilities, injuries, and deaths of loved ones that directly impacted your academic performance or extracurriculars. For example, quitting a sport might make admissions officers think that you don’t stay committed to communities that count on your involvement—but if you quit your sport because you tore your ACL and physically couldn’t continue to play, then you should let your admissions officer know! This can justify your discontinuation and allow admissions officers to empathize with you. Other circumstances to include could be changes in your family dynamics (like a divorce or moving to live with a different parent), transferring schools, language barriers, and any other aspect of your personal life that had a significant effect on your student life.
Can you describe what you plan to write about elsewhere?
When considering a topic for the additional information section—particularly one that is not related to a disruption—ask yourself whether you could list it in the awards and honors section on your activities list, or write about it in school specific supplements. There are plenty of spaces in your application to describe your accomplishments, personality, and activities. If there isn’t space in any of those sections or if it doesn’t make sense to include the detail in those areas, you should consider including it in the second part of the additional information section. Think of the second part of the additional information section as a place to include information that doesn’t fit in any of the required sections or in the first part of this section. It’s a useful extra tool, and should be thought of as such.
How can I make this more efficient or engaging for my reader?
There are two ways to approach this section: writing only the essential information in the most efficient way possible, or taking risks and writing something really engaging for your reader. It can be a sentence, a list of bullet points about your activities that weren’t included in your Activities List, or a paragraph. Alternatively, some students choose to provide links to their personal project websites or portfolios in the additional information section. You can take this as a space to really set yourself apart from the other candidates and write an essay that’s both informative and entertaining, but remember that you must do so within the 250- and 300-word limit, depending on the prompt to which you are responding.
Is there a special or unusual grading system at your school that most admissions officers won’t be familiar with?
This is something your counselor should address in your school report or in his or her letter of recommendation, but in case they don’t, you can explain your school’s special grading system (even if it is simply that they don’t have grades). Include this information in response to the second question of the additional information section.
Do other aspects of your application provide enough insight into your intellectual or academic life?
Even with the activities list and supplements, you may feel that there is an important part of you missing in your application that could shed more light onto who you are as a student. If that is the case, you can mention other examples of your intellectual curiosity here, such as your IB extended essay topic or a description of your lab work. You should only include these topics if you are truly passionate about them and they will help your admissions officer picture you on their campus in the future. Include this information in response to the second question of the additional information section.
Common App Additional Information Prompts (Updated for 2025–2026)
As of August 1, 2025, students will see two key changes to the optional Additional Information questions on the Common Application. These changes provide applicants with more clarity and a better-defined space for offering relevant context about their experiences.
1. Challenges and Circumstances
Previously called “Community Disruption,” this question has been updated and renamed to “Challenges and Circumstances” to reflect a broader range of experiences that may impact a student’s academic or personal journey.
Students may use this space to describe personal challenges—such as health conditions, family responsibilities, discrimination, or other difficult circumstances—and explain how those challenges affected their academic performance or involvement.
- First-year word limit: 250 words
- Transfer character limit: 1,250 characters
This section remains completely optional and should be completed only if you have meaningful context to share that cannot be addressed elsewhere in your application.
2. General Additional Information
This is a flexible, open-response space where students can provide any additional facts or context relevant to their application that didn’t fit into other sections, such as unusual grading systems, school changes, academic anomalies, or personal projects.
Note: The word and character limits for this section have been reduced as of the 2025–2026 cycle.
- First-year word limit: 300 words (previously 650)
- Transfer character limit: 1,500 characters (previously 3,500)
Use this section to clarify—not restate—information. Avoid repetition from your personal statement, activities list, or supplemental essays.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the additional information section on the Common App?
The additional information section on the Common App can be found in the “Writing” section of the application, under the “Additional Information” tab.
What should I put in the additional information section of the Common App?
In the additional information section of the Common App, you can include relevant context or explanations for aspects of your application that may not be fully addressed elsewhere. This could include extenuating circumstances, significant life events, or additional achievements not addressed in other sections.
What should I not include in the additional information section of the Common App?
In the additional information section of the Common App, it’s best to avoid repeating information already provided elsewhere in the application, making excuses for poor performance, or including irrelevant or trivial details.
Is the Common App additional information section really optional?
Yes, the Common App additional information section is truly optional. You can choose to leave it blank if you feel that you have adequately represented yourself in other sections of the application.
What is a good example of a Common App Additional Information section?
A successful Common App Additional Information section could include an explanation of a significant family obligation that impacted your academic performance or additional details about a personal project or initiative not fully described in the activities section. For instance, if you’re interested in web design, you could include links to your work; if you struggled with an illness throughout high school, you could provide specific ways in which your circumstance impacted your ability to complete schoolwork; if you won an award or participated in a nation-wide initiative, you could provide further information regarding the criteria used or the foundation that bestowed the award.
Do family responsibilities belong in the additional information section of the Common App?
Family responsibilities can be included in the additional information section of the Common App if they have had a significant impact on your academic or extracurricular activities, however, they may also be listed in the Activities List. Be sure to provide context and explain how these responsibilities have shaped your experiences and achievements.
Should I write about my disability or medical leave in the additional information section of the Common App?
If your disability or medical leave significantly impacted your academic performance or extracurricular activities, it may be appropriate to address it in the additional information section of the Common App. Provide relevant context and explain how you have overcome challenges or persevered despite these circumstances. Remember that you always have the right to retain privacy surrounding your personal medical information, and you should only disclose information you feel comfortable discussing and that contextualizes your application.
Should I explain a bad grade in the additional information section of the Common App?
It can be beneficial to explain a bad grade in the additional information section of the Common App if there were extenuating circumstances that affected your performance. However, avoid making excuses or shifting blame and instead focus on what you learned from the experience and how you have grown as a result.
How long should the additional information section on the Common App be?
Your writing in the additional information section should be brief and concise—provide the necessary information succinctly and directly. Avoid being overly wordy or editorializing.
