The Common App's "Additional Information" section is 650 words of optional space at the end of the application. Most students leave it blank. Some students stuff it with a second personal essay. Both groups are usually wrong.
This section exists for one reason: to give context that doesn't fit anywhere else and that the admissions officer needs to evaluate you fairly. Use it when you have something to add. Skip it when you don't. There is no bonus for filling space.
Three legitimate uses
1. Explaining a real anomaly in your record
If your sophomore-year grades collapsed because you were caring for a sick parent, the admissions reader needs to know. If you took 18 months off school for medical treatment, the admissions reader needs to know. If you transferred high schools twice and your transcript looks chaotic, the admissions reader needs to know.
Tone matters. Two sentences of fact, no self-pity, no excuse-making. Example: "During the spring of my sophomore year, I was the primary caregiver for my grandmother during her hospice care. My grades that semester reflect the resulting absences. I returned to my prior performance level the following year." Done.
2. Adding important context to an activity
If your most meaningful activity needs more than 150 characters to explain — say, you founded a nonprofit and want to detail the impact — the Additional Info section is fair game for ~100 words of expansion. Do not duplicate your activities list. Add only what couldn't fit there.
3. Listing additional honors or activities that didn't fit
The Common App allows 10 activities and 5 honors. If you have a small handful of meaningful items that didn't make the cut, list them here, very briefly, in the same format as the activity list. Don't pad — admissions officers read this as desperation when there are too many entries.
Three illegitimate uses
1. A second personal essay
Do not use this space to write another version of your Common App essay. Admissions readers are reading 30+ applications a day. Adding another 650 words of narrative on the same themes makes you the applicant who couldn't edit themselves.
2. A list of every award you've ever won
Reading-level math, perfect attendance, citizenship awards from 8th grade — none of this belongs anywhere in your application. The honors section is for selective, externally validated awards. The Additional Info section is not the overflow.
3. Apologies or excuse-making for grades
If you got a B in calculus because the teacher was unfair, leave it blank. If you got a B in calculus because you have ADHD and a doctor's note, that may belong here — but only if framed factually, briefly, and once.
The COVID question
The Common App removed the dedicated COVID-19 question for the 2024–2025 cycle and beyond. If COVID disrupted your education in a documented, ongoing way (long-haul illness, lost a parent, severe school disruption), you can still mention it in Additional Info — but with restraint. Universal experiences ("online school was hard") don't merit a mention; specific, individual circumstances do.
The rule of thumb
Before writing, ask: Would the admissions officer evaluate me incorrectly without this information? If yes, write it. If no, leave it blank. "I want to share more about myself" is not a reason to use this section. "They need this context to read my application accurately" is the only reason.