On May 12th, College Board announced that the 2020-2021 Common App application would be different. In addition to the standard Additional Information section, there will be an additional optional 250-word question focused on COVID-19. We think this is a very important and necessary move to make the college application process fairer. All students are dealing with extraordinary circumstances, and many need room to explain how their situation is particularly trying.

However, we also believe that a significant chunk of students should not answer this question at all. For them, answering it could actually hurt their applications. Below, we’ll help you figure out whether you should use the new COVID-19 additional information section, or if it is best left blank. But first, the prompt:

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. Colleges care about the effects on your health and well-being, safety, family circumstances, future plans, and education, including access to reliable technology and quiet study spaces.

Do you wish to share anything on this topic? Y/N

Please use this space to describe how these events have impacted you.

Now that you’ve read the prompt, we first want to remind you that you do not need to respond to this prompt. It is optional. Not ‘optional’ in the way that college supplements are labeled as optional but aren’t actually optional at all, but truly optional. Answering improperly or insensitively could hurt you.

Secondly, the existence of this prompt means that you should absolutely not use the Common App essay to write about how you struggled through this time. College Board is giving you this extra space because they are discouraging a flood of hundreds of thousands of Common App essays about closed schools, canceled activities, family hardship, and general frustration. The addition of this supplement is a big sign pointing you away from the Common App essay, if those are topics that you feel passionate about writing about.

This does not mean that you cannot write about something that happened during this time in your Common App essay. However, your Common App essay cannot be an essay simply about how this time was particularly hard for you. Some ideas for what you can and should write about for your Common App essay can be found here and here!

If you don’t need to write anything, when could writing something for the new optional COVID-19 additional information section be a good idea?

Writing a response is a good idea if…

you or someone you live with has had COVID-19 or another health issue that was exacerbated by this crisis, and it has drastically impacted your ability to keep up with schoolwork or to explore other interests at this time.
your family was severely impacted financially through loss-of-work and it has drastically impacted your family resources, personal responsibilities, and ability to keep up with schoolwork or to explore other interests at this time.
learning from home was made especially tricky by your living situation. For example, you don’t have a computer at home, you don’t have reliable internet, or you have an extreme lack of space to work. Sharing a bedroom with a sibling may be annoying, but it isn’t onerous. Living in a one-bedroom apartment with six family members may well be.

If any of the scenarios above apply to you, you only have 250 words, so you will need to write a compact-yet-detailed explanation of the why and the how of your experience. All writing should be good writing, but this section is more about getting facts across than it is about spinning a good story.

If you don’t need to write anything, when could writing something for this new section be a bad idea?

Writing a response is a bad idea if…

your family is financially comfortable at this time.
you are in a stable home situation with access to plentiful educational resources.
you were able to leave your primary home for a secondary residence.

Everyone is struggling in some way right now, but not every struggle is equal. The new COVID-19 section of the Common App Additional Information section is a fantastic opportunity for people who are having a particularly tough time. Still, using it could work against students who have had an easier time than others. As we always do with the Additional Information section, we ask students to seriously consider the purpose of providing “additional information” and whether using those 250 words would truly improve your application, or potentially undermine your chances of admission.

If you are excited to apply to college but unsure of where to start, send us an email. We specialize in making the stressful process of college applications simpler.