supplemental "optional info"

[wantmybrownie]

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so i'm finishing up my supplemental application, and the last part is optional and asks, "Take this as an opportunity to explain anything about you and your application that you feel would be valuable for the admission committee to know."

what should i put here? in addition to the pharmcas personal essay, there was also a supplemental essay and i feel like i've explained everything there is about me already. but are "optional" essays really optional?

 

[SlithyTove]

If you had to work 10-20 hours a week to pay for school because you rely on financial aid, grants, work study due to your socioeconomic status you could explain it in the optional section, thus showing why you weren't in a half-dozen clubs/extracurricular activities.

If you are completing your undergrad degree early (in 3 years instead of 4 years) and want to make a point of your hard work ethic.

 

[wantmybrownie]

thanks for the ideas! i was working full-time throughout my entire college career, so that really limited my extracurricular activities. i was only able to volunteer at a pharmacy for a semester, and that's all i have listed for my extracurricular activities. is that bad?

i mean, in high school, i was team captain of my school's basketball team, and was actually one of the driving forces to get a girls team started. (it was a small school with only a boys team at the time). would this be something significant to list and talk about, even if it was back in high school?

 

[Lagunatic]

thanks for the ideas! i was working full-time throughout my entire college career, so that really limited my extracurricular activities. i was only able to volunteer at a pharmacy for a semester, and that's all i have listed for my extracurricular activities. is that bad?

i mean, in high school, i was team captain of my school's basketball team, and was actually one of the driving forces to get a girls team started. (it was a small school with only a boys team at the time). would this be something significant to list and talk about, even if it was back in high school?

Were you in organizations? Were you active in your recreational activities? Hobbies? Do you write poems? Was there something interesting you did with your free time?

I would avoid high school unless it was a true passion or motivating factor that has aided you in your path to becoming you or path into pharmacy. I tend to believe that more recent examples might show the maturity in who you are now versus in high school.

Please keep in mind that my opinion is only pennies.

 

[Pojman]

Let me guess - Pacific University Oregon? I also was briefly stumped at this question. I got the feeling that this is the section that many people use to explain any deficiencies which are in their application. Although I do have a couple deficiencies, I decided to have no regrets and simply use this portion to expand on my strengths and enthusiasm.

I only used about 150 of 400 characters in this section and explained why I thought I would be a great student for their program.

 

[SlithyTove]

I agree with not listing high school unless you are applying to pharmacy school during your sophomore year.

Working full time is considered to be 40 hours a week. Do you really mean you worked 40 hours a week during the school year in college? Or was it full time in summer and part time during each semester?

In answering this supplemental question, if you are going to talk about working and how it limited the time you had available to become involved in extracurriculars, please explain why you worked so much (otherwise you could not afford college and also that you rely heavily on grants/loans/other financial aid?).