UC Additional Comments — What to Write in Each Box

UC Additional Comments — What to Write in Each Box

The UC application has two Additional Comments boxes. The one in Academic History has a 550-character limit and is for facts about your school and grades. The one in the personal insight questions (PIQ) section is for life context. Neither is for a fifth PIQ.

UC's September 2026 counselor deck is blunt about that last point: the box "should NOT be a 5th PIQ. We will not consider that." It is easy to think of "the additional comments section" as one box. There are two, and the skill is putting each fact in the right one. Your four answers get their own read in the UC PIQ review; this page covers the boxes around them.

Every UC page and deck quoted below was checked on October 30, 2026. UC's public pages state no limit for the PIQ-section box, so read it in your own application. The fall 2027 filing period ends November 30, 2026, and UC says "very few changes can be made after submission," so a mistake after submitting is hard to undo.

Two boxes, two jobs

UC's 2026–27 counselor deck, Presenting yourself on the first-year UC application, describes both boxes. Here is what it and UC's admissions staff say about each.

The examples in the fourth row come from Robert Penman, who leads undergraduate admissions at UC Davis, in a UC interview with three admissions staff published October 23, 2025. On the PIQ-section box:

The Additional Comments field in the PIQ section can be very helpful for providing more context about your home or school environment that we won't learn about in other portions of the application. You can use it for anything you want to, as long as it's not another Personal Insight Question response.

And on the Academic History box:

There is another, shorter Additional Comments section in the Academic History portion of the application. Maybe your school uses a different grading scale or limits the number of advanced courses you can take — that's a good place to tell us things like that.

What UC says the boxes are for

UC's personal insight questions page gives the general rule: "This shouldn't be an essay, but rather a place to note unusual circumstances or anything that might be unclear in other parts of the application."

UC lets you use this box for undocumented status in the UC application, but it is optional.

The September 2026 myths deck from UC's counselor conference takes on the rumor that readers skip the box. It labels "admission counselors never read it!" a myth and says:

• This should NOT be a 5th PIQ. We will not consider that.
• If there is added context about the student that has not been mentioned anywhere else on the application, they may use this space to share.
• Anything from additional activities, challenges that have impacted their academics, etc.

Jayne Reimel of UC's central admissions office, in the same October 2025 interview, adds the line that should govern your tone: "Give information, not excuses."

One campus goes further. UC Berkeley's PIQ page says you can use the box "to list any additional honors awards, activities, leadership elements, volunteer activities, etc.; to share information regarding a nontraditional school environment or unusual circumstances that has not been included in any other area of the application." The UC-wide deck also names "additional activities"; Berkeley is the campus that spells the list out.

Should you use it? A decision test

Our view: use a box only when a reader holding your file would otherwise misread a fact. If nothing would be misread, leave both boxes empty. A blank box costs nothing; Penman calls the sections "completely optional."

The basis: UC's own wording is "anything that might be unclear in other parts of the application." Penman's version: "Take that 30,000-foot look at your application." Ask whether the reader "might still have questions about who I am, my history, my academic record or my interests."

The countercase: if the context is a large part of your story, a box is too small. A family responsibility that shaped your schooling may deserve a full 350-word answer to Question 4 or 5. The UC educational opportunity or barrier PIQ guide and how to write the challenge PIQ without forced trauma cover that choice. Use the box for the fact, and the PIQ for the story, never both for the same thing.

Run each item through this table:

First, never hide a bad grade and hope the box goes unread. Your grades go in Academic History either way, and Penman is direct: "falsification in the application, including omission of information like poor grades, is a deal breaker." The box explains a grade you have already reported.

Second, sensitive context is safe to include. Penman: "There's nothing you can say about mental health or family circumstances or school challenges or things that are important to you that will ding you or cause you to not be admitted." The reader needs the fact and its effect on your record, not a medical history.

If you could not meet a UC requirement, UC's Quick Reference Guide (August 2026, page 26) says to "use the personal insight questions or additional comments section of the application to explain their unique story," and that "Students cannot request consideration for admission by exception." State the facts; do not ask for an exception.

Five constructed entries

These five constructed examples, written by us, not real applicant statements, follow the decision table. Character counts are our count, spaces included; UC's deck does not say whether spaces count, so stay well under 550.

Constructed entry 1: a school that caps AP courses

Context (invented): a student at a school with a two-AP limit. Box: Academic History.

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant statement.

My high school limits each student to two AP courses per year and offers six AP courses in total. In 11th grade I took the two allowed (AP U.S. History and AP Chemistry). Honors English 11 was the only other advanced course open to juniors. The cap is printed in our school course guide.

That is 287 characters and 54 words. It states the rule, what the student did inside it, and where the rule is written down. It does not argue that the student deserved more APs.

Constructed entry 2: a grading scale UC readers may not know

Context (invented): a student at a school outside the US. Box: Academic History. UC's Quick Reference Guide tells students to report grades from outside the US "exactly as given by their school — as numbers, letters, percentages or words."

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant statement.

My school grades on a 100-point scale with no letter grades and no class rank. I entered every mark exactly as it appears on my transcript. Marks of 90 and above are the highest band the school reports. Physics was offered only as a one-semester course, so it appears once.

That is 273 characters and 50 words. Two facts a reader could misread (the scale and the single Physics term) are answered in four sentences.

Constructed entry 3: a grade drop during a parent's illness

Context (invented): a junior-year grade fell while a parent was in treatment. Box: PIQ section. Here a weak and a revised version are worth comparing.

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant statement. The weak version:

Junior year was the hardest time of my life. My mom got sick and everything fell apart. I struggled so much and my grades suffered, but I never gave up and it made me stronger. I hope you understand that my grades do not show who I really am.

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant statement. The revised version:

From January to May of 11th grade, my mother was in treatment. On weeknights I drove my two younger brothers to and from school and made dinner. My Chemistry grade fell from a B in fall term to a D in spring term. I repeated Chemistry in summer school and earned an A; both grades are listed in Academic History. My mother finished treatment in June, and my weekday schedule is back to normal.

The weak version asks the reader to feel something. The revised one says what happened, when, which grade it touched, what the student did, and whether it continues. That is Reimel's "information, not excuses" applied line by line.

Constructed entry 4: work hours that explain a short activities list

Context (invented): a student in a family business, job already listed under Work Experience. Box: PIQ section.

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant statement.

I have worked 18 hours a week at my family's restaurant since 10th grade: Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday lunch. The job is listed under Work Experience. I mention the schedule here because it is why I have not joined clubs that meet on Friday afternoons, and why my activities list has four entries.

It adds what the activities entry cannot say: why the list is short.

Constructed entry 5: activities beyond the 20 slots

Context (invented): all 20 activity entries used. Box: PIQ section.

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant statement.

Additional activities (all 20 entries used): Volunteer homework tutor at my public library, 10th and 11th grade, 2 hours a week. Member, school jazz band, 9th grade only. Second place, county science fair, 11th grade.

Only do this if you truly ran out: UC's deck says you do not need "to add the maximum of 20 activities." The real work happens inside the 20 entries; see the UC Activities & Awards section guide.

Common mistakes in UC additional comments

• Writing a fifth PIQ. A reflective essay in the PIQ-section box is the one use UC has said, in writing, it "will not consider."
• Repeating the transcript. The reader already has your grades. Explain only what the grades cannot show.
• Explaining a grade without the outcome. Say what happened next: the course you repeated, the next term's grade, or that it is ongoing. "Recent, marked improvement" is one of UC's 13 comprehensive review factors.

UC Additional Comments vs Common App Additional Information

Different fields, different applications. Common App's 2025 counselor update cut its Additional Information maximum "from 650 words to 300 words" for 2025–26. UC's Academic History box holds about what entries 1 and 2 hold, so cut a Common App entry to its facts before pasting. The Common App Additional Information guide covers that field.

Questions about UC Additional Comments

What is the word limit for UC additional comments?

The Academic History box has a 550-character limit, per UC's 2026–27 counselor deck. UC's public pages do not state a limit for the PIQ-section box; Penman calls the Academic History box the "shorter" one. Check the PIQ-section field in your application.

Can I use additional comments to explain bad grades?

Yes. Reimel: "If there is a reason for a low grade or something unusual in your coursework or grades, Additional Comments is the perfect place to explain." Report the grade in Academic History, then explain it in the box that fits: school reasons in Academic History, life reasons in the PIQ section. Transfer applicant? The UC transfer additional comments guide covers the Academic History box for Ws, repeats and gaps.

For out-of-state UC applicants, this field is where school-designated honors and AP limits get explained.

For whether to mention ADHD or a learning disability at all, the federal rule and a decision table are on that page.

Get a free review of your UC PIQ

Get a free Quick Review of your UC additional comments against GradPilot's general undergraduate Additional Information rubric. It reads whether your entry gives the reader the context they need and whether the account is easy to follow. For the four answers themselves, the UC PIQ review checks each response against its question; Questions 4 and 5 use the opportunity and challenge rubric, and Question 8 uses the strong candidate rubric.

More UC application guides:

• UC application checklist before you submit: the academic-record checks that matter more than any box.
• UC personal insight questions for the 2026–2027 cycle: dates, rules and the choose-four method.
• Every college admissions essay guide, organized.

Sources

Retrieved October 30, 2026, except where noted.

• University of California, Presenting yourself on the first-year UC application (2026–27 counselor deck): both boxes, the 550-character limit, the 20-activity note.
• University of California, Shaping your personal narrative (October 23, 2025): Penman and Reimel quotes.
• University of California, Debunking admissions myths (September 2026 counselor conference): "We will not consider that."; additional activities.
• University of California, Personal insight questions (first year) (no cycle label on the page): "This shouldn't be an essay…".
• University of California, Filling out the application (no cycle label on the page): "very few changes can be made after submission."
• UC Berkeley, Personal Insight Questions (no year stated): Berkeley's list of uses for the box.
• University of California, Quick Reference Guide to UC Admissions (August 2026): admission by exception (page 26); reporting grades from outside the US (page 61).
• Common App, What's New webinar for counselors (2025, for 2025–26): Additional Information cut from 650 to 300 words.