How to explain blemishes on application?

marbl2020

Most of my apps ask me if my education was interrupted, then ask me to elaborate why. I wrote a very brief answer for most of them, but I'm not sure it's enough: "A protracted illness forced me to leave university in March 2012. I returned in August 2016." Columbia wants me to actually attach an addendum detailing exactly what happened. Do I need to detail my medical history or what?

The other thing is I was terminated four years ago from a job I held for two months. Two of my apps ask me to disclose this and they both ask me to elaborate. How detailed should I be? The answer is actually very simple, I was cashiering and my till came up five dollars over one day so I must have accidentally short changed a customer. To my surprise I was fired a few days later. Do I just say that, or do I talk about how I learned from the experience and so forth?