<p>"Occasionally, students feel that college application forms do not provide sufficient opportunity to convey important information about themselves or their accomplishments. If there is something you would like us to know, please inform us below. If you wish to include an additional essay, you may do so."</p>
<p>But the options also includes:</p>
<p>"A list of the books you have read during the past twelve months."</p>
<p>A essay cannot possibly include "a <list> of books"</list></p>
<p>So does it mean that that I can simply include a simple list of books?</p>
<p>The additional essay is just that – it’s extra. Students have been accepted just listing books, others have been accepted with more legit essays, and still others have been accepted without an additional essay.</p>
<p>Even though ‘list of books’-type questions are very susceptible to umm…let’s say, creative embellishment?–I would nonetheless find a genuine list of books an applicant [for any position really, college spot or entry level analyst, or even senator or president] has read in the last 12 months to be very informative. It can suggest a number of qualities, from depth and curiosity to persistence and obsession. It can actually be more revealing than an essay.</p>
<p>My GENUINE list includes famous and acclaimed classics like Omar Khayam’s rubaiyat, Tagore’s gitanjali, Thoreau’s Walden, Emerson’s Essays, and the like and the list definitely is not creatively embellished. So it can have certain positive influence right?</p>
<p>Look. I don’t think it can hurt. You’ll probably have an interview with an alum as well, and during the interview, it’s not unlikely that the topic of ‘books you’ve read’ comes up. If you can talk about Emerson and Thoreau intelligently then, I’m sure the alum report will only corroborate your submitted list.</p>
<p>khittee, the book list asks what you read, and if those are the books that you read it’s great, but they are not better or worse than the more casual books. You can write about anything here, book list or random essay or short responses etc that’s befitting to your personality.</p>
<p>I would only include a list of books if it were necessary for the admissions officer to understand me better. If you can look at your list of books and can truly say “This is emblematic of who I am, and here is why…” without needing to think too hard about it, then include it. </p>
<p>There is a reason it’s an extra essay and not a required question, and that is that the admissions officers figured that in the majority of cases, a list of an applicant’s past read books would not be helpful to them. Make sure yours is.</p>