Can anyone clarify the Harvard supplemental essay requirements?

Does anyone know the specific rules about Harvard supplemental essays? I’m a bit confused and I’ve tried searching around but I can’t find a ton of info on this. Which questions are required? I’m also confused about the additional essay. Does that have a 150-word limit, or is it another essay that you’d write 400-600 words for?

Also, is the supplemental essay recommended? I plan to do it, but at this point I’m not sure how much it will add to my application as a whole. Is it possible to submit TOO many materials? Is there any advantage to not doing it?

Thanks!

The supplemental essay is recommended, not required. But let’s be real - it’s really required.

You answer one, and only one, of the prompts.

There is no imposed word limit, but around 500 words is good. Fewer than 400 and you likely did not do a good job answering the prompt. More than 600 and you likely did not do a good job answering the prompt.

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Use it to tell the admissions committee something you feel they need to know, something totally different from your common app essay. My kid used it to tell Harvard what he wanted to study at Harvard, and why, since it wasn’t obvious from his high school interests and activities. He used it to tell Harvard that he was strongly interested in a very particular major that they offered.

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