<p>i’m applying transfer to BU now, and there’s an “optional essay” asking whether we have additional information to provide.</p>
<p>Can anyone share your successful use of the space? Or you just ignored it??</p>
<p>Thanks !!</p>
<p>I used it---plugged in an essay I had already written for another college which I felt explained my interests more clearly.</p>
<p>Don't know whether it was successful or not...we'll see lol</p>
<p>Ew, don't call it BU, it's Brown.</p>
<p>haha! I know, I was about to say umm...I think you're on the wrong university site hahaha. But yea, I used it, I talked about my experiences with my health and my mother abandoning me, and a little bit about how my standardized test scores don't reflect my capabilities; it was a poem! I love writing..</p>
<p>I wrote mine as a letter, stating "Dear Brown," haha...</p>
<p>maybe he means boston university</p>
<p>pinneaplelollie- good one! i wrote a letter to brown too but only explaining a supplement i sent. it was a 13 pg. business plan for a business my friends and i established & how we won a business competition and now are planning to sell our idea for over 30k! im so excited, even if i dont get into Brown (which is 99% likely) im going to try hard my first semester and then transfer (probably after two semesters if i dont like wherever i end up!) hehe. good luck anyway! :)</p>
<p>Nah. I took it to be something generally as an explanation for gaps in an application. I didn't really have anything that needed particular explanation.</p>
<p>Especially when they said to keep it as close to a paragraph as possible, I believe it was just a place for explanation. Nothing more really...</p>
<p>Yep, I used it. I had a supplement that I had written for another school about the business that I run - guess it worked. :)</p>
<p>I would use it to explain anything especially unique or interesting about yourself.</p>
<p>thanks for your replies!!</p>
<p>btw, i do mean Brown by BU, and i did thought BU meant brown university, though using it for boston at the same time.. haha</p>
<p>sorry, misunderstood your question.</p>
<p>No I did not use the optional essay :)</p>
<p>I used it for my "why Brown" essay that was too long.. is that bad?</p>
<p>Well, since it was only a paragraph and you can't really do much with that, I decided to tell them something completely random about myself. I told them about my rather unique ability to completely memorize random trivia without even trying and how i'm convinced i would win jeopardy.</p>
<p>I was hoping that it would add a little memorable quirk to my application.</p>
<p>Although it's all water under the bridge now, my suggestion is to ALWAYS do something that is optional. Consider it to be REQUIRED. Doing it puts you a notch above those who just couldn't be bothered.</p>
<p>Franglish</p>
<p>1) Optional truly does mean optional.</p>
<p>2) This really wasn't in the same vein as other optional essays, like Duke's, for instance.</p>
<p>^^ For what it's worth, my guidance conselor said there is no such thing as an optional item on an app. The trick is to find something relevant to put in there... it's gotta be beyond the name/rank/serial number stuff that is in the rest of the app. If you decide to do it, make sure it does not waste the reader's time.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>Well, it really doesn't affect your chances of admission either way, I assure you. If you got in and wrote an awesome optional essay, it wasn't because of your awesome optional essay.</p>
<p>You should probably do Harvard's, though.</p>