<p>Do most people send in an essay with their application or not?</p>
<p>Sending in an essay won’t hurt you, but here’s the way I see it: only send in the optional essay if you feel like you need to explain another part of the application, such as a low GPA or low test scores. Otherwise it’s just extra stuff for the admissions people to read. I’m an out of state student, so I didn’t know too many people who applied, but those who did didn’t include the essay and were all accepted.</p>