<p>I didn't fill out the supplement essay... I felt like my common app essay was enough and I had also submitted evaluations from an academic summer program and I didn't want my app to be too lengthy.</p>
<p>So what did other people do? How necessary did you think the supp essay was?</p>
<p>The supplementary essay is optional. People choose to write a supplementary essay if they feel that the common app essay wasn’t enough to convey their passions, goals, personality, or anything else they wanted the adcoms to know. </p>
<p>I did choose to write the essay. But if you feel that your common app essay was enough, it won’t hurt you.</p>
<p>I read somewhere (maybe on CC) that for top schools, optional essays are NOT optional!</p>
<p>Why so? What was the reasoning behind the essay being non-optional?</p>
<p>Optional is derived from the latin word optionalius, whose root is tionum, which actually means required/important.</p>
<p>optio-optiare is Latin for “to need” or “to necessitate”</p>
<p>I actually heard of several people who got in without the ‘optional’ essay, so, in this case, I guess it’s really optional ;)</p>
<p>Meh, IMO, it’s best to err on the side of caution and write a supplementary essay so as to provide as full, thorough of an application as possible.</p>
<p>My son wrote the supplemental essay because every other university to which he applied (save Dartmouth) had a supplemental set of questions ranging from a few word answers to a series of essays and he felt it was the best way to “say that something extra” about “why Harvard,” his interests, etc. He does not have a perfect GPA (but does have mostly 33s and one 36 on ACT) and hoped that the personal touch of the essay might compel the admissions officers to give him pause. He’s also a very fine writer and has won several writing awards through high school, so an essay is certainly something that could help distinguish him from the masses. He still knows Harvard is a total reach, but as I said to him, “If you don’t apply, you’ll never know and what’s the worst thing that can happen?” Obviously, the answer is, he would not get in and that is decidedly NOT the end of the world.</p>
<p>My D had average stats by Harvard standards (i.e., 2210 SAT, 3.92 unweighted GPA, no hooks) and got in without writing a supplemental essay. What she did have were outstanding ECs and a terrific common app essay. My advice: if you think your common app essay put your best foot forward, relax and spend the time with your family or friends.</p>