<p>I've heard arguments on both sides of this issue so I ask this to see if I can get to the bottom of this.</p>
<p>There are quite a few schools on CommonApp including Harvard, Duke, and Penn's page 217 supplement essay that are (optional). My friend who is now going to college said that they don't really mean optional and not writing one will make it look like you don't care as much about their university. But then when I look at the college's opinion, they say it's TRULY optional with an emphasis on truly.</p>
<p>What do you guys think? Any current college students who didn't right supplemental essays that got in?</p>
<p>Think of a well written optional essay as you would extra credit. They’re truly optional for sure thing candidates who have outstanding test scores, amazing GPAs, and impressive extras. For borderline applicants, well, they’re still optional, and while you might not hurt your chances by not submitting one, I don’t know why you wouldn’t if you’re in search of a way to push your application over the top.</p>
<p>And, especially if you’re a writer, wouldn’t you want another essay prompt to tackle? Not doing these, especially Penn’s which is a sick prompt imo (don’t know about the other few), will make you seem lazy and uncreative. Again, they say it’s optional, but there’s a chance adcoms will form unfavorable opinions of you. I certainly would.</p>
<p>I didn’t do an optional (recommended) interview to a school that I had the stats and ECs to easily get into and I got waitlisted. Could my lack of an interview have played a negative factor? I can’t say for sure, but it wouldn’t surprise me. </p>
<p>Throw the kitchen sink at these schools. Give them as few reasons to reject you as possible.</p>