<p>On the Common App, it appears optional, but is it really?</p>
<p>Definitely definitely do the “Why Yale” short answer. It’s only a few sentences long after all… and you might be perceived as uninterested in Yale if you don’t do it.</p>
<p>I don’t remember getting the sense that it’s optional; and even if it were, you would be wise to do it.</p>
<p>That was definitely my plan. I just figured that most Yale applicants probably wrote something very similar to what I did, and I had read some previous CC post that had implied that it was optional…</p>