<p>For the Harvard supplement, the optional essays are for you to convey something important that the rest of the app seems to have left out. I think that my app covers everything well, and I don't have much to write that would be either interesting or important. Would this convey that I'm not interested in Harvard if I don't write additional essays? Are these essays supposed to be treated like additional recommendation letters, to be used only when you have something important to say?</p>
<p>It's really only needed if you have something else you want to add that you feel has not fully been shown in your application, other than that they really won't hold anything against you, so don't think too much about it.</p>