<p>The Harvard application supplement allows you to include an 'Optional Essay'. Do you think it would be OK to submit a poem instead of an essay? (The poem is about where I live.) Yay or nay?</p>
<p>Yay probably</p>
<p>I would think so, but I guess it depends on the poem.</p>
<p>yay if you are an excellent poet.</p>
<p>nothing worse than bad poetry...</p>
<p>and nothing better than good poetry.</p>
<p>Nay. The beauty of poetry (or lack thereof) is HIGHLY subjective. You have no idea who will read your folder. If they love it, it's a minor plus. If they hate it, it's a reason to ding you. Don't risk it.</p>
<p>I second what hbarns said...I just went to a Johns Hopkins presentation by an admissions officer [granted it's not Harvard but still] and the officer griped for a long time about not sending poems in! She argued that they're usually bad (or at least what she considers bad) and it seems contrived...meaning that it's just a gimmick.</p>
<p>But if you're really good at poetry AND you want to be a writer/major in english and that's reflected in the rest of your app (awards, major interests, activities, etc.) it could be good. But otherwise I think they might feel you're just trying to do it in order to stand out and not because you really wanted to write it</p>
<p>Thanks all. I just wrote the piece on a whim as I sat in AP Lit listening to my teacher drone on and on... and on. I think its pretty good, but it probably won't make the admissions officers' jaws drop. I'll probably end up writing an essay.</p>
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Nay. The beauty of poetry (or lack thereof) is HIGHLY subjective. You have no idea who will read your folder. If they love it, it's a minor plus. If they hate it, it's a reason to ding you. Don't risk it.
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<p>i don't see the reason of all this hysteria about predicting the adcom's thoughts on the subject. Be yourself. You need to show them something really personal, something you love very much, something you put much effort in, and at last something that would tell adcom a great deal about you, about your personality, its distinctions. I think if this poem is exactly what your feelings and thoughts are about what you really care of, send! Don't waste your time and brain, trying to guess whether adcom likes it or not. They expect from you not something they like, but rather something they are pleasantly surprised with.</p>