<p>How many of you have submitted the app WITHOUT the optional essay?</p>
<p>Are they really optional and do people get accepted without it?</p>
<p>Are there discussions about this in the past?</p>
<p>If you’re an average applicant, then its not really optional…if you’ve won international awards, then you’ll be fine without it.</p>
<p>Sent from my SGH-T959V using CC App</p>
<p>did not know this. Thought it was TRULY optional.</p>
<p>So, does it mean average applicants NEED to write this?</p>
<p>Heard so many submitted without the optional essay and still got in.</p>
<p>anyone else??</p>
<p>No, average applicants do not NEED to write the optional. </p>
<p>It’s optional, it doesn’t matter about your rankings or scores or whatever - it’s still optional. However, if you don’t have one of those big merits that really make you a strong applicant, having an additional essay is an excellent option. It proves your interest to do more than the required.</p>
<p>Point in case: it is optional, no matter who you are - the fact is that people still submit it in order to provide another aspect of an application to look at besides the SAT/ACT, GPA, etc.</p>
<p>Paradoxical may it sound, sometimes, optional are not really optional.
I heard from someone that not writing an optional essay can be a sign of not having enough interest in the school you are applying, a reason why many people still encourage students to elaborate on their optional essays for their best.</p>
<p>I think the essay is truly optional. I did not write one and I was admitted early decision. My reasoning for not writing the essay was that I felt like I had said everything I needed to in the other parts of my application. If anything, I didn’t want to submit an essay that wasn’t meaningful just for the sake of writing the optional essay. I think it’s helpful to write it if you have another aspect of yourself as an applicant that you want to show, but in the end, it really is optional.</p>
<p>I think sushienthusiast (lovely username, by the way!) hit it right on. I used the optional essay to mention topics/items not seen anywhere else. If you’re just going to talk about something on your resume, or something that you talked about in another essay, then you are not helping yourself (one may even say that it hurts you to keep talking about items on your resume/activities list). Think about something meaningful that isn’t on the rest of the application, and talk about that. I guarantee that uniqueness will help your case for admission.</p>