"Optional Essays"

<p>Anyone having trouble writing Hopkins "optional essays" (which are not truly optional since the admission folks clearly stated "We REALLY REALLY REALY encourage you to submit the OPTIONAL essaysl Especially the $10 one.")? Do you think it's okay not to write the "best teacher essay?" I know I'll eventually end up writing both of them but the mere thought of polishing 2 essays is tiring me already. AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!</p>

<p>If you really wanted to go, you wouldn't have any problems.</p>

<p>"best teacher essay"? what application are you using? and tinas is right, if you don't want to write the essays then don't apply.</p>

<p>Oh, and the 10$ isn't optiona..in fact, theres no such essay on the JHU application...</p>

<p>Essay #1
What would you do in a day? </p>

<p>Essay #2
Class/ most influence</p>

<p>There are no "optional" essays.</p>

<p>well technically the essays ARE optional, meaning that if you don't do them your application will still be evaluated...but not doing them will hurt your application a lot so you might as well call them "required"</p>

<p>Oops my bad. I meant "most influential class," not "best teacher."
Btw I decided to just write it. O well good luck to everyone applying RD!</p>

<p>The "what you would do in a day" essay used to be the "$10 essay" - the prompt used to be something along the lines of: "Describe an adventure you would go on if you had a full day and $10 in your pocket"</p>

<p>If we decide to do the optional essays, are we required to do both of them or can we just do one of them?</p>

<p>If you're not gonna wanna do the essays, that WILL help you get in-Why the hell are you applying? If you want to get into JHU, you will do anything in your power to get in. You're not gonna sit around contemplating whether or not to do the "optional" essays.</p>

<p>You make me sick. If you're to lazy to do the essays (I mean sitting here and asking if you should do both), then don't turn in your stats and make it harder for the rest of us to get in.</p>

<p>What you just said, makes you seem lazy and unmotivated to get into JHU. So don't even bother. Save your time.</p>

<p>Ouch....
Jeez, it was just a simple question. Just because I want to make my life easier and write only one of the OPTIONAL essays, I make you sick??? You know what, you make ME sick. People come onto this site looking for simple answers to simple questions, and people like you trash those questions without knowing anything about the posters just because you think you're better than everybody else. How do you know that I'm too lazy to complete 2 essays? How do you know about any of the things I'm going through? I don't know what your problem is, but you need to seriously reevaluate your attitude.</p>

<p>To the other posters on this thread, I'm sorry about getting off topic, but that person's response seemed really ridiculous to me.</p>

<p>Oh my attitude is ridiculous? Oh okay....whatever.</p>

<p>I tend to agree with tinas. These are two essays that are suppose to shed more light on yourself and it shows that you really care about being someone who wants to go to JHU. I don't see an attitude by tinas. i see passion in her writing those strong comments and her desire to go to Johns Hopkins.</p>

<p>Look, all I wanted to find out is if we had to choose between one of the two essays or if we had to do both of them if we wanted to do the optional part, and for some reason, I got a response that said that I was too lazy to finish two essays and that I made someone sick. You tell me if that's justified or not. All I wanted was some friendly advice, and I got anger. If she wants to go to JHU, fine, let her show passion for it, but telling others that they are lazy and shouldn't apply is crossing the line.</p>

<p>Guys, I feel so much undeserved hostility directed at funkydesi... and I feel sorry for him.
I believe his original question was "Are we required to do both of them or can we just do one of them?" Nowhere in the question did he say he doesn't want to or is too lazy to write both essays, if I'm not mistaken.
Also I find some of the comments (like "You make me sick" or "You seem lazy and unmotivated, so don't even bother applying") extremely rude and absurd.
It could have been said in a nicer way, tinas, if you had to insist on saying it.
So my point is...we should try to avoid overanalyzing whether it be the SATs or real life.</p>

<p>A sudden thought just occurred to me that I'm not so sure whether funkydesi is male or female.
I apologize if you're a girl, funkydesi...
I used "he" and "him" all over in my writing.</p>

<p>First to the originial question:
It is the choice of each individual applicant using the Common Application whether they want to write the two JHU essays. As you have heard and read, it is strongly recommended that applicants complete BOTH these essays. Read more about this here: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=221180%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=221180&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Now on to the other reason I posted on this thread:
I can no longer ignore the fact that some of you have begun to get quite rude on these threads. There was absolutely no reason why anyone should ever personally attack another poster. As my mother has always said, "If you have nothing nice to say, that keep your mouth shut!" I tend not to get involved in such threads where some choose to haze/flame another poster...but honestly there is absolutely no need for that. </p>

<p>Because you are nervous about whether or not you will get into Hopkins is no reason to attack another student. Yes, these boards are "confidential" but do note that it will not be that hard for me to match up your posts with your application. Personal qualities matter in the application review process, and I think some of you might want to remember that when you are commenting on these threads. </p>

<p>This sense of competition and anger about what another applicant is doing is truly ridiculous. We admissions counselors know how to do our jobs quite well. Because one student is "in love with" Hopkins and one student might not want to write the supplemental essays are mutually exclusive. Stop commenting on things you just don't understand, and stop being rude.</p>

<p>Enough said.</p>

<p>I know, now that I look back I was being pretty mean. I was just having an awful awful day, I'm sorry though!</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>I understand that you made those remarks because you want to get into JHU so badly and got angry at the notion that others were applying but doing only half of the work you did. Since you seem to really want to be at JHU, I wish you luck when decisions come around.</p>

<p>Yeah, that was it. But I decided between last night and now that the world won't end if I don't get into JHU. And if JHU doesn't see my potential and doesn't accept me, then its their loss and not mine. </p>

<p>And which ever school does accept me, will drown in fame- due to my future success as a virologist. </p>

<p>I feel so much better now.</p>