Duke has two optional supplement questions on the Common App. The first asks if “you’d like to share a perspective you bring or experiences you’ve had to help us understand you better-perhaps related to a community you belong to or your family or cultural background.” The second asks if you would like to share more about your gender identity or sexual orientation. I could answer the first one, though I don’t know if what I write would strengthen my application at all, and I don’t have anything to say for the second prompt.
I understand that for some schools, their “optional” writing supplement isn’t truly optional because it’s used to gauge interest or distinguish applicants (i.e. Harvard’s additional essay). However, by the nature of these questions, I am under the impression that these supplements have no underlying implications for whether or not you complete them. I just wanted to make sure.
Hey I applied and got in and would strongly recommend doing them. They give you a chance to show more of yourself than just gpa, sat scores, ect. At the end of the day they care about who you are as people as well as whether or not you’re smart. You could be the smartest person in your class and they’d still reject you if they find you boring.
I was class of '16 so I applied in 2012, and I did not write any optional essays. Even in this past cycle when I applied to medical school, I didn’t write any optional essays if I didn’t feel like I had anything worthwhile to say.
If you DO have something special, definitely write it! There are for sure schools where writing optional essays = demonstrated interest, but Duke is probably one where you really have to evaluate whether you feel strong enough about what you want to say. A bad essay -might- hurt you by taking away from the rest of your stellar application; a great essay might earn you an acceptance.
This process is HIGHLY UNPREDICTABLE. You can’t control what they’re looking for or how they’ll respond to it, so just focus on your story and telling it to the best of your ability. I can’t stress being yourself enough - there will be lots of people who’ll try to sell a story that isn’t genuine. 1) Adcoms will see through it, and 2) even if they do get in, they will have done themselves a disservice because they may not be super happy at Duke.
If you can answer it (even creatively) and show that you do have a unique perspective to bring to campus, then I would share it. Otherwise, it is truly optional. Examples of unique “diversity” statements–socioeconomic diversity, if you have a disability, speaking a different language at home, etc. I wrote about growing up poor but attending a rich school and the perspective on education it gave me (c/o 21).