<p>Interesting article about selecting college students who are more than just their SAT scores, including discussion of Tufts' application essay questions:</p>
<p>To</a> get the real star students, college admissions should look beyond SATs</p>
<p>Does this mean that answering the optional essay question on the Tuft’s application is encouraged? And would writing an good/ little above average one help an applicant’s chance of getting in?</p>
<p>You should answer the optional essay question if (i) you are intrigued by the opportunity and (ii) doing so will enable you to tell the AdCom something about yourself that the rest of the app might not convey. They want to hear your “voice.” If you think that the rest of the app has already done that, and you are not inclined to do the optional essay, no worries - it’s really optional. Many students do feel that it gives them an opportunity to convey that little something extra, and they do so to good effect.</p>
<p>You should definitely ALWAYS do all of the ‘optional’ and ‘extra’ stuff that you can. It shows them that you are really interested and committed to doing whatever it takes.</p>
<p>Don’t wirte the optional essay because of strategy. Write it because you have something interesting to say.</p>
<p>There is definitely no need to write it unless something honestly seems interesting or relevant to you. I know plenty of people here who got in without writing the optional essay. I probably wouldn’t have done any of the ones given this year, but when I applied there was a question about Kermit the frog, so naturally I did that.</p>
<p>My S wrote about Kermit, but his “it’s not easy being green” essay had nothing to do with the environment or other obvious things.</p>
<p>My son wrote the alternative history essay last year. The minute he saw the question he wanted to have fun with it. It was a really good opportunity for him to show his creativity, his knowledge of history, and his quirky sense of humor. While AdmissionsDan has said multiple times that the optional essays truly are optional, I do think they offer an really good opportunity to show off other aspects of yourself.</p>
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<p>**This is bad advice<a href=“at%20Tufts”>/b</a>. If you write an optional essay it should be because you find yourself intrigued/excited/connected to one of the questions. Mathmom is 100% correct that these questions “offer a really good opportunity to show off other aspects of yourself” - and this is something I see borne out all the time. But read over Mathmom’s description of the enthusiasm her son felt for the question and read over my sentiments in other relevant threads (posted below). You’ll find a symmetry.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/1013575-literally-optional-qs-about-optional-essay.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/1013575-literally-optional-qs-about-optional-essay.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/829284-optional-tufts-essay-truly-optional.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/829284-optional-tufts-essay-truly-optional.html</a></p>
<p>As my husband says, anytime someone says that something is “optional,” you should do it.</p>
<p>I have repeatedly read what you have said, Dan, about “truly optional.” As a matter of fact, I asked you the question about whether it was “truly optional” during the Class of 2014 admissions cycle. My son chose not to do the optional essay last year and was wait-listed by Tufts. No sour grapes here. He was admitted to several much more selective institutions and is attending one of them.</p>
<p>He interviewed, visited, had an outstanding academic record at a super-competitive independent school, varsity captain, serious musician, musical theatre, unusual high level summer medical internship, submitted a science abstract etc. Terrific teacher recs. He was truly interested in Tufts and I believe he demonstrated that. He didn’t consider Tufts to be a “back-up.” So, based on his overall results we can only surmise that one of two things was at play here. Either “Tufts Syndrome,” which I know isn’t practiced at Tufts, :rolleyes: or his failure to write the “optional” essay.</p>
<p>I was never going to comment about this, but after continuing to read the questions about “truly optional” I wanted to share one family’s situation. Again, no sour grapes here. He loves his current college. Just wanted to share one family’s cautionary tale.</p>
<p><<<my son=“” chose=“” not=“” to=“” do=“” the=“” optional=“” essay=“” last=“” year=“” and=“” was=“” wait-listed=“” by=“” tufts.=“” no=“” sour=“” grapes=“” here=“”>>></my></p>
<p>Glad there are no sour grapes, there.</p>
<p><<so, based=“” on=“” his=“” overall=“” results=“” we=“” can=“” only=“” surmise=“” that=“” one=“” of=“” two=“” things=“” was=“” at=“” play=“” here.=“” either=“” “tufts=”" syndrome,“=”" which=“” i=“” know=“” isn’t=“” practiced=“” tufts,=“” or=“” failure=“” to=“” write=“” the=“” “optional”=“” essay.=“”>></so,></p>
<p>Or, three, Tufts shies away from the narcissistic parent.</p>
<p>Abridged profile of my child and two school chums who were admitted to Tufts–two of whom are having an ECSTATICALLY happy, freshman year at Tufts; the other of whom is doing a Gap year before joining Tufts’ class of 2015:</p>
<p>-2300+ on SAT I, 700+ on Subject tests/SAT IIs
-4.1+ GPA, unweighted
-All accepted to Stanford and chose Tufts over Stanford.
-Lost limbs ministering to the sick and injured in Kosovo
-Can inscribe Kant’s “The Critique of Practical Reason” on a grain of (cooked) rice
-Are able to make any string instrument out of saliva, hair strands, and tongue depressors
-On the precipice of unlocking the secret to disarming Clindamycin-resistant anaerobic bacteria
-ya-da, ya-da, ya-da</p>
<p>Not an optional essay among the three of them.</p>
<p>A couple of things that everyone on CC should know or learn: </p>
<p>Being admitted to a school that accepts 15% of its applicants does not mean that you’re a shoe-in for a school that admits 25%.</p>
<p>The less “perfect” your stats, the more important other factors will be.</p>
<p>But responding to an optional essay when you’re not intrigued/excited/connected, is probably a waste of time.</p>
<p>SWHarbor Fan,
If you omitted the personal attack, perhaps I could take your post more seriously. My point in posting was just to point out that I still have doubts on the “optional” factor, no matter how many times it is repeated. I know you’re an enthusiastic cheerleader for the school. Carry on.</p>
<p>Seashore-Of course you are correct about the 15% vs. 25% statistic. But, I’m not sure what you are referring to “The less ‘perfect’ your stats, the more important other factors will be.” Were you referring to something specific in my post or just stating what hopefully is obvious to most folks involved in the process?</p>
<p>Nope momof3sons, nothing specific to you or your son beyond your thought that if he were admitted to more selective schools, he should have maybe been admitted to Tufts. </p>
<p>For my own D, I would have subscribed to your “just do it” philosophy. But from a few year’s distance, I’ve been thinking that responding to all options isn’t of value unless the response truly adds something to the package. Worthy of continued discussion?</p>
<p>Thanks for your “adult” responses, seashore. 
It would have been interesting to see if the results differed if my S had followed his father’s advice, which was based on years of navigating the real world. 
Nope, no further discussion needed.</p>
<p>I’ll just repeat myself, and say that what follows in the quote box below is bad advice (at Tufts).</p>
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<p>As you know, we’ve got an extremely large applicant pool and it forces us to make tough decisions. And while I have no way of knowing what happened with any one application discussed in these boards, I can state - unequivocally - that no one is getting waitlisted or denied simply because they opted to focus their time away from doing an optional essay.</p>
<p>My sense about Tufts is that decisions are based more on fit with the institution’s mission rather than a numerical analysis, and the essay questions reflect that desire to suss out what makes an applicant tick.</p>
<p>While I can now look back and think that maybe optional essays truly are optional, at the time both of our kids were applying to schools, we took the perspective of “don’t leave anything on the table” – i.e., put yourself out there. Then again, both my kids were somewhat lopsided applicants and felt the need to really make the essays sing.</p>
<p>I didn’t do any of the optional essays when I applied because they didn’t speak to me and I felt that my main essay was already strong enough. I got in.</p>
<p>Just do what feels right.</p>