<p>Is opting not to do the optional essay disadvantageous? I feel that my Common App essay is strong and with the deadline approaching, I'm not sure if I would be comfortable with a response to one of the optional essay prompts that would be crammed in today or tomorrow. Would it hurt me to just leave it blank? I kind of wish I'd invested some time in the optional essays before 12/31 haha...</p>
<p>Ah, never mind. I typed one up and sent it in over the last 3 hours.</p>
<p>Good idea, I'd say.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think it would have been a big disadvantage. Glad you did it. :)</p>
<p>why dont they just make it required then?</p>
<p>I guess maybe it helps them weed out who is more seriously interested in the school. Because if you decided to just randomly apply to Pomona you probably wouldn't do the optional essay.</p>
<p>does anyone know if the optional essay could ever hurt your chances of admissions? i'm not very happy with how mine turned out. but, it's better than not doing it at all, right?</p>
<p>Plenty of students have gotten in without it</p>