the "optional" essay

[qwt2]

<p>Really, someone tell me how truly optional is this essay? i know that in the website, they stress that it is <em>truly</em> optional...i'm just a bit wary over it. I mean..i feel like everyone will write this essay and if written well, it may give them the edge...idk...advice?</p>

[Boddah1]

<p>I think doing the optional essay can only help you. It shows the admission officers that you are serious about wanting to go to Penn.</p>

[flush]

<p>It’s just a page. Don’t be lazy and just go for it. I’d say it’ll work for you and not against you, as long as you write with the same proficiency with which you wrote your required essay.</p>

[necrophiliac]

<p>it’s truly optional. I’ve heard of enough people getting in without writing one to make me believe that. However, I believe mine gave me the edge to get admitted.</p>

[DSI]

<p>I definitely disagree (with the first two posters). I will just quote myself from another thread.</p>

<p>

Optional is just that – optional. Do not think “Oh it cannot hurt doing mediocre on the option.” Think of it as “A medicre optional essay is an eyesore and can only give the admissions officers a chance to second-doubt your eligibility.”</p>

<p>Moral? If it is not great, do not waste the readers’ time.

</p>

[qwt2]

<p>mm…thanks peoplee</p>

[starcrane721]

<p>yep it’s really optional, my friend got into penn without writing one…write one if u think it will help u</p>

[qwt2]

<p>^heh, did you write? what about you DSI?</p>

[DSI]

<p>Nope. I mean, if you have never read an autobiography (and consequently appreciated its narrative voice and style), there is no way you can write a good essay for this specific prompt.</p>

[bat]

<p>when i asked the admissions officer why the essay was “optional” she said that , this is your opportunity to tell us something about yourself that you feel that the rest of the application has not covered</p>

<p>Do the essay if you feel that you can actually say something meaningful in it, and if done correctly this could be the one piece of writing which finally pushes you past the mark, and gets you in.</p>

<p>However, the opposite can also happen. The adcom told me that what they hate to see is an essay that reeks of a hasty last-minute job, and done for the mere sake of submitting it. In that case, it might work against you. </p>

<p>In my opinion you SHOULD do it and WORK HARD on it to make it as polished a piece as your other essays. It shows Penn that you are willing to make the effort, and that their college might be one of your top choices (as you’ve made the effort).</p>

<p>And if done correctly, you need to only slightly alter this essay to use as essays for
other college applications. I know I could have used my optional Penn essay to use as Yale’s “tell us something about yourself” essay. Thankfully i got into Penn ED so i didnt have to finally submit it to Yale. :)</p>

<p>Good Luck</p>

[nychica]

<p>it is, indeed, optional. i’ve heard of ppl not writing it. u only need to write it if u don’t think they have enough info from yr personal essay. i wrote it b/c my personal essay was short.</p>

<p>for duke, there’s also an optional essay, which i didn’t write b/c i had talked about the material in my interview already and i got in.</p>

[Benny_B]

<p>You can use it as a way to add some edge to your app. If you’re in the range where you could be accepted to Penn without doing anything crazy on your main essays, then you probably should do something fairly conservative (not to say boring, I think Yale’s website said that most of the best essays they read are on common topics). On 217, however, you can show some flare and creative range that will make you a stronger candidate for admission. Remember how little a college actually knows about you and your abilities. Why waste an easy opportunity to show more?</p>

[DSI]

<p>^^ See this is one of the pitfalls people tend to get themselves into. (I am referring to the sentence “On 217, however, you can show some flare and creative range that will make you a stronger candidate for admission.” If I am interpreting it out of context then I apologize, but it is too good an opportunity to let pass.)</p>

<p>The 217 is an autobiography, not a free-for-all essay. You cannot write your story in an overly dramatic tone, and you should pretty much stick to the facts and supress some personal feeling/interpretation. So in the end there is little “creative range” in the sense of narrative style and choice of topic. To be successful you would really have to craft depth and subtlety into the essay itself, which is one step further than the “show not tell” maxim (most people cannot even accomplish that much).</p>

[qwt2]

<p>ahh…well, say, hypothetically (but not really! haha) i have sub par standardized test scores (given that they don’t improve after i retake) but i still really want to apply to Penn ED, should i totally max out on this essay to kind of <em>make up</em> for that sub par test, or will it not really make a difference? i’m talking about, hypothetically, writing a really, really good 217 essay</p>

[DSI]

<p>Why don`t you just write really really good essays, period? Two really really good essays (CommonApp + Penn supplement) will get you in just as well as three really really good essays (CommonApp + Penn supplement + 217).</p>

[illuminar]

<p>I disagree. I’ve never read an autobiography. I think my page 217 is what ultimately got me in. Stylistically it was weird (looking back at a point in my life where i was looking back at a summer program) and the hardest essay for me to write because I wasn’t sure how to digest the experience. I tried writing at least three different common app essays on TASP and they all came out worse than this. The only school I applied to where I used TASP as an essay topic was Penn and it was the only American one I got into >_></p>

<p>Screw it. I’ll post it. Only 68 kids in the world will be about to write about this subject and I know they won’t plagiarize…</p>

<p>i’ll note that i wrote this the day before, my writing sucks and the intro paragraph is extremely embarrassing haha but whatever</p>

<p>

the joys of youth. When our last child graduated from college, I resigned myself to a new role within the house. I was no longer the provider or the confidant, and the family had become permanently smaller. The progression was not sudden; the house had been quieter for years, but it never sank in until the kids had started lives of their own. At that stage in my life, I often found myself engrossed in thought. In many ways, I had accomplished what I set out to do. I had financial security for my wonderful family, the time to pursue my hobbies, and a job I enjoyed. The most revealing signs of age (and most saddening to me) were my receding hairline and bulging stomach. I often found my thoughts nostalgically fluttering to my youth, and in particular to a summer I still think about frequently, but seldom write on. In the summer between my junior and senior year, I left Atlantic Canada for six weeks and traveled to America for the first time in my life. I spent my summer at a program called TASP, which I only came to fully appreciate later in life.</p>

<p>TASP was an intense learning experience. It has been many, many years, but I still distinctly remember the first night of the program. There were eighteen of us from around the world, sitting in a circle, getting to know each other. The discussion soon shifted to an ordered debate on the war in Iraq, and then the Supreme Court justices. It was awfully pretentious in retrospect, but the intellectual flexing soon gave way to more organic discussions. The topics of our chats became less academic as the program went on, but in every ordinary conversation was the potential for the profound. The eighteen of us lived, ate, socialized and went to class together. We were interdependent, and in that community I found myself constantly struck by the insights and interests of my peers. Until TASP, I had never met an Iranian immigrant with an interest in feminist Spanish poetry. Decades later, I have yet to meet another. </p>

<p>Our group was seemingly assembled at random by the powers that be at the Telluride Association, an organization to which I am incredibly grateful, and have been involved with for many years. It was clear that the association brought together kids who had “succeeded” in the traditional metrics of academics, extracurricular activities and standardized tests. In hindsight, the association sought kids who despite “succeeding” were unsatisfied by their environments, who asked questions for which they could find no answers. I found that my peers mirrored many of my insecurities and frustrations. We were conflicted between pre-professionalism and academics for the sake of learning, we found our high school educations to be rote and confining, and we wondered if something was wrong with us for taking an interest in the esoteric, be it feminism in Spanish poetry or the North African Diaspora in Europe. In each other we began to find answers to our questions. Most importantly, I found hope during a time when the future seemed daunting and uncertain.</p>

<p>TASP laid the foundation for the person I am today, even in my graying state. In many ways, it gave me a new appreciation for knowledge in itself. Learning took on a new meaning, and with a sense of clarity I realized that I wanted my education to balance liberal arts and pragmatism. It was TASP that gave me the courage to leave Canada for my education, and it was TASP that gave me lifelong friendships. The words “formative” and “central” get thrown around often, but the values I gained as a result of TASP have profoundly influenced everything from career choices to taste in movies. I think

</p>

[jrs1125]

<p>Is the Penn supplement already out? That’s weird, the Common App said it isn’t available yet. At least for me it did.</p>

[necrophiliac]

<p>DSI I am going to have to strongly disagree with</p>

<p>

The 217 is an autobiography, not a free-for-all essay. You cannot write your story in an overly dramatic tone, and you should pretty much stick to the facts and supress some personal feeling/interpretation.

</p>

<p>My page 217 was satirical, real-time and over the top. I would swear that this is the essay that got me my JWS invitation.</p>

[DSI]

<p>^^ So what you are saying is you did not write an autobiography for the autobiography prompt?</p>

<p>Edit: I think the scholar programs are awarded more heavily based on your academic records. JWS focuses on scholarly research and the importance of arts and sciences within a business framework, so while your piece may have been radically different and memorable, I would not be so certain as to “swear” it facilitated your being a JWS.</p>

[jrs1125]

<p>How does one get invited to become a JWS, necrophiliac? Is it by having your Wharton application selected, or can does a CAS application qualify as well?</p>