<p>1) i am planning to use the Common App to submit my application. how helpful would it be to submit the optional essay? i already have a great Common App essay along with a very passionate short essay on horseback riding.
2) if i decide to do the optional essay, is it okay if i submit a poem that i wrote for english last year? it’s about all the different things about me that make up the person i am right now. i was thinking i could use it for the biography page 217 question, because a lot of who i am now is because of things that have happened to me recently.</p>
<p>don't ask, don't tell is a really solid policy for all of life's problems</p>
<p>Definitely do the essay. When they say optional, they really mean required if you want to get in. As for sending a poem..I don't know? How long is it? Is it clearly about you or is it pretty vague and open-ended? If it's not a page long, maybe you could use the poem and then also write a little bit before or after it.</p>