<p>"Beyond your impressive academic credentials and extracurricular accomplishments, what else makes you unique and colorful? Provide us with some limited measure of your personality. We know that nobody fits neatly into 500 words or less, but you can provide us with some suggestion of the type of person you are. Anything goes! Inspire us, impress us, or just make us laugh. Think of this optional opportunity as show and tell by proxy and with an attitude"</p>
<p>I'm really confused on how to answer this question. I was thinking of a unique way to show that my personality/me is associated with W&M through math/stat formulas, because applied math is what i want to major in. But my only concern is that it doesn't exactly answer the question or "what's unique and colorful about me"? I'm just not sure if I should take this risk becuase it's more geared towards why i fit with WM, or if I should explicitly answer the question.
What are things that any of you all have done in the past? Any help would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>The optional essay is the ONLY thing that W&M will see that is not part of the common app. This is your chance to show them exactly who you are, why you fit in at W&M and why they should pick you rather than one of the many other candidates. I think whatever really gives them a picture of who you are. Having read dozens of common apps as I helped my sons, nephews and their friends with the applications, I can tell you that they really all start to blur together and it is hard to get a sense of the candidates personality. This is your chance.</p>
<p>My youngest son wrote his about why he picked his screen name for gaming and how it exemplified his personality. He added that there was one thing he is very interested in (politics) that is not shown in his screen name as at the time he picked it, that interest had not yet been developed. He was admitted to W&M and will be attending.</p>
<p>The question last year was not one I felt like I could do a killer job on while still being sincere. So I didn’t, and I still got in. I believe it is truly optional.</p>
<p>Our optional submission is designed to allow you to respond however you are removed to respond if you are moved to respond. If you have an idea that you like, go for it. Write it using your words and your voice. Those are “unique” and “colorful” to you. Help us learn something we haven’t learned from the rest of your application materials so we can get to know you better. If you feel the concept you’ve come up with does that, go with it.</p>