The Optional Essay

To write, or not to write? That is the question.

Maybe you ran out of space in your other essays and you want to tell the school how much you love them and why the program is perfect for you! Maybe you feel compelled to summarize your qualifications. Maybe you want to list every award you won since 3rd grade. Maybe you think Admissions would like to know about your family, so they can “get to know you better.”

No, no, no, and No. Don’t do it. Resist the urge to fill up that empty space.

The only time you should use the Optional Essay is to briefly – Very Briefly – explain an obvious question (like a time gap on your resume) or explain some negative circumstances that affected you professionally or academically. For example, “My grades decreased in sophomore year because my mother had cancer and I frequently went home to take care of her.” Or “I’m dyslexic, so I’ve always had difficulty with standardized tests like the GMAT, but you can see from my quantitative classes that I can handle an MBA program.” Or, “I took a two year leave of absence from college because my father lost his job and I had to work full time to support us.”

Get it?

The reality is that Admissions staff usually have about 20 minutes max to read your entire file and write a summary. Think about how many pages of essays and recommendation letters that is! That’s about a page a minute. (you try reading a book chapter that fast – go ahead try it.) Next to your application is usually a stack of 20 more applications. So that last thing an Admissions officer wants to see is one more page of reading, unless it’s really important information.

If it’s not important information, you’ll make the Admissions Officers cranky. And you don’t want them to be cranky, just before they write your summary and make their decision about you.

Optional is not really optional. Don’t do it without good reason.

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