[#permalink]
17 Sep 2007, 14:25
I saw this thread buried, and wanted to throw in my 2 pennies (hopefully it will be helpful):
Don't write an Optional Essay!
It only will drag attention to your faults that might not otherwise be that glaring to the adcoms. There are exceptions:
- bad GPA or GMAT due to an EXTENUATING circumstance (i.e. family emergency)
- gap in employment, arrest, academic probation (you don't have much of a choice with this one)
- Stern reapplicants are encouraged to use this space to express their growth since their last app
- to make some brief neutral or positive point (i.e. because I am submitting my app in September, I am using the optional essay to tell one of my schools that I am visiting in October)
Other than these reasons, I would shy away from the optional essay.
If your college GPA was poor in your 1st two years and then you raised it in your 3rd and 4th year, don't explain the 1st two years. The adcoms love someone who is constantly rising, so let them focus on that aspect of your GPA; they don't need to know that you crawled into a beer keg when you started college and did not leave until your junior year. They will probably assume that, so just leave it at that.
I am not saying that if you don't write about it, the adcoms won't catch your flaws; they most certainly will! However, you try to put the spotlight on your achievements in your standard essays; if you write about a flaw in your app in the optional essay then you are putting the spotlight on the flaw. Ultimately, use your good judgment, and use the optional essay as a last resort.