Optional Essays are Not Optional

Students filling out a bunch of college applications may be happy to learn that an essay for one of their schools is optional. One less essay to write, right? Not so fast. These "optional" essays are almost always not really optional because applicants that do not fill them out will be penalized in the admissions process. Not writing essays indicates to admissions officers that an applicant is not that serious about their college — not a great message to send.

Imagine there are two applicants being compared by the admissions committee. Both have 3.9 GPAs, AP classes, 1400 on the SAT, and varsity sports. The only difference is that one submitted the optional essay and the other did not. With all the criteria being the same, the admissions committee will accept the one that wrote the essay every time over the one that did not. That is why it is essential to put in the work and write an "optional" college essay.

Consider this: Northwestern University, a top 10 college, has only one supplemental essay and it is entirely optional. The university has a 9% acceptance rate, which means that chances of being admitted are already very low, so not submitting the optional essay will likely make the chances go from 9% to close to 0%.

Furthermore, many essays are very similar to one another across different schools. That means that all applicants need to do is often copy and paste essays and tweak them slightly, so there should be no reason to not submit an essay.

If applicants have lower than average test scores or GPAs then it is especially vital that they submit "optional" essays because it will provide new, additional information to the admissions committee that may sway them to overlook lower stats. Remember, essays are one of the most important parts of the application process, so write them.