<p>Is the optional essay about yourself only for special situations, or can it be used to talk about yourself generally? Do most people even fill it in or just leave it blank?</p>
<p>You can use it to talk about anything you feel like the admissions officers should know.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what percentage of applicants write it, but I don’t think it’s a majority or anything. (I feel like maybe Matt McGann gave a figure in a questions omnibus once… but I don’t know which one!)</p>
<p>hey, is this referring to the “anything you’d like for admissions to know” box?
would it be a good idea to include a second essay there about an experience you’ve had? i’m thinking about it but then it’d almost be like another main essay and i’m not sure if that’s what the box is meant for…</p>
<p>It’s certainly not meant for an additional essay. You already have the long one, the short ones, plus the creativity one (if you want). That’s more than enough. I’d say that exploiting the “anything you’d like us to know” box for an additional essay will affect you negatively.</p>
<p>ya, i have the same question. I wanted to make this part an essay about my work with special needs children because it is an important part of my life, but I haven’t been to convey that in other parts of the application. Will this hurt me? If this section isn’t for things like that, than what type of essay do you put in there?</p>
<p>I can speak just from my point of view, but I don’t think that you’re actually supposed to use this box. I mean, it’s really only <em>optional</em>. For example, if you have any special circumstances (your parents died, that’s why your grades slipped down or whatever) you can use the space for this. I doubt that the majority of applicants will use it.</p>
<p>Maybe you can ask the admission officers if you want to make sure.
Just my opinion.</p>
<p>
If you have something to say that you feel the rest of the application hasn’t said, you should feel free to put it in that space in whatever format you feel is appropriate. It’s left up to your judgement to decide whether or not you wish to utilize that space at all, and if you do, how to utilize it.</p>
<p>I think you shouldn’t feel like you have to use that space at all, and I think not using would be better than filling it with spurious information that’s not going to help your case. But if you have something to say, say it!</p>
<p>To give a concrete example, the graduate schools to which I applied last year had a similar box – anything else you want to add. In that space, I either uploaded a copy of my curriculum vitae or copy-pasted it. The schools didn’t ask for a copy of my CV, but it had important information on it; it showed my research projects in a simple bulleted form, and it listed my publications clearly. My statement of purpose had touched on those, but I felt that it was to my benefit to beat into the admissions committees’ heads that I was co-author on a publication to be published in Cell.</p>
<p>hmmm, I was thinking about using this section to explain my passion for science (since it really doesn’t get across anywhere else). I was going to tell a semi-humerous story of how I fell in love with science…but now that I think about it, this may just act as filler material, which I don’t want. Suggestions?</p>
<p>I am going to add something about my school. (it’s not that great in Ap classes etc.). My counselor told me she didn’t say that in her recommendation thing… so thats what i am doing.</p>
<p>Yup, similar situation here. I’m gonna explain why I couldn’t take biology/chemistry classes</p>