<p>[Harvard</a> College Admissions § Applying: Application Tips](<a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/tips/supp_page3.html]Harvard”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/tips/supp_page3.html)</p>
<p>That is correct. If you click on the “Veritas” icon under Additional Essays in the above link, a box will come up saying:</p>
<p>"There is no “extra credit” for writing the optional essay. As you are filling out the application, if there is not a topic that naturally comes to mind, then you should probably skip this question.</p>
<p>Applicants use this space in a variety of ways: some students send us an essay that they wrote for another school that they thought turned out particularly well; many students leave the space blank."</p>