Duke University optional essay. Do i do it?

TopTier
Wed, 08 Oct 2014 20:39:52 +0000

As you know, Duke is hyper-competitive, with tens-of-thousands of superbly qualified, entirely deserving, and excellently credentialed applicants denied annually (10.8 percent aggregate acceptance rate last year). For this precise reason, the optional essay really isn’t (IMHO).

Non-submission of the optional essay is almost certain to reduce your selection opportunity significantly, BUT NOT BECAUSE DUKE DIRECTLY PENALIZES YOU. Rather, your competitors can – and will – utilize their optional essay to enhance their admission-desirability, and you will not. To illustrate, one applicant might use this essay to document his passion bioengineering (one of Duke’s “crown jewel” undergraduate program), while another might employ the essay to indicate how a serious illness during part of his sophomore year substantially altered his values and goals (also subtly explaining why his grades that year weren’t stellar). Accordingly, these applicants will attain a competitive admissions advantage that you will not have, unless you capitalize on the optional essay as an approved method to promote your candidacy.

I read your statement indicating that you had little to write about; please forgive me, but that honestly sounds like a lack of initiative and imagination. Do you want to optimize your Duke acceptance probability, or not? If so, write a compelling “optional” essay.