<p>Howdy Folks! </p>
<p>The Tufts Observer Article: [Going</a> Beyond Bubbles](<a href=“Account Suspended”>Account Suspended)
An article on similar topic from Inside Higher Ed: [A</a> ‘Rainbow’ Approach to Admissions](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/07/06/tufts]A”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/07/06/tufts)</p>
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<p>What you’ll gather from reading the above articles and from reading our optional essay prompts is that we’re trying to find qualities in our applicants that the traditional college application doesn’t target (see Robert Sternberg’s research into theories of leadership). We look for those qualities everywhere in an application; there are many spaces for you to ‘show us that additional side’, but the Common App (frankly) makes it hard for you, our applicants, to do that - not impossible, just difficult. The optional essay questions provide a better space for an applicant to discretely draw those qualities out and put them on display. </p>
<p>The essay really is optional. Not doing an optional essay isn’t a strike against you, and we don’t look at those applicants any differently than those that do submit an optional essay. I didn’t do an optional essay for Tufts, and I was admitted (woo!). But if you finish your common app, and our supplement, and you think to yourself, “I’m still not sure I’ve shown them who I am,” then an optional essay can be that opportunity.</p>
<p>Our Dean of Admissions Talking about the role of the supplement in our process: [Supplemental</a> Insights](<a href=“http://deancoffin.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2008/10/10/supplemental-insights/]Supplemental”>Supplemental Insights | Inside the dean's office)</p>