mlktwins Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 (edited) If a college says the common app essays are optional, are they really optional? If so, is there a way to include or not include them for each specific school in the Common App? My belief is that optional is not really optional - especially for a homeschooler. And...this is weakest link in my guys' apps - despite writing workshops, etc. They just do not like writing about themselves. Just want to see what other's think. ETA: Both of my guys are submitting SAT scores so we are not utilizing test optional. Edited October 14, 2022 by mlktwins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 I am going to guess only colleges and universities with fairly high admissions rate make them optional. If so, maybe they really don’t care so much and are more interested in GPA and course rigor. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlktwins Posted October 14, 2022 Author Share Posted October 14, 2022 1 minute ago, Roadrunner said: I am going to guess only colleges and universities with fairly high admissions rate make them optional. If so, maybe they really don’t care so much and are more interested in GPA and course rigor. It is required at 3 of the schools they are applying to. One highly selective, one has an acceptance rate of 37%, and one is a safety 🤷♀️. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 21 minutes ago, mlktwins said: It is required at 3 of the schools they are applying to. One highly selective, one has an acceptance rate of 37%, and one is a safety 🤷♀️. I think they are required at most. I can only remember one school so far that didn’t require an essay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gstharr Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 (edited) From the college tours, and college fairs that we have been to, most things are not truly optional if you are optimizing your chance for admission. eta unless its test scores that clearly fall short. Edited October 14, 2022 by gstharr 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easypeasy Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 We always treated optional essays as required. In our personal experience, the easy-to-get-into colleges didn't have optional essays except for some selective programs or scholarships. Again, we treated those as required. The harder-to-get-into colleges had the "optional" essays and, even though the kids' stats put them right in the sweet spot for admissions, they treated those essays as required as well. Most admissions people I've spoken with over the years have sort of "winked" when someone would ask if those optional essays were optional or "optional," making it pretty clear that, while not required those essays could certainly lend a helping hand to a student during the process of admissions. None of my kids enjoyed writing about themselves and hoped they never had to again. (which hasn't been true since they've since had to write many bios and essays relating to some of the things they are doing while in college, lol!) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto6inIN Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 They might be optional for admission, but if you want your kids to be competitive for scholarships I would definitely not consider them optional. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saw Posted October 16, 2022 Share Posted October 16, 2022 Is the information on optional coming from the Common Data Set, or the application information? I would check what the CDS says as well. I tend to think that "optional" in this context means "not really optional but we're going to tell you it is and then decide later whether we think it was optional". But maybe I'm just a cynic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted October 18, 2022 Share Posted October 18, 2022 What you will sometimes see is the CA Personal Statement marked as optional when the college either doesn't read essays or has a college specific essay prompt instead. Off the top of my head, I think Auburn doesn't read essays (and says so), and Virginia Tech uses their 4 shorter prompts instead. Texas A&M and UTexas only joined the Common App this year and still also use Apply Texas. For them, they don't read the CA Personal Statement, but have a somewhat similar prompt (same as Essay A from Apply Texas). For optional additional information prompts, they are optional. I think many students can use them profitably to clarify and add context. But don't answer them with filler just to have something in the box. If a college has a college specific optional question, like Why do you want to study here, or Tell us about part of your identity that makes you who you are, I would not skip those even if marked optional. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted October 18, 2022 Share Posted October 18, 2022 We didn’t consider anything optional. For selective schools, for the obvious reasons, and for safeties, because he didn’t want yield-protect-rejected. But I tend towards the paranoid and my kid can write all day long and twice on Wednesdays 🤣 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.