Optional essay

An optional essay is the application box that says, in some wording, “Is there anything else we should know?” It is for context the required MBA essay should not be asked to carry: a term of illness, a gap year that looks like a gap, a disciplinary mark, a reapplicant update, a 2.8 GPA with a 3.6 in the last two years.

It is not a second goals essay.

How it works

If the file is clean, skip it. AdComs are not starved for prose. If the file has a bump a reader will trip on, write the bump in four to eight sentences: what happened, what changed, where the evidence now sits. Dates help. Blame does not.

Reapplicants often owe this box even when the prompt is optional. “I applied last year. Here is the new test, the new role, the new goal sentence” is the whole genre.

Example: a 2.9 overall GPA includes a 2.1 freshman year and a 3.7 from junior year on in a quantitative major. The optional essay is three sentences pointing at that split and at later work that uses the same math. Restating the career goal here wastes the only page that can defuse the GPA.

How it differs

The required essay argues for the future job. A video essay is a timed spoken prompt. A waitlist update is a post-decision note. Do not paste the optional essay into all three.

Common errors

Using the box to add “passion.” Reciting the résumé. Writing two pages. Explaining a 3.6 GPA.