What to do when the CommonApp Essay is "optional"Answered
As I was finalizing my UPitt application, I realized that the main personal statement was listed as "optional". However, UPitt has 4 other 'supplemental' essay prompts, one prompt in which I could just copy and paste my main commonapp essay into. I was curious as to if I should submit my CommonApp essay normally, or just not submit it under the "optional" policy, and then submit it as the supplemental. The essay is quite strong, so I want it to matter in my application. Which option (submit via personal statement or supplemental) should I choose?
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2 answers
So this is largely a personal belief but I read optional as strongly encouraged. Only exception is test optional. For essays unless you are not confident in your writing ability I’d always recommend you submit an optional essay.
I am of the opinion that copy and pasting is not a good idea. It should be orginal.
If you had to pick one (supplemental or personal statement) think about how many schools you are applying to and then look up if they want essays or not. Using it as personal statement means you don’t have to write another essay for a school that requires it while if they don’t care about personal statement but have supplemental I’d use it as supplemental.
Hope this helps and please comment if you need clarification as I’d be happy to help clarify!
In this case, it would be all right to skip the optional Common App essay and use it as a Pitt supplement. In the past, they've stated: "In lieu of an essay or personal statement, we ask interested applicants to answer Short Answer Questions." While "optional" generally means "strongly recommended" for essays, it's a little different here.
Just one thing: Pitt's short answer questions are supposed to be 200-300 words, so if you can copy & paste your Common App essay, you might want to flesh it out a little more for other schools, as you have up to 650 words for that. Also remember to complete 2 of the 4 short answer questions for Pitt, not just one.
Hope this helps, and best of luck!
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Pitt states on their website: https://admissions.pitt.edu/forms/short-answer/us-freshman that they have their own short answer questions. They do not want the common app essay as they have their own questions for that. Pitt uses the common app to reach a wider audience, but has their own application without a personal statement.