What Reviewers Look For in the OLSAS Law — Optional / Part B Essay
This review looks at whether your essay clearly explains the specific context, experience, background, barrier, identity, future direction, or other purpose you chose to address. It checks that readers can understand the relevant facts, your place in them, and the effect or current relevance without relying on other parts of your application. It also focuses on answering the current prompt directly and using limited space for the information that matters.
What We Check
Whether the response identifies the additional context, intellectual experience, future direction, background, identity, barrier, circumstance, or other job it has chosen to supply.
Whether the response supplies enough visible facts to understand the chosen subject and the applicant's position inside it.
The relationship the prompt asks the applicant to explain: how a circumstance affected a record, how an experience shaped judgment, why a future direction follows, or why an identity or community connection is relevant.
Whether the response completes every countable job in the supplied current prompt and remains understandable without an unseen application field.
Mistakes We Flag
- Opening with uncertainty or apology
- Starting by saying you were unsure whether to include the essay delays the information the reader needs. Begin with the context or purpose of your response instead.
- Combining unrelated leftovers
- An optional essay can lose focus when it gathers achievements, explanations, and interests that did not fit elsewhere. Choose one connected subject that serves the prompt.
- Using a label instead of an explanation
- A category such as first-generation student or access applicant does not by itself explain your relevant experience or circumstances. Give the setting, relationship, condition, responsibility, or other facts that make the context clear.
- Forcing a hardship into a growth story
- You do not need to claim that a barrier made you stronger, or turn a neutral circumstance into personal fault. State its specific effect, your response, or why it is relevant now.
- Relying on another application section
- Readers should not have to find your main statement, sketch, or a link to understand your point. Include the needed facts and connections in this response.
References
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to disclose hardship or an unusual identity for an optional essay?
No. The essay can provide additional context, an intellectual experience, future direction, background, identity, barrier, circumstance, or another relevant purpose. It does not need to justify itself through hardship severity, unusual identity, or exceptional achievement.
Do I have to explain how an experience made me stronger?
No. You do not owe a redemption arc, gratitude claim, benefit claim, remorse statement, or complete resolution. Explain the effect, meaning, or current relevance the prompt asks for.
Can I address more than one optional topic in the same response?
If the prompt presents alternative topics, answer the one you choose rather than piling several options together. If the prompt asks for multiple connected actions, make sure each requested part is answered.
How long can this essay be?
Current school-specific optional, Part B, and access-category limits can range from 1,000 to 2,500 characters including spaces. Follow the current official limit for the school and prompt you are answering; no minimum length is required when you complete the prompt's needed tasks.
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