CommonApp Essays Vs. Supplement Essays

Applying to College Admission Stories
1

Hi,

I’m an undergrad prospective student, and I’m currently working on my application.

I encountered a dilemma regarding my essays; I have several subjects that I can talk about in those essays, but some of them clearly stand out. The point is, I’m not sure whether I should use those better subjects for the supplementary essays or I should use them in the writing part of the common app. (the short essay about one EC and the personal essay)

My first impression was that the supplementary essays are more important and usually let you elaborate about the topic. However, If I use my strong essays in the supplement I obviously can’t use them in the common essays, and the problem is that not every institution gives you the opportunity to write a supplementary essay and that means I didn’t use a good and important essay for this college.

I’ll be more than glad for an advice!
Cheers

2

I would use your stronger essay for the common app. As you mentioned in your post, not all schools require supplemental responses. However, if asked to answer supplement questions, the quality shouldn’t lack in your responses because you put your ‘better subjects’ in your common app essay.

3

use stronger essay for common app for those colleges without supplement.
Create alternate version for those colleges with supplement. Use stronger essay for supplement.