Do People Really Steal Essays?

College Essays
81

<p>"i highly doubt college admissions could put our application essays through the same thing without their being some legal issues. they'd have to have a disclaimer or something on their website that says we're doing this and that"</p>

<p>I know most places offering scholarships have a disclaimer on their websites or applications saying that the applications become the property of the organization to do with as the organization pleases. I imagine that something similar is true for college applications.</p>

82

<p>Okay...I did some research on this turnitin stuff...and to be honest I really don't like it</p>

<p>It turns out that ANYTHING you submit onto that website is stored on a database in california...forever, and is avaliable to anyone who subscribes to the program.</p>

<p>Now my college essays are very very personal (and I'm sure everyone elses is too), and I talk in depth about my family life, my grandfather's death, and my siblings....I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT THIS INFORMATION AVALIABLE TO ANY ONE WHO SUSCRIBES TO THIS PROGRAM</p>

<p>Luckily all the schools that I'm applying to don't use this program at all(not even in classrooms for this same reason) , except for Georgetown. (All Ivies except Dartmouth don't use it all either)</p>

<p>I'm going to call Georgetown monday, and ask if they use it in the admissions program...if they do I may elect not to apply there, because a school risks a student's privacy like this is not one that I want to attend. </p>

<p>My essays are by no means copied work, and I by no means condone cheating. But I really think that if a school doubts my integrity enough to enter and store all its applicant's essays into a relatively unkown database, it really is not a school that I would fit in.</p>

83

<p>" US students have parents, teachers, friends they can show their essays to, apart from CCers. Here, if I want to show someone my essay, I'll have to make them read the guidelines first, and it's too much of a headache."</p>

<p>It's a fallacy that all US students are having their essays read by parents, teachers, friends, etc. When I applied to college, summer college internships and to grad school, I never had anyone read my essays. Why? Because I felt that I could be more open about my perspectives and experiences if I was revealing that info to strangers whom I'd probably never meet rather than to family/friends/teachers, who might not agree with what I wrote or who may want me to remove from my essay quirky things that reflect who I am (things that the admissions officers actually might like, too! When it comes to top colleges' admissions officers, they like quirks. They don't want to build classes in which everyone acts in a similar way.)</p>

<p>It's not as if I was writing about deep secrets. I remember that one of my college essays was about what it was like growing as a black female in a small town that was 99.9% white, where I was one of only 5 black students in the town's high school of 1,500 students. How I felt in that situation wasn't something that I typically talked about with friends, family, teachers, so I didn't want them to read that essay. I figured if the college didn't like the essay because of the topic, it wouldn't be the college for me. </p>

<p>I'm sure that my essay contained some typos and small grammatical mistakes because even now, I'll miss some things like that. However, I also know that colleges are far more interested in using essays to learn about one's character, perspective, creativity than seeing how nitpicky they can be. After all, the colleges always can find out about students' English skills by seeing their test scores and grades. Anyway, admissions officers probably speed read the essays since they have so many to read. Unless errors are major, the admissions officers probably won't notice them.</p>

<p>As I write this, I think that my S is probably writing his college essays. He told me that he doesn't want my help. I'd be surprised if he's showing them to his friends either. I think that he's probably like me, feels much freer writing his essays if his close associates won't see them.</p>

84

<p>amen, icecreamman</p>

85

<p>Northstarmom, CurlyFry was just saying that because he is an international student, he doesn't have the opportunity to ask parents, teachers, friends, etc. He didn't imply that all American students take advantage of their opportunity.</p>

86

<p>I understood what Curlyfry was saying. I just wanted him to know that lots of American students don't ask parents, etc. to read their essays. This includes students who get into excellent colleges. Because Curlyfry's window into the U.S. college admissions process is here on CC, Curlyfry may think that it's normal for students to ask many people to read their essays the way that many do here on CC.</p>

<p>I actually think that many CC students put themselves at a disadvantage by asking basically random strangers to read their essays. Why? In attempting to please strangers, the applicants may end up eliminating from their essays the creative and unusual perspectives and experiences that would make them stand out admissions at the most competitive colleges, places that aren't looking for bland people who try hard to be pleasing.</p>

87

<p>yes i know this thread is like a year old but i thought i'd post this cause i thought it was kind of interesting.</p>

<p>The</a> Harvard Crimson :: News :: College Uses Web Plagiarism Checks</p>

<p>"Fitzsimmons said that the College has been using online resources since they became available over a decade ago. But the admissions committee also depends, as it has since before these online resources became available, on admissions officers’ intuition."</p>

<p>implying turnitin.com?</p>

88

<p>yes i know this thread is like a year old but i thought i'd post this cause i thought it was kind of interesting.</p>

<p>The</a> Harvard Crimson :: News :: College Uses Web Plagiarism Checks</p>

<p>"Fitzsimmons said that the College has been using online resources since they became available over a decade ago. But the admissions committee also depends, as it has since before these online resources became available, on admissions officers’ intuition."</p>

<p>implying turnitin.com?</p>

89

<p>turnitin is real popular nowdays.</p>

<p>my school uses it too.</p>

90

<p>God, this is scary..
= =" I think I sent my essay out twice... Never again ;D
And as for getting inspired by others' essays... What if you ACTUALLY think alike to someone else? Even one my friends say we think alike. (She's not applying to US schools, but that's not the point...)
And if you steal an essay and turnitin.com marks it, how do they find out which is the original? D:</p>

<p>Edit: Wow, 10 posts. This makes me look like an essay stealer myself. xD (I'm not. :()
I now realized I'm being too paranoid... Someone sent me their essay and I replied a few days later because I was too tired/lazy that day...</p>

91

<p>I'm sure it happens. Even if people don't steal the entire essay, they can steal phrases or ideas (and then improve upon your ideas).
Sad, but true.</p>

92

<p>With electronic applications, its very easy to run through TurnItIn or similar software. Actually it's cost effective because with so many applicants, being able to just weed out and exclude those automatically that plagarize means a lot less essays have to actually be read. Schools never have to justify why they chose who they did and its just so much easier to let go of suspicious applications. And it would not be in their interest to publicize their use of plagarism software. Every university I know uses it in some capacity. Why on earth would they chose not to use it for admissions essays? Think about it.</p>

93

<p>this thread scares me now... cos i once posted my essay in some site for opinion( i know stupid of me.. rather naive :( i dint have the first idea bout essay rip offs) i have been worried ever since...</p>

94

<p>I understand the fear of stealing, but proofreading is so important too. I guess you could always go to a non-college site, find someone who's already been through college, and get them to proofread . . .</p>

95

<p>bleragh i've posted several essays on CC... i'm quite scared now ><</p>

96

<p>If you have sent your essays to several readers on CC, it might be a good idea to set up a list of readers who offered helpful or good-faith comments, as opposed to the "read and run" people. I suppose a Helpful Reader list will benefit future applicants and decrease the risk of sending stuff to the wrong people. (Though, of course, there'll be a chance that ppl on that list will be overworked (?))</p>

97

<p>^ so do we all want to set up such a list?</p>

98

<p>there are risk too......if the same one read the same too essays</p>

99

<p>


</p>

<p>If you do that... please, please advise people to ask the readers' permission before posting. Just because someone read an essay for you and was very helpful... doesn't mean that person is ready to see a slew of unsolicited essays in his pm inbox every time he logs in! :p</p>

100

<p>Yes; don't trust ppl over the Internet.</p>