Extended Essay. Option 5. Reuse essay from another app?

<p>I wrote a good analytical/op-ed essay about a topic for another app and I was wondering if I could pose the question and answer it with my essay, or if the adcoms would know that I copied it?</p>

<p>If you people are qualified to apply to Uchicago, you are definitely smart enough to use the search function, no?</p>

<p>Well I did use the search function and saw that some people used page 217 from UPenn’s app but I don’t see how you would use it, and I didn’t read anywhere about if it was “safe” or not to do so.</p>

<p>Colleges secretly have a network where they share each others essays for matches, and if you do get caught, you’re automatically rejected from both of those colleges.</p>

<p>Sigh.</p>

<p>I don’t mean it that literally. I was just worried that someone else would use the same prompt and then the adcoms would know we most likely got that prompt from another app. I didn’t know if they would care or not.</p>

<p>I doubt that colleges share your essays - that would be too much work and a violation of your privacy. Granted, most admissions officers are probably familiar with essays at other top schools. </p>

<p>This being said, admissions officers primarily use the essay to learn more about you. Most don’t care if it is reused as long as it is good. Princeton’s dean of admissions once said at a seminar that you <em>should</em> reuse essays as much as possible. Also, a WashU admissions officer once told me that what matters most is your voice. He told me that if an essay I submitted to another school had strong voice, I should submit it.</p>

<p>My son reused an essay, but he also adapted it to fit one of the prompts. </p>

<p>I’ve always liked that prompt - if you think it’s a good essay, I don’t think it will hurt you.</p>

<p>I wrote the main caught essay and I used another essay written for an entirely different prompt. I adapted it with a couple sentences, and I got in just fine.</p>

<p>Use your essay, but be very careful to adapt it to their prompt. You might have to shuffle around everything, but I’ve stuck with a set of ~8 essays for all my apps.</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

<p>They don’t have a prompt for Option 5. It just says come up with a question and answer it, so I didn’t know if they would get the same question from other people and/or if they would care.</p>

<p>I have no idea what Raddd was talking about with this “secret college network”, but I’ve heard from some admissions officers (not Chicago’s but Columbia’s, Stanford, etc.) that it’s okay to reuse an essay, but make sure you don’t leave colleges names in it or something that shows lack of attention to detail.</p>

<p>S2 wrote essays for two of the big Chicago prompts. For Chicago, one was his main CA essay and the other was his main Chicago. He then used one of them as his main Common App essay for all his other schools and cannibalized parts of the other one for other prompts.</p>

<p>Radd was kidding guys.
Go for it!</p>

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<p>you scared the heck out of me… until I read “sigh”. lol, don’t do that to freaked out High Schoolers.</p>

<p>I am reusing my Vandy Scholarship essay for UChicago… I just don’t care anymore.</p>

<p>I used the same essay for Chicago that I used for Yale and Harvard. I’m sure it’s fine - especially here, when you can pick your own prompt. (:</p>

<p>I reused an essay I dug out of the trash. It had some coffee grinds and marinara sauce stains, but I just stapled it to the application. They let me in, so you probably won’t do too bad.</p>

<p>I recycled many essays. applied to 11 schools with about 6-7 essays, and some minor changes.</p>