HELP! will this optional essay that i wrote for Penn hurt or help my chances??

Applying to College
1

<p>Prompt: First experiences can be defining. Cite a first experience that you have had and explain its impact on you.</p>

<p>I wanted to use an essay I had written before for another school because it was a really great essay. Basically, if I do, the essay will talk about:</p>

<p>-A bit of a first experience
-The impact it had on me (made me want to become a pharmacist)
-But the rest of the essay will be about how Penn will best fulfill my goal of becoming a pharmacist, yada yada.</p>

<p>Will this essay work in answering the prompt, or does it deviate too much about things unrelated to a first experience? Will the adcoms think I’m just sucking up by using this optional essay to write about what a great match Penn is for me? How closely does an essay have to follow the prompt? Should I just axe the essay all together??</p>

<p>Help Please!!</p>

2

<p>I think if you've already stated elsewhere in your application that you want to major in pharmacy then you shouldn't need to reiterate it in this essay. Besides, haven't you raved about Penn in the 'Why Penn?' essay?</p>

<p>I say axe the Penn part (as long as you've talked about it somewhere else) and talk more about how the experience affected you.</p>

3

<p>I didn't even mention Penn in that essay (I wrote about my first trip to a foreign country, specifically where a Frenchman berated me nonsensibly at the airport). You see? No Penn there. I got in, though.</p>