How bad does it look if colleges see that I re-used essays?

College Essays
1

<p>For my Common App essay, I was planning to do "Topic of my choice" and use the question I answered for my National Merit Scholarship essay:</p>

<p>"Describe your personal characteristics, accomplishments, primary interests, plans, and goals. What sets you apart?"</p>

<p>because it was pretty much the best essay I've written for anything.</p>

<p>I was going to paste the question at the top of the document, indicating that I'm doing topic of my choice, and then I'd post the essay I wrote underneath. </p>

<p>The problem is, it's kind of obvious that the question was recycled from something else. I don't know if colleges will pick up on that, and look down on me for not taking the time to write an "original essay" or something. (This is just for my main Common App essay BTW, I'm not doing this for any of the supplements)</p>

<p>So, what do you guys think? Will this be a problem?</p>

2

<p>Self plagerism is just as bad. If you are turning in the essay without telling the second recipient that you turned it into the first, that's fraud. Imagine an author accepting the offer of two publishers, each of whom believe they are printing the first copy of the book or article.</p>

3

<p>No it will not be a problem.</p>

4

<p>"If you are turning in the essay without telling the second recipient that you turned it into the first, that's fraud."</p>

<p>I'm not seeing your logic. The Common Application dictates that you turn the same essay into all the Common App schools to which you're applying, meaning I have an identical essay going to seven schools. That's not fraudulent; that's giving your best writing sample to all the colleges.</p>

<p>Nor does your publishing house analogy make sense. Publishers are in competition with one another, whereas admissions officers simply want to evaluate your writing. There's no reason why you should write a unique essay for each school; indeed, the Common App disallows that.</p>

<p>Edit: I will say, though, that colleges might not appreciate you writing an essay on your achievements and merits. You have the whole application to explain those things. The personal essay is your chance to say something that won't otherwise be included in the application, meaning I might go with a different prompt.</p>

5

<p>It will not be a problem since it is your essay.</p>

6

<p>As long as they don't have anything that says "Don't use a previously published essay" or something similar, you should be fine.</p>

7

<p>I agree with I495; i completely disagree with what JohnWycliffe said.
it's ur own essay, recycle if u want.</p>