<p>Alright so I ended up applying to a primary college (Arts and Sciences) and alternate (Human Ecology).... The prompts for each of the essays are quite similar, and because the major I'd like to pursue is in each college, my essays for each are ridiculously similar. Basically the same minus a couple paragraphs at the bottom which talk about the specific colleges. I sort of impulsively submitted the application without realizing that both essays will be seen on my application, and the officers from A&S will probably see both essays, realizing they're almost exactly the same. Do you think this will negatively impact me?</p>
<p>If the essays are well written, it should not matter. However, if you have doubts at all about either of the essays, you should take one of the two in a different direction. Maybe have a different focus on one of them? Best of luck!</p>
<p>If they are really similar, almost identical, that might make you look bad…the college officials might even get the wrong idea and think that you are using the same essay for every application you are doing (if you are doing any), and just changing it around a little. </p>
<p>It shouldn’t be a problem though if they are written well enough. The rest of your application will cover you well, if your specs are on par. Good luck!</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s much of a problem. Your application along with the Arts and Sciences essay will be forwarded to the A&S admissions department, and if they deny it, then your application, along with the Human Ecology essay gets forwarded the Human Ecology admissions department. There shouldn’t be any reason why one of the colleges would read both of your essays.</p>
<p>I think they’re fairly well written, and my specs are fairly decent, so hopefully they end up looking over it. Thanks for the feedback everyone :)</p>
<p>The college admissions staff has to read thousands of essays, I highly doubt they take the time to read an extra essay designated for a completely different college.</p>
<p>I don’t think the similarities matter. From my understanding, you are only considered for your alternate college if for some reason your primary does not seem to ‘fit’ your goals. The statistic I recall is that only 2% of applicants are accepted to their alternate.</p>
<p>^■■■■■. Get off this forum</p>