<p>I've just finished my Common App Essay and I chose to write the first prompt which is "Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story." My essay was about how I grew up poor and thrift shopped, which resulted in me getting bullied because of my cheap apparel and how this tormenting, alongside my parents' hard work to keep me off the streets, caused me to work harder academically. </p>
<p>Did you ask him about why he sent you that article? Maybe he intended it for use as inspiration or examples of successful essays. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, you have to make your situation unique. There are a lot of underprivileged students applying to college that may have a similar story to tell. It’s only plagiarizing if you are stealing another writer’s content. If you are writing from your heart on your story then don’t worry.</p>
<p>@Ctesiphon He told me the two essays were pretty similar and asked if could revise it or edit stuff out, but I feel as if it’s a pretty strong essay right now and don’t want to change it.</p>
<p>Have you checked your essay with plagiarism-checker sites like Grammarly? I think the most important thing is that you write your essay with your own voice and style. There are many people out there who write about the same topics anyway, yet I doubt that their essays would look the same. </p>
<p>@Phongtheha I don’t have a Grammarly account and I can’t find any free plagiarism checker sites. But I did manage to see the outline for my essay on Grammarly before the plan selection step and it said unoriginal text detected.</p>