Hi,
I am a high school senior who has already been accepted early into my first choice school. I will keep the school anonymous, but it is one of CC Top 25 schools. My problem is that while doing research for a government assignement, I found that President Clinton used a sentence which is nearly identical to a sentence which I had used in my essay.
I can assure you that I did NOT plagiarize the sentence and wrote it without any knowledge of the speech. The sentence was 8 words long, so it was not something trivial. I was VERY VERY suprised when I read his speech because I WROTE MY OWN sentense and had NO IDEA about his speech. I had NEVER heard nor read it prior to writing my essay. The rest of my essay has NOTHING to do with his speech nor is it similar in any way.
I was wondering what I should do… I keep remembering Blair Honstein getting her admissions revoked for plagiarism. Should I contact the school and tell them… or am I worrying about nothing?
<p>In my opinion, you're worry about nothing. I'm sure coincidental overlaps like that happen all the time. No college official would make a big deal out of ONE sentence that sounds similar to something Clinton said, especially since you've already been admitted.</p>
<p>Relax, and enjoy the rest of your senior year. :)</p>
<p>Thanks Jimmy,
Any other thoughs? I am REALLY worried about this;I have showed several friends and they agree that the similarities are very very striking. I am 100% sure I did not plagiarize or do anything wrong, but it looks very bad...</p>
<p>How specific is the sentence? Is it very specific about a certain particular subject? Or is it a general sentence about a broad topic? If the latter then you are fine. I find it very odd that you just now happened upon the similarity. Perhaps you read it earlier and it stuck in your mind? If you want you can PM it to me and I will keep it confidential.</p>
<p>wow, you made a cc account just to ask this question? you really are worried... anyway, i think you're fine. i doubt the admissions people have even heard the clinton quote, and if they have and thought it was plagiarism, they wouldn't have accepted you.</p>
<p>Do you honestly think they'll be taking the time to read your essay again, after you've been admitted? </p>
<p>No, no they won't. There's absolutely no doubt about it in my mind. My great grandma coming back from the dead and asking me if I want to hit a blunt is about 15 times more likely.</p>
<p>He PM'd me his sentence, and it is so general that anyone could have said it. Another cc worry wart, I guess. Also another bland and boring essay, I suppose.</p>
<p>Sorry to bring this thread back to life, but what is adcoms remember the sentence vaguely or something from a previous essay, would they go back through files?</p>