<p>As a reapplying applicant, I am having a problem with my essays: the questions are all the same as last year! Sure, I'm a year older, a year wiser, and some of my answers have changed, but not all of them. What do I do when, no matter how I look at a question, the best answer I can come up with is the one I wrote last year??? What if I use the same idea, but write a new essay on it - would that work?</p>
<p>I have the same problem. Just use different wording if you cant come up with another answer. I managed to come up with a better answer for most of the questions. and some questions i forgot what I answered last year</p>
<p>If you were rejected by the school last year,then I would not use identical essay. I think same answer is OK (you really believe in what you believe), but frame the response to show that you have grown.</p>
<p>Ya that’s right GMT sry didnt mention that I was waitlisted malkiel</p>
<p>My general advice about essays is to always ground your answers in specifics–specific experiences you’ve had, books you’ve read, people you’ve met, etc. If you’re doing that, then I think you could and should vary your essay by changing the examples you use to make your point, even if the point is essentially the same. I’m trying to imagine a prompt, though, that couldn’t be written in an entirely different way from one year to the next.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>How about this one: “What is the most important piece of advice you have ever
received and what role does it play in your life?” I’d think there’s a good chance the answer to that question might be unchanged from one year to the next, and I’m sure there are other questions that pose a similar problem.</p>
<p>Got me there, dodgersmom…we didn’t see that prompt at our house.</p>
<p>Still, given the rapid emotional, physical, intellectual changes occurring in the life of any youngish teen, that important piece of advice might just change from one year to the next. I guess that’s my main thought: my own kids change, learn, and grow so much in the course of a year, I can’t imagine why they’d want to use the exact same essay. However, I can’t say for sure…my kid had a choice of a different prompt for the one school to which he reapplied.</p>
<p>You should probably try to change your responses or write a different prompt if possible. When I reapplied, I’m pretty sure I wrote on different prompts, and I certainly wrote completely different essays.</p>
<p>Im in the same boat, and i am changing my response</p>
<p>I’ve had to do this before and it isn’t hard to do, since you have had a whole year since the time you previously applied a lot has probably changed in your life, your reasons for wanting to apply are hopefully a lot different. my advise would be to re-invet yourself through your essays, what you knew was the correct way to answer the question a year ago is probably very different now</p>
<p>If two schools have the same essay questions it’s okay if I have the same response for both, right?</p>
<p>wrong, both schools are going to be different in many respects so the essays will be different for both, both schools will have different strengths so your going to want to address those in your essay. the best essays are going to be the most specific so your going to want to address specific things that you like about the school that makes you want to attend, it is impossible to use the same essay for more than one school because the essay will be too broad and generic. the key point is that your going to want to make your essays as specific as possible, the best essays will only work for one school. don’t talk about what you think the admissions considers to be important, talk about why the school is “personally” important to you.</p>
<p>But the essay is about something completely unrelated to the school.
It asks me about the best piece of advice I have received. They phrased the question exactly the same and I have the exact same response in my head for both.</p>
<p>@helloel,
If the essay questions for 2 schools are the same, and the questions are not school-specific, I see no reason not to use the same response for both, especially if the response is a well-written one. </p>
<p>It’s not like the schools are going to know that you gave the same response.</p>
<p>That’s what I was thinking, just double checking though! thanks!</p>
<p>Malkiel: I’ve had to that before, not in the same circumstance, but I’ve had to answer a question twice. First thing is to do is to not read over your old essays. Don’t even look at them or have them near when you’re writing your new essay. If you are trying to improve your essays it’s not good to cling onto old writing. Just simply start over, the good parts of your essays will naturally carry over and you will make some new improvements without even knowing it. Trust me, it’s best to start over and see what you can come up with. If it’s still not what you’re looking for then compare it back to your old essays. Good luck!</p>
<p>helloel - </p>
<p>Collegedreamin’s answer is COMPLETELY off base!!! Perhaps he/she is more familiar with college applications than bs applications. You should absolutely be able to use the same answer for multiple schools! And, with enough creativity, you should even be able to use the same essay for completely different questions! It’s tricky, but it can be done.</p>
<p>What we did last year was make a spreadsheet of the different essay questions and then group them together by which ones could take the same answer. Looking at it that way makes the whole process less daunting, especially if you’re applying to several (or more than several!) schools.</p>
<p>Thanks dodgersmom! That’s a really good idea.</p>