Rejected because of plagiarism???

Hey guys! I know the title makes me come across as some sort of cheater who tried plagiarizing an essay, I promise this is not the case lol (just trying to employ a bit of clickbait). Truth is, the other day, I was unfortunately rejected from the University of Notre Dame REA. Now, I had everything they were looking for, great ECs (president of student council, president of nhs, president of two clubs, etc.) I had a 36 ACT and a 4.5 GPA as well on a 4.0 scale with 13 AP classes. The only thing I can possibly think of rejecting me for is the essays. It turns out, I put my essay onto pastebin about a month ago mistakenly, and it appears the link got published and moved to a website called nopasteme. I know it was stupid to make it into a pastebin and then have it uploaded, but I contacted the pastebin admins and had them take down the link. Unfortunately, when you type the first paragraph or so of the essay into google, the full essay comes up on a weird site called “nopasteme,” word for word. Though I did not put it on this site, it seems it somehow amde its way from pastebin to nopasteme. I believe this is the reason I was rejected, as that search result is the first (and only) search result that comes up when I type my essay into google, and its the whole thing word for word. Anyone know
a) is this the reason I was rejected?
b) how do I get this taken down ASAP so it doesn’t hurt chances for other colleges
c) does it hurt chances for other colleges at all, maybe they’ll know it was me who uploaded since it was word for word?

Thanks, all insight appreciated.

I don’t have experience with this, but I’d assume they run essay through a search engine.

Can you contact “nopasteme”? There’s probably no way to prove that it was yours. You honestly may have to write a new essay unless you want all of them to see that.

Try contacting Notre Dame and seeing if that’s the reason. Doesn’t hurt to ask.

To answer c) The only thing they’ll know is that you have a plagiarized essay. It being word for word won’t help your cause one bit.

colleges are far less likely to explain why you were rejected to you than to your counselor. Go see the counselor and have them inquire on your behalf.