<p>sunglasses,
whether or not adcoms at different schools talk together about specific candidates (ethics aside, I don't think they have time to), its pretty easy to tell if the 'why University A' essay is generic or not. In addition to really flagrent errors (e.g., naming a Yale prof in one's why Harvard essay), it will be obvious to the reader if the student has somehow caught the spirit of the school or not. I don't know about your friend (and congrats to her on Duke!), but all the campuses we toured did start looking alike after a while ... especially in the rain.</p>