<p>I found a supplement essay of a top school for this year that I want to use for the common app essay. I won't be applying to that school. Will it be okay for me to use it as my common app personal essay?</p>
<p>It’s difficult to say unless you mention the prompt. For e.g.- ‘Letter to you future roommate’ is a prompt for Harvard and Stanford applicants but I am not sure if it will be appropriate as a common app essay.</p>
<p>Legolas, that was actually it. Why would it not be appropriate?</p>
<p>Well, this is only my speculation and I could be wrong. </p>
<p>‘Letter to your future roommate’ appears as a short-answer (250 words max) in the Stanford supplement and as a non-mandatory essay topic in the Harvard supplement. It just looks like a topic that you can write about to make the little perks of your personality slightly clearer. </p>
<p>I have read many such letters on essayforum . com and everyone just keeps listing (with slight elaboration) all of their good/bad traits. After a while you realize that those letters start to sound almost the same, like a resume. Although this topic has a lot of room for creativity, it seems unlikely that most are capable of making use of that opportunity. However, you could take a different route trashing the ‘resume’ style and writing about a single thing/person/book/pet/experience/anything that means a lot to you, including several anecdotes from your personal life. But then again, remove the ‘Dear Future Roommate’ from the beginning and ‘Yours Truly, Mr X’ from the end and it becomes a genuine common app essay. </p>
<p>Lastly, I don’t think that admission officers of other colleges would like to see you borrowing your essay theme from the supplement of another college. </p>
<p>But these are only what I feel. In reality it may be totally different. You would need to ask an admission officer if he or she thinks that would make a good common app essay or not.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help. I understand your reasoning, and I agree with it as well. I’ll try focusing on something specific to write about.</p>
<p>If its a broad topic such as “what is the hardest decision you’ve ever made?” Then you could easily use it. But if its in response to an obscure or creative question them it would be challenging.</p>