<p>i'm applying to UChicago and for the optional essay, i wanted to write about one of my most favorite places because i wrote an essay about my most favorite place in english class in my junior yr. would it be acceptable to turn in an essay that i did for my english class as an assignment?</p>
<p>Your college essay is not like school. You won't get in trouble for using something you already wrote in school (there's really no way of them knowing and no risk unless you didn't write it). </p>
<p>However, make sure whatever you use for your optional essay, it fits the requirement and answers any question(s) asked. They will notice if you just submit something decent that doesn't answer their question or what they are looking for. Your essay should show your passion, personality, and speak naturally.</p>
<p>well, our school uses this online site called turnitin.com that we have to submit all our essays to and it checks for plagiarism. colleges would probably be able to find it online and know that i had used it for english class bfore. i'm not worried about plagiarism obviously because it's something that i wrote. but if the college knew that it had been used as a school assignment bfore, would they look down on that? or would they rlly not care? i'm pretty satisfied with the work that i did on the essay and it answers the prompt completely, so that's y i wanted to use it. also, i'm pretty sick of writing more essays by now</p>
<p>I generally don't think its bad at all to recycle essays - but if the admit officers looked on turnitin.com (which they wouldn't) though they would not see it as dishonest, they might see it as lazy. This is UChicago. Most schools just want to know you and get a writing sample. UChicago, however, has thought provoking essay questions because they want to make you THINK as you go through the essay process. </p>
<p>Short answer: If its a good essay that fits the prompt, go ahead and send it. But ask yourself this: "If I'm not passionate about challenging myself and am not inspired enough to write a new essay, do I want to go to a place like UChicago that is known for intellectualism?"</p>