<p>Out of curiosity, do people generally write completely different essays for every different application OR do they use the same essays/write on basically the same topics for each school (assuming the given topics are similar)?</p>
<p>For example, should/can I use the 600 word essay I am writing for the Open Ended question for UCs as my Common Apps essay?</p>
<p>Yeah, you should. Just make sure you don't mention one school in an essay for another school's application, but no one expects you to write 10 or so (one for every school you apply to) incredible, unique, fascinating essays when you can put your focus into one or two and make them incredible as opposed to 10 mediocre ones.</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that you may need to tweak each essay a bit to be sure you're thoroughly answering the different questions. Even two very similar prompts can have slight differences.</p>